Google-Powered Lenovo Smart Display

The Google-powered Lenovo Smart Display competes with Amazon Echo Show.It seems that Google is following in the footsteps of Amazon. Just as Amazon came out with Echo, the smart-speaker, Google came out with Home. The Home Mini by Google was also released after Amazon’s Echo Dot. Last year, Amazon brought out the Echo Show, a smart speaker with a display. This year saw the release of the Google-powered Lenovo Smart Display.

Google will not be making the hardware but will partner with other hardware manufacturers to release various Google-powered smart display systems.

The Lenovo Smart Display Review

The first of its kind is the Lenovo Smart Display which is priced at $200 for the 8-inch model and $250 for the 10-inch model by Lenovo. The rear of the 8-inch version is gray while the 10-inch version has a bamboo finish. The HD displays come with different resolutions, the 8-inch is 1200 X 800 and the 10-inch is FHD (1920 X 1200).

It has a stylish design with excellent speakers and great display. The audio quality too is excellent.Watching YouTube videos on the Lenovo Smart Display is a real treat.

The Lenovo Smart Display has a large, flat screen which is to the right of the white speaker unit. It is designed to work when kept horizontally, but rubber feet have been provided, so that it can be put vertically. The hardware can work vertically but the software will not function when the Lenovo Smart Display is vertical, except in the case of Duo video calls.

The Lenovo Smart Display comes with a large brightness range and good auto-brightness settings.

There is a switch on the right of the Lenovo Smart Display that slides over the lens to block the 5-megapixel wide-angle camera. When you are not making video calls the camera can be disabled and you can maintain your privacy.

It comes with two microphones for voice recognition. It works fairly well as long as you do not turn up the volume. The Google-based speakers recognises your voice and connects to your Google account.

All about the Smart Display

The set up for the Lenovo Smart Display can be done via the Google Home app on your phone and you can connect to Wi-fi and your Google account. You interact with the Smart Display basically with voice commands.Touch is used for follow-up taps when there is something on the screen as is seen in the play/pause button or in case you want to zoom in on a map.

Along with the voice actions there is also the optional visual component. You can set as many timers which will remain on the screen. The default Home Screen has the weather forecast and calendar appointments. You can set alarms, timers and reminders and since it is part of the Google Home app, the Smart Display will trigger a series of actions by prompting it with a certain phrase.

The Lenovo Smart Display has a great feature for displaying recipes. The Assistant reads the ingredients with a visual display and also gives step-by-step directions.

The Lenovo Smart Display is a smart speaker with a touchscreen. It cannot be used as a tablet. The smart Display runs on Android Things OS which comes with a Google Assistant interface. There is no need to install any apps.