76 T3 Tomorrow ’s Technology TodayAUGUST 2019 WWW.T3INDIA.COMTe s te d
A smart router withAlexa support
ROUTER THAT TALKS
ereatT 3 India,we’vehadtheprivilege tocheck
outsomeinterestingroutersin thepast.Right
fromthe oneswithdisplaystomeshandeven
with RGBs.Wehaveseen itall.ButAsus’ latest
offeringtakesthecakeofbeinga routerbutnot
actuallylookinglike one.
The LyraVoicelookslike anyotherspeakerinthe market
buta closerlookatthebackrevealsitsrealpurpose.Lyra
Voicebringsthe smartnessofAlexaandrouterpackedinto
one.
Design-wise,LyraVoicecomeswithtexturedfabric
exterioralongwithanLEDlight onthefrontthattells youif
Alexaislisteningornotwhile the topcomeswithmicand
fourphysicalbuttonslikethevolumecontrol,muteandan
actionkey. Thebackhidesthegigabit LANandWA Nport,
AC adapterportandthe on/offslider.Overall, the LyraVoice
looksfantasticanda perfectadditiontothelivingroom.
Onethingweparticularlylike aboutAsusroutersishow
easyit is tosetup.Alla userneedstoconnectthecableand
gothroughthe on-screeninstructionsonthefreeapp.Asus
maintainsa separateLyraappforitsLyradevices,whichwe
feelcouldhavebeenintegratedwiththemainAsusrouter
app.Eveneasieris touseit asa meshnode withanotherAsus
AiMeshcompatible router.
TheLyraVoiceis a tri-bandAC2200MU-MIMOrouter
thattakescareofwebsurfing,videostreamingandother
network-centricfeatureswithoutcompromisingonthe
speed. The routeralsosupportsadvancedparental controlsH
VERDICT
WE’REIMPRESSEDPerformance,Setup
WE’DIMPROVEConsolidateapps
THELASTWORDLyraVoiceisa boldattempttobring
a routertothelivingroomandwhileAsussucceedsit
with acompetentproduct,thebiggesthindrance for
people toexperience it is theprice.WORDS KUNALGANGAR
andbuilt-inAiProtectionProtoprotectagainstviruses
andmalware.
On the audioside ofthings,the LyraVoicecomeswithtwo
8Wspeakersthatproducetop-qualitysound.Theaudio
qualityis crispwithnodistortionevenathighvolumeanda
hintofbass.UserscanalsoenableordisableDTSbutitneeds
tobedonethroughthe app.Wewouldhavepreferreda
physicalkeyforquickDTSaccess.
The initialconfigurationforAmazonAlexais throughan
app.Oncesuccessfully configured, the LyraVoiceactslike
anyotherAlexa-enableddevice.Thismeansyoucanask
Alexatoplaysongs,askquestionsandevencontrolsmart
homedevices.TheLyraVoicealsosupportsaudioviaother
Bluetoothdevices and other streamingservices like Spotify
or Pandora.PRICE` 24 , 990 URLasus.com/inDIMENSIONS
27 0x 75 x75mmWEIGHT 975 gOPERATINGFREQUENCY
2.4GHz/5GHz-1/5GHz-2MEMORYFL ASH(RAM/
FLASH)512MB/256MBBLUETOOTHBluetooth4.2
I/OPORTSWANPortx1,LANPortx 1 ANTENNA 6
internalsingle-bandantennas(5GHzx 4+2GHzx 2), 1
internalBluetoothantennaFEATURESAiMeshmode,
Router/AP/Repeatermode,AiProtection,SpotifyConnect
MICROPHONE)DUĆHOGPLF DUUD\ HFKR FDQFHOODWLRQ
360-degreesounddetectionSPEAKER 8 -Wattstereo
speakerx 2PassiveRadiatorx 2