V
oice powered smart speakers
are now ten-a-penny, and it
seems that smart displays,
whether powered by the Google
Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa, are set
to follow suit. The Lenovo Smart
Clock is the latest to join the fray..
However, whether through the
added expense of the display, or
the busier nature of a device that
juggles both touch and voice
controls, smart-screen devices
haven’t had quite the impact their
speaker counterparts have had.
With many also housing a camera
(ostensibly for video chat purposes,
but also fuelling conspiracy
theories surrounding privacy),
there’s been some reticence to
bring them into the bedroom,
which would otherwise seem a
natural home for them.
The Lenovo Smart Clock wants to
smarten up your traditional alarm
clock, but really, it’s more than that.
It’s a cheap way to get a Google
Assistant smart home speaker
adorned with a clock face on it and
a special ‘Good Morning’
dashboard into your bedroom.
The small 4-inch touchscreen has
a screen resolution of 480 x 800
pixels, which is adequate for what
it’s trying to show at such a small
size. Designed to sit next to you in
bed, you’ll likely be close to it when
using it, so we didn’t find its
diminutive stature a problem. If
anything it was a bonus, making it
more discreet in a bedroom where
you’re unlikely going to want
overbearing tech to intrude. You’ll
likely want a larger-screened smart
device for other rooms though.
There’s purposefully no camera
built in, and that’s actually being
touted as a feature here. Lenovo
wants you to feel comfortable
bringing this into the more intimate
rooms of your home, and senses
that the presence of a camera could
undermine that.
The clock has a subtle wedge-like
shape, covered in a grey fabricmesh. A chunky border surrounds
the screen, curving off the edges,
but taking up a fair amount of real
estate on the device’s front face. Up
top, a plus and minus sign offer
volume controls. There’s a
microphone mute switch on back
(which, somewhat counter-
intuitively announces itself very
loudly when in use), with a port for
power and a USB port.Any port in a snore
Why is there a USB port on this
thing? To charge your phone at
night. This way, you’re not losing a
precious outlet behind the
nightstand to your phone charger.
It’s worth noting though that this
isn’t a particularly fast charger, so
you may still want to keep your
mobile device’s standard-issue plug
handy. Still, it’s useful if you just
want to give some juice to a phone,
tablet or ereader while in bed.
The speakers are rated at 6W.
That’s not shockingly loud, butLenovo Smart Clock
£80 | $80 http://www.lenovo.com
A petite treat that won’t spy on you in the bedroom
Images : Lenovo82 |^ |^ August 2019