What’s better than having a Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription? Well, having a device that can turn your normie-TV into a smart TV, so you can easefully watch whatever your heart desires on the big-screen in your house.

We reviewed Xiaomi’s Mi Box S a while ago, and it turned out to be one of the easiest devices to set up and use. On top of that, these boxes are relatively cheap to procure and work with just about any TV system. The same guys behind those, Xiaomi, has announced something akin to the Amazon Fire Stick called the Mi TV Stick.

It’s an Android TV-powered portable streaming device, which you can plug into just about any screen to access your favourite streaming services. The only caveat is that the Stick only outputs up to 1080p resolution, so you won’t be able to binge 4K content through it.

Plug and Play

It’s still a useful little streaming device that doesn’t take up too much space and is easy enough to install — seeing as South Africans don’t have direct access to Amazon’s Fire Stick range through local retailers, we’re hoping to get this Stick-like device on the local market soon.

Because it’s powered by Android TV, you may miss a few of your favourites, but it certainly has an extensive library of streaming services and apps available. All of the apps can be downloaded from Google Play Store on the device, which likes with your accounts and makes streaming pretty easy.

The Mi TV Stick is also fitted with the most recent Google Chromecast technology, so you can also cast content from your devices to the TV with the Mi TV Stick attached. “It’s powered by a quad-core Cortex A53 processor, has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage and supports both Dolby and DTS audio compression technologies,” Engadget reports.

We’re excited to see these ones make it to local shores to give South Africans even more options in terms of streaming tech. The Mi TV Stick is now available in South Africa over at MIA for just R900.