The Xiaomi Mi Box 3 has been around for a while now. The OG Mi Box, overlooked during the last update cycle, is having the last laugh.
Beta software for the media streamer has been making the rounds over the last few days, landing in the hands of those who’ve signed up as beta testers.
This, according to those who’ve laid their hands on it (more details in this Telegram group), is the first beta for the Mi Box 3’s long overdue Android 9 Pie update.
For now, those who’ve had access to the beta say that it doesn’t break anything significant or introduce radical new features. It is also easy to downgrade to the Android 8.1 that most of us, like yours truly, are currently on.
The Mi Box 3 has since fallen down the pecking order with the entry into the market of its successor, the Mi Box S (also known as the Mi Box 4K in India), last year. Available in the country for anywhere between Kshs 6,000 and Kshs 8,000, the Mi Box S received its Android 9 Pie upgrade early this year.
Updates for Android TV-powered streaming boxes like the Mi Box and the Mi Box S are usually not that common. In the timeframe that Xiaomi has been testing and releasing Android 9 Pie for the two boxes, Android TV based on Android 10, the latest version, has since become available. There is still no word on when we can expect to see it on the Mi Box S or even the Mi Box 3. Chances for the latter making the cut are becoming slimmer by the day.
The Mi Box 3, when it first became available about 4 years ago, arrived running Android TV based on Android 6 Marshmallow and has since been updated to Android 8 Oreo and is now getting ready for its slice of Android Pie.
As we contemplate on that, Android TV based on Android 11, the upcoming new version of Android, has been under testing for 2 months already. Android TV will be getting some much-needed improvements with Android 11.
The downloadable beta files should become available as soon as the beta is made public.
