Xiaomi’s new Android media streamer is the size of a phone charger

Xiaomi’s new $30 Mi Box Mini looks a lot like the standard charger that comes with the iPhone, but rather than having a USB port on the back, it has and HDMI port. This is because Xiaomi’s new device is actually an  Android media streaming device that plugs into the wall and then into your television. It’s  quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM enable this impressive device to play videos at 1080p. 

With the $30 Mi Box Mini, Xiaomi has managed to stuff a quad-core Android media streamer into a device the size of a power charger. The Mi Box Mini is one quarter the size of Xiaomi’s existing Mi Box, putting it at roughly two inches long and wide. Xiaomi says the motherboard is one third the size of a credit card. Yet the device still packs a Cortex A7 quad-core processor for 1080p video playback, along with 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of storage, and dual band Wi-Fi. It plugs directly into an outlet and connects to televisions via HDMI, and uses a Bluetooth remote control. What would one do with such a diminutive device? While Xiaomi didn’t talk specifics, presumably it’ll be similar in functionality to the full-sized Mi Box, which streams a variety of videos and lets users beam content from other devices over Miracast, DLNA, and other methods.