Taking into account online shopping and gaming, Tmall Magic Box new product experience

The new Tmall Magic Box has an outstanding appearance design and is known as the "most beautiful TV box" so far. However, to judge whether a product is "beautiful", it is more important to be consistent inside and out. For products such as TV boxes, it is also very important to have beautiful systems and software.

System and interface design

The new Tmall Magic Box is equipped with Alibaba YunOS, which is specially customized for large-screen TVs. Users can log in directly by scanning the QR code using the Taobao App on their mobile phones. The system supports display output with a resolution of up to 4K. However, since high-resolution display occupies a large amount of data resources, the smoothness of system use will be affected in 4K mode.

The main interface of the new Tmall Magic Box adopts the horizontal operation layout commonly seen in smart TV products. Some system setting options are placed on the far left of the first level of the main interface for easy operation.

When it comes to selecting and browsing video content, Tmall Magic Box’s new product uses classified icons for display. When a user pauses on a certain type of icon, the corresponding section will also expand sub-options such as “viewing history”, and the visual effect of the interface transition is more beautiful.

Entering the video project sub-section, the logical layout of the interface is clear, but the content performance in cooperation with Wasu TV is not outstanding. For example, the latest episode of the popular variety show "Day Day Up" only stayed in August this year.

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The online video browsing interface of Tmall Magic Box gives people a good feeling. The video will first be displayed in preview mode, and the current network status will be displayed. You can also jump directly to the episode on the video playback page. Under the network bandwidth of about 4M, the smoothness of video playback is relatively ideal.

In terms of scalability, the new Tmall Magic Box also comes with its own app store. However, due to the limited number of apps for large-screen TVs, the number of apps provided by the app store is not rich. In addition, in order to adapt to the system's icon design, the icons of some apps are stretched on display, which makes them look less refined.

Features

As it is called Tmall Magic Box, it is natural that it has online shopping related items. Although many smart TV products now have online shopping functions, with the powerful platform of Alibaba, the new Tmall Magic Box products will naturally perform better.

From mobile phone bill recharge to complete Taobao services, the new Tmall Magic Box has almost transplanted the Taobao and Tmall shopping model to the big screen of TV in a different form. Users first log in to the Tmall Magic Box by scanning the Taobao QR code on their mobile phone, so the payment process should also be much more convenient.

In addition, the new Tmall Magic Box supports online video chat. Users only need to enter the corresponding number to establish a connection. Of course, the video camera is an accessory that needs to be purchased separately.

As for the unique "M key" on the Tmall Magic Box new product remote control, it is a one-touch purchase button. For flash sale enthusiasts, its importance is self-evident.

The new Tmall Magic Box product also supports user voice commands. It can recognize spoken phrases such as "open XXX" or "I want to buy XXX" spoken to the remote control, and has high usability.

Game Experience

Although there is no obvious intersection between Tmall Magic Box and games in terms of product positioning or brand characteristics, it is still worth seeing how the new Tmall Magic Box will win the hearts of game players when considering the "Alibaba Family Digital Entertainment Service System" that Alibaba is trying to build and the cloud gaming platform strategy it has launched.

The new Tmall Magic Box product comes with a pre-installed game lobby with rich content, and the newly added "cloud game" area is placed in the most conspicuous position. It should be noted that cloud games require the device to be in a network environment with a bandwidth of more than 4M, otherwise the game project cannot be opened, and cloud games also require users to pay for use.

Currently, the cloud games supported by Tmall Magic Box include blockbusters for PC and console platforms such as "Batman", "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky", and "Pro Evolution Soccer 2014". These are no longer simple mobile game ports and are believed to satisfy the appetites of some professional gamers.

In terms of game control, Tmall Magic Box provides a special game controller for users to choose from. The controller design is similar to the Xbox controller and uses a wireless connection, but a USB adapter needs to be inserted into the Tmall Magic Box. In this way, the only USB port in the product is occupied. If Bluetooth or other methods are used to connect, it may be more suitable for the usage scenarios of TV boxes.

In addition to cloud games, users can also download games from Tmall Magic Box and run them locally. Although the game quality is not as good as those masterpieces in the cloud game library, they have all been fully adapted and optimized for the TV platform, and there are no compatibility issues with either display or handle operation.

For some small casual games, users can also use remote controls to operate directly. For users who do not have peripheral gaming controllers, they can also get a certain gaming entertainment experience from the new Tmall Magic Box products.

In general, the new Tmall Magic Box product is not only "new" in appearance, but also has major innovations in the internal system. In addition to traditional video services and advantages in online shopping, the rich and diverse gaming experience further enhances the overall competitiveness of the product. This will be of great significance to Alibaba's improvement of "Alibaba Home Digital Entertainment Services" and layout of the smart home industry.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.