9 wacky Xiaomi products you didn't know existed

Xiaomi might be everyone’s favourite budget smartphone manufacturer, but the company is also known for its vast ecosystem of smart products. While Xiaomi has been making a foray into the ecosystem space in India, and to a lesser extent in Europe, it is China where it really thrives. The company’s ecosystem play in India has been fairly tame, with suitcases, backpacks and the usual smart lights. Switch over to China though, and hot damn does Xiaomi make some crazy stuff!

From the wacky to the surprisingly useful, here’s a list of what we think are the most interesting and relatively unknown products that Xiaomi and its affiliates make.

Universal translator

Star Trek fans would fondly remember the Universal Translator onboard the Enterprise. While we’re far and away from the universal language translators made popular by your favourite sci-fi show, Xiaomi does have an interesting product up its sleeve.

The Xiaomi Mijia translator is a smartphone-like device that packs an array of microphones as well as a camera over at the back. The 4.1-inch screen can be used to view translated text in real time, as long as you have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Xiaomi claims support for 18 languages which should cover a significant part of the globe. Meanwhile, the six microphone array can capture audio from both sides of the device and offer real time audio translation. As a bonus, you can use the Mijia translator as a portable hotspot.

Walkie-talkie

Xiaomi makes walkie-talkies, because of course Xiaomi makes walkie-talkies too. Now in its second-gen, with a claimed range of up to 5km, the Xiaomi Mijia Walkie-Talkie includes an FM radio and Bluetooth for when you are out in the boonies, and you’re still craving some sick tunes.

Of course, Xiaomi has found a way to smarten up a walkie-talkie. You can pair it up with an app on your phone to beam your location and short texts to the other end even without a network. Very nifty.

Wireless charging car mount

Car mounts for phones aren’t something you think much about. Stick it up on the dashboard, or in the air-conditioning vent, clip in your phone and you’re good. This Xiaomi product, however, takes it a step forward. Not only does the Xiaomi wireless car charger add in support for 20W wireless charging, it does this with an integrated fan for active cooling.

For me though, it is the automatic grip that tickles my inner geek. We’ve all had to wiggle phone clamps to get them to right size when slotting in a phone. Xiaomi’s car mount integrates an infrared button on the side, tapping this automatically opens up the motorised grip. Slot in your phone, and it will slide back in to reach the perfect size. That’s an incredibly smart way to make these work, and I’m surprised that more brand hadn’t thought of it.

I’ve been using the Xiaomi car mount for a few months and it has quickly become one of my favourite gadgets because of the quality of life enhancement it provides.

Soap dispenser

It’s crazy to think that one of the world’s most popular smartphone brands also makes a soap dispenser, but here we are! An infrared based motion-detector is placed on the underside of the nozzle. Bring your hand close, and the dispenser will… dispense soap. Simple, straightforward with an elegant-enough design. Circle this one squarely in the nice-to-have category.

Nose hair trimmer

Now, I’ve never quite understood why one of the most popular smartphone brands around would be making hygiene products as well. Following a line of electric shavers, Xiaomi also makes a — wait for it — nose hair trimmer.

The Mijia nose hair trimmer isn’t a high-tech Xiaomi product per-se, but we’ll toss it in our list anyway. Between the discrete design, functionality (yes, I’ve personally used it) and the low-cost, what’s not to like? And if you’re looking for something to trim down that gnarly winter beard of yours, Xiaomi makes a trimmer as well!

Infrared faucet

Xiaomi’s smart faucet in a very convenient solution to spruce any tap in your household. Like the soap dispenser, the faucet add-on uses infrared to detect your hand and control water flow. On its own, the faucet will allow water to flow for three minutes, but you can wave your hand again to switch it off any time.

I can see this being particularly useful in the kitchen where you might not want to touch the tap while doing dishes. Or in my case, me just being too lazy to pop open the faucet every single time :shrug:

Ninebot Unicycle

With the Ninebot Unicycle, we’re finally getting into the outlandish category. As the name suggests, this is a motorized wheel capable of climbing up to a 25-degree gradient. With a maximum speed of 45km/h, the Unicycle can get very dangerous, very quickly. Xiaomi suggests setting the safe speed limit to 20km/h. The Unicycle can go 90km on a single charge and has 18-inch wheels to traverse all sorts of terrain. Adventurous enough to get on the Xiaomi Ninebot Unicycle? You can get yourself one via the link below.

Mijia Balance Wheel

Over the years, Xiaomi has made a number of investments in urban mobility startups, including this potentially deadly balance wheel. A pair of single-wheeled motorised roller-blades, the Mijia Balance Wheel can go as fast as 12km/h, which is 12km more than I’d want to be going on these. There are no straps here, so maintaining your balance and, more importantly, making sure you stay on the board, is entirely down to your skills.

Between the 100kg load carrying capacity and 45 minutes of run-time, the Balance Wheel can be an interesting solution to travel short distances. If you are brave enough to get on one.

Wine bottle opener & stopper

Survived the Mijia Balance Wheel? How about celebrating with a bottle of wine? Enter the Xiaomi wine bottle opener. Like most Xiaomi products, this one too is a supremely elegant solution. The Mijia wine bottle opener is essentially a motorised corkscrew that can pop open a bottle of wine in under 6 seconds.

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As a bonus, Xiaomi sells wine bottle stoppers as well so that you no longer have to grapple with a cork plug when putting the bottle away. You can look it up here.

Xiaomi makes thousands of products, and these are just a few that we at Android Authority like. What are your favourite Xiaomi products? Let us know in the comments section.