NAG PARTNER
Ok, I get it, we’re not all winter people. Some of us prefer to be out in the hot and sweaty sun, showing off our tans and looking at everyone through the dark, polarised tint of their sunglasses, but what if, what if I have something that could convince you to stay home this winter instead of shipping out to Spain?
Let me introduce you to the latest Xiaomi Box S 2nd Gen.
You’ll never need to leave your couch with everything that this new smart TV Box has to offer.
The Xiaomi Box S has been one of the most recommended smart TV boxes out there for years, with its huge range of supported platforms and simple plug-n-play setup, and now they’ve finally upgraded it for even more oomph.
Let me lay it out for you, like the smorgasbord you’ll be ditching in Spain:
The Xiaomi Box S 2nd Gen comes stacked with 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD, Dolby Vision and HDR10+, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM, a Cortex-A55 CPU, Dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.2 and best of all, Google TV OS.
While a lot of this may just seem like words to the technologically challenged, what it really means is that this is a significant upgrade from the previous generation. The previous generation did have both the 4K and Dolby Atmos Audio features, but it didn’t have Dolby Vision and HDR10+. These visual upgrades mean that, as a viewer, you will experience deeper shadows, richer colours and better contrasts between dark and light images.
The older generation Box comes with the standard Android TV, but the 2nd Gen model comes with the Google TV overlay. This is one of the most significant upgrades over the previous generation as Google TV offers a more modern and clean look, a smoother and quicker operating experience and more features focused towards the smart home side of the Google ecosystem. You could easily program your TV to tune to your favourite show at the exact minute that you’re done listening to the news in the kitchen on your Google Nest Mini.
The other benefit of having Google TV is access to the Google App Store. Add this to the new Bluetooth 5.2 of the 2nd Gen Xiaomi Box S, and you have the ability to connect almost any Bluetooth controller and play some of your favourite mobile games. Just remember that the device only comes with 8GB of space on it, so if the app you want is a little too big, you might just have to use the ever-reliable Chromecast, which is, of course, built into the Box S.
With all these upgraded features, and the ability to stream from any platform of your choosing, whether that be Apple TV, Netflix, Showmax or even HBO, you would be making a better decision to bundle up at home with a nice hot cup of chocolate and a 50-litre tub of popcorn. At a retail price of only R1,199, it sounds a lot better than Spain.
If you’re still convinced that you must be travelling this winter, fine, I won’t judge you… a lot. Just make sure you’ve got your Xiaomi TV Stick tucked into your backpack.
Weighing in at only 30g, you could even tuck it in next to your passport in your fanny pack without even noticing it.
The Xiaomi TV Stick turns any TV into a smart TV by simply plugging it into the HDMI port and powering it from any USB you can find, even the one on the TV itself. Once connected to the WiFi, you instantly have access to all your favourite streaming services, whether TV shows, background music, or podcasts.
While it doesn’t offer as much of a smart home experience as the Box S 2nd Gen does, the TV stick allows you to turn that boring old hotel TV into a familiar copy of your TV from home. It also comes with a built-in Chromecast, meaning you can even wirelessly stream whatever is on your phone to the TV with little to no effort. Selling for only R999, the Xiaomi TV Stick provides you with a smart TV in your pocket, so if you’re a busybody who doesn’t like hanging out at any one place for too long, then this is an essential item to keep in your backpack.
Either way, whether you’ve officially decided to brave the winter months at home, on your comfortable couch with your loving family, or if you’ve already purchased those plane tickets and they won’t give you a refund, both the Xiaomi Box S 2nd Gen and the Xiaomi TV Stick are definitely smart devices you should be looking at.
