A few days ago, we reported that Xiaomi has a smart display coming soon. Today, the Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 (yeah, that’s a mouthful) has been announced in China.
Design
It is obvious where the inspiration for the Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8′ design comes from. For those who do not know, it is the Google Nest Hub/Nest Hub Max. However, Xiaomi’s own smart display is not a total copy of Google’s product.
First, the Mi AI Touchscreen Pro 8 has an 8-inch display, so it sits between the Nest Hub’s 7-inch screen and the Max’s 10-inch screen. Its base which is where the speakers are is curved, and in my own opinion, better-looking than Google’s own. The power and volume control buttons are behind the right side of the display while a camera sits above the screen.
Xiaomi’s smart display is only available in one color variant and that is Chalk, unlike the Nest Hub which comes in four colors (two colorways for the Nest Hub Max).
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Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 Specifications and Features
Xiaomi says the 8-inch screen offers 36% more screen estate compared to a 7-inch display. The resolution is unknown but the screen is said to have a high-image quality and has an oleophobic coating, so you won’t see fingerprints on it. Xaiomi also says the display is fully-laminated to reduce reflections.
The Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 has three subwoofers – each of them measuring 50.8 millimeters in size and featuring Neodymium Iron Boron magnets. Xaiomi says the speakers are professionally tuned by DTS.
The smart display has a camera at the top for video calls. Xiaomi says it can be used to make video calls with supported models of its smart TVs such as the Mi TV Pro 55”, Mi TV Pro 65”, Mi TV 5 Pro 55” and Mi TV 5 Pro 65”. However, this feature will be rolled out as an OTA before February 28, 2020.
The Mi AI Touchscreen Pro 8 works with a plethora of smart home products covering 28 different categories and from up to 54 different IoT platforms including Philips, Viomi, Yellight, Smartmi, Konke, and Roborock. Connecting a device is easy thanks to its advanced Bluetooth Mesh Gateway. Xiaomi says it will roll out a feature by March 31, that allows you to connect new smart home devices to the smart display just by voice. All you have to do is ask it to find the device and it will do so and connect to it. However, the feature will be limited to Mijia devices and exclude smart security cameras, door locks, and doorbells.
Xiaomi has partnered with QQ Music for music streaming while iQIYI, Youku, Bilibili, and TikTok handle video streaming. There are also other audio streaming platforms they have partnered with for podcasts, storytelling, and audiobooks. Kids also get custom content and there are security protections in place to keep your child safe.
The Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 also doubles as an alarm clock, a digital photo frame, and a Bluetooth speaker in case you want to play something from your phone or other devices.
[envira-gallery id=”295422″]Mi AI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 Price
The smart display has a price tag of ¥599 (~$86). If you register now, you can pick it up for ¥499 (~$71). It will go on sale on December 18 at 10 AM.
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