Lenovo's New Smart Speaker Comes With Amazon's Alexa, Better Sound
Lenovo's new smart speaker looks and sounds like an Amazon
Echo, for good reason: the Chinese tech giant collaborated with the
stateside company to make it happen using its Alexa Voice Services
platform. Unveiled on Tuesday, the new Lenovo Smart Assistant has Amazon
Alexa built right into each cigarette butt-shaped speaker.
There
are a couple differences, however, namely that the Lenovo device has its
microphone on top, instead of at the base, like Echo. According to a
press release, the Smart Asst. has "eight 360-degree far-field
microphones with noise suppression and acoustic echo cancellation,"
which can pick up voices from up to 16 feet away.
The other main
distinction from Echo are cost and, most importantly, speaker quality.
The Lenovo device, which ships in May, retails at $130. If you're
willing to spend $50 more (matching the regular price of an Echo) you
can snag an Assistant equipped with a superior Harman Kardon speaker.