Amazon’s Echo speakers enjoy massive success throughout the 2016 holiday season. We even called the smaller Dot our product of the year. Amazon is kicking off CES 2017 by lending out its popular Voice Assistant to new brands. Just recently we told you about Fabriq, a nifty little speaker with a wide range of capabilities including Alexa. Today, Lenovo is introducing a new smart speaker that leverages Amazon’s software in conjunction with audio hardware backed by Harman Kardon. The Lenovo Smart Assistant can handle all of the same Alexa skills in two different models.
First up, is the base $130 speaker that comes in at $50 less than Amazon Echo. There are a few differences between the two, however. Lenovo’s Smart Assistant contains eight 360-degree far-field microphones (versus seven in Echo) and it features a 5W treble speaker and 10W woofer. Jumping up to the $180 Harman Kardon edition brings upgraded internals including a two-inch cavity for deeper bass and clearer vocals. Both models will be available in bright colors such as green and orange plus a gray coloring. Lenovo is expected to begin shipping units in May.
Our CES 2017 Guide is the place to be for all of this week’s announcements, swing by for more.
We designed the Lenovo Smart Assistant, a new mainstream digital personal assistant with Amazon Alexa cloud-based voice services. Built in collaboration with Amazon, the elegantly designed Lenovo Smart Assistant recognizes users’ voice commands and uses Alexa to conduct web searches, play music, create lists, provide calendar updates and much more. And because Alexa’s brains are in the cloud, it means she’s always getting smarter.
Source: Lenovo
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