Lenovo’s Smart Display with Google Assistant hit the market on Friday. There are two versions of the device, one with an 8-inch full HD screen and the other with a 10-inch full HD screen, priced at US$200 and $250 respectively. “The cost is significantly below an iPad mini and it offers far more functionality than just a digital picture frame or a Bluetooth speaker,” said Alan Lepofsky, principal analyst at Constellation Research. Buyers will get three months’ free access to YouTube Premium.
The Lenovo Smart Display runs on Google’s Android Things, an operating system developed for the notoriously insecure Internet of Things. Google has addressed the IoT security problem by providing three years of OS updates for free for every Android Things-based product. Automatic updates are enabled by default. After three years, there will be options for extended support.
You Can Speak Softly
The Lenovo Smart Display lets users play music, make video calls, conduct Web searches, view their calendars, and access YouTube videos. It has native integration with Google Duo video calling and Google Photos. However, Android Things reportedly can run only one app at a time.
Both versions of the Lenovo Smart Display have a 10W speaker with tweeters, and both offer multiroom audio support. They have two microphones that are sensitive enough to pick up commands spoken softly. Voice commands are the main interface, but the device also has a touchscreen for follow-up actions such as zooming in on a map, for example.
The 10-inch version can be stood horizontally in landscape mode, or vertically in portrait mode. It comes with a privacy shutter to block the camera, and a microphone mute toggle setting.
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Source: Tech News World
By Jagmeet Singh,
