The most affordable streaming stick, you can currently purchase in the market is Xiaomi’s new Mi TV Stick priced at Rs 2,799. (Image: Xiaomi)
Even though smart TVs are affordable than ever before, there are many who are still stuck to non-smart-TVs in the country. Comparatively, non-smart TVs are much affordable. For instance, if you can get a smart TV for Rs 13,000, you can get a non-smart TV for around Rs 7,000 in the Indian market. Well, if you own a non-smart TV but don’t wish to upgrade to a smart one but want smart features on it Xiaomi has launched Mi TV Stick to help you out in this.
The most affordable streaming stick you can get in the Indian market right now is Xiaomi’s new Mi TV Stick priced at Rs 2,799, comparatively cheaper than the Amazon Fire TV Stick, which comes with similar features but priced at Rs 3,999.
If you are looking to get the just launched Mi TV Stick, keep in mind that you will have to wait until August 7, 12 PM IST for its first sale via Mi.com, Mi Homes and Flipkart. Xiaomi states that users will soon be able to purchase the stick from the offline market too.
Every Mi TV Stick customer will get a 15-day free trial of Zee5, 50 per cent off on Aha Entertainment yearly subscription and a free month of Hungama Play subscription. All of this brings the effective cost of the Mi TV Stick by a small margin.
Key highlights of Mi TV Stick
One major advantage Mi TV Stick users will have over Fire TV Stick owners, is that they will be able to gain access to the Google Play Store to download apps. Whereas the Fire TV Stick has access to the Amazon Store to download apps, but the store does not have as large a catalogue as the Play Store.
Xiaomi Mi TV Stick can stream content in full HD resolution. However, if you want to stream content 4K resolution, you can get the Mi TV Box 4K priced at Rs 3,499.
The Mi TV Stick is powered by a quad-core Cortex A53 processor paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, which is the same as some of the higher range smart TVs currently available in the market. The device also comes with Dolby and DTS audio compression support. The device runs Google’s Android TV 9 operating system.
It also comes with a Bluetooth remote, which does not need to be pointed towards the device to operate, making it much easier to use.
In terms of software features, the device also makes your TV much smarter by adding support for Google Assistant and allowing you to stream content directly from your phone to the TV thanks to the in-built Chromecast.
Xiaomi claims that its Mi TV Stick comes with Google’s Data Saver, made especially for India. With the help of which, the stick can help its users save up to three times the data while streaming content.