Today at CES 2022, Lenovo is refreshing its popular Smart Clock Essential with built-in Alexa. Delivering a notable bedside companion, the new iteration arrives with Amazon’s assistant built-in on top of new animations and more. Now available for pre-order, you can get all of the details down below.
Lenovo Smart Clock Essential refreshed with Alexa
Last year, Lenovo launched a new addition to its portfolio of smart speakers with the Smart Clock 2. The first time around, the device was powered by a Google Assistant experience like we’ve seen from past releases. Now for CES 2022, it seems that Amazon has won over the folks at Lenovo going forward.
Not to be confused with the original Lenovo Smart Clock Essential that was a pared down version of the brand’s smart alarm clock, the new version is an updated version of the Smart Clock 2. That discrepancy out of the way, you’re looking at a very similar feature set to its Assistant-powered predecessor.
The main change this time around is of course the fact that Alexa is now the star of the show and powering the experience. You’ll be able to do all of the things that Amazon’s voice assistant is known for, be it controlling smart home accessories, playing music, or setting alarms. Its just what you’d expect given that the new Lenovo Smart Clock Essential is something of a half-way point between an Echo Dot with Clock and full-fledged Echo Show 5.
On the software front, Lenovo is also adding in some extra flare to mark the grand entrance of Alexa into the mix. Something that wasn’t offered on previous models are some newfound animations that appear when you summon Alexa for a task. While it’s a small tweak that some may not even pay any mind to, it certainly goes the extra mile to make the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential a bigger centerpiece of your nightstand.
And speaking of, the big draw of the speaker is its built-in screen. Sporting a four-inch color display, the entire unit is covered in a fabric design. The clock face will of course be able to showcase the current time as well as alarms, but also displays the weather another tidbits, too.
Now available for pre-order, the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential will begin shipping later this month on January 19. Bringing home the Alexa version will cost you the same price as its Assistant counterpart, with a $69.99 price tag.
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