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Thanks to smart speakers and displays, it is possible to have a voice assistant and the Internet in more parts of your home, and that includes the head of your bed.
We don’t all have smart homes yet, but that’s gradually changing. As smart light bulbs become more common, smart security cameras are beginning to be adopted alongside smart doorbells and other home protections, and our appliances are beginning to find a way to be controlled with our phones and voices, the idea of the smart home is becoming something that is clearer and easier to achieve.
It’s a gradual change, to be sure, like most things, but turning it into something you can trust depends on the smart home being easy to control, and that comes not just from your phone, but from the devices you place. around your home.
That includes smart speakers you can talk to and other devices that expand on that idea in other ways, like the night watch.
It’s an area we’ve seen companies like Amazon and Lenovo dabble in in recent years, the Amazon Echo Spot appearing as an Alexa-based alarm clock with a screen, and the Lenovo Smart Clock doing the Google Assistant thing with a little smart screen the size of a nightstand.
In fact, when we first reviewed it in the middle of last year, we liked the idea, but we thought that the screen should look better from angles and even less bright, because surely those were problems if the Smartwatch was next to your bed. . Google finally added a photo frame feature that helped make it look more like a standard smart display, but the software rarely changes the screen quality.
So this week, there’s a new model on the way, arriving at the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential, which is almost the same size as the original, but instead of that standard Smart Clock’s bright color LCD screen that faded at an angle, Lenovo Smart Clock Essential uses an LED display that can be viewed from more angles and has varying degrees of brightness aided in part by an ambient light sensor.
There’s a small speaker inside too, probably not great for music, given that the previous model wasn’t either, although the Google Assistant is present, allowing you to talk to the speaker when you need it.
Essentially, the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential is more of a smart speaker with a basic alarm clock display on the front, which could be more reliable as an alarm clock display than what Lenovo initially released on the first Smart Clock.
You’ll also find a small built-in light and USB socket for charging devices like wireless phones and headsets, and thanks to that Google Assistant connection, you can control devices around the home.
And just like the other Smart Clock, the Smart Clock Essential is coming to Australia and coming locally in September for $ 99. Comparatively, the older model, the LCD-equipped Lenovo Smart Clock, is still on the market for around $ 79. at the retail price, although it is not yet known if Lenovo will keep that clock when the Essential shakes. We will let you know when we know more.
