For the longest time, I’ve held out on buying a smart TV to replace the 43-inch plasma TV I have at home for the last 7 odd years. I just couldn’t justify discarding a perfectly good TV just to get the latest one available, and so I never did it. Plus, there’s the value proposition. However, an Android TV box? That has always sounded like a good idea to me. It adds the smarts you want, but it also brings those smarts in a more modular way. So two years down the line you can simply replace the box for a better one instead of buying a whole new TV.

First up, let’s take a look at everything inside the box.

Design and Build

Starting off with the design and the build, the Mi Box 4K comes in a matte black plastic body. This ensures that it’s lightweight, and pretty stealthy to keep under your TV. I appreciate both these things about the device. It’s also fairly sleek, which means it doesn’t have much of a profile when you look at it on your TV cabinet.

On the back you’ll find some ports. There’s the usual power and HDMI out port here, but the Mi Box 4K also brings in an audio out, and a USB Type-A on the rear. This way you can connect the Mi Box 4K directly to your sound system if you want.

Setting up the Mi Box 4K is fairly straightforward. You plug in the HDMI cable, the power cable, and follow the instructions on screen to get it all set up. I prefer setting up the Mi Box 4K using an Android phone, but you have the option to set it up from scratch if you want.

As you might already know, the Mi Box 4K comes with Android TV. However, Xiaomi doesn’t coat it up with its Patchwall UI here. This is pure Android TV based on Android 9 Pie.

Now the Android TV UI is something I don’t like much. It doesn’t feel all that intuitive, and it doesn’t feel like it’s suited for navigation with a remote. Also text entry is a downright pain. However, that’s my very subjective look at Android TV’s UI. Rupesh, who uses an Android based smart TV at home says that he’s totally fine with the UI here. My point is, if you have used an Android TV in the past, the UI here is exactly the same. So bring your own judgement about it if possible.

See, I use a PS 4 with my TV at home. It’s pretty much my entire entertainment system — both for games and for Netflix and Prime Video. However, the PS UI is easier to navigate and feels more snappy and responsive. Maybe I’m spoiled by that relatively faster feeling UI, or maybe it’s just because I’m not used to Android TV’s implementation, but I’m not a big fan.

Coming to the performance, there are two real aspects to consider here. One is the usual day-to-day performance of the Mi Box 4K, and the other is for things like gaming. I did not try to run benchmarks on this thing because honestly, that felt stupid.

In normal day to day usage, the Mi Box 4K blows right through everything. Launching apps is fast, navigation around the Android TV UI is as fast as I’ve seen in any Android TV powered smart TV (except the OnePlus TV which is just… wow). The Mi Box 4K doesn’t really feel sluggish even after installing a bunch of apps on it. All good stuff.

Considering all the things I said about navigating the Android TV UI with a remote, I was expecting to not really enjoy using the remote here anyway. However, Xiaomi’s remote is actually a pretty nice one. It has the most common buttons you will use, and a nice curved design that fits well in the palm.

Pros:

Cons:

  • No batteries included. Really Xiaomi?
  • Pairing the remote can get annoying
  • Android TV UI isn’t the best out there

Mi Box 4K Review: Should You Buy It?

So, the question here remains whether the Mi Box 4K is something you should buy. Honestly, yes. There’s no question about it. The Mi Box 4K does more than what any other option in the market does at this price point. It has Netflix and Prime Video, it has 4K playback support, USB Type-A port, and stock Android TV. Its only real competition in the price is the Fire TV Stick, which at Rs. 3,999 offers only Full HD playback, and no additional ports.