The Lenovo Smart Clock is powered by Google Assistant and can come up with answers if your query starts with ‘Hey, Google’.Smart devices now come in all shapes and sizes. The success of Amazon’s Echo range has spurred other companies to come out with devices that are at your beck and call, really to assist you with the weather, a music playlist of just the time. Lenovo too seems to have thought it is time it entered the smart devices fray and has brought to India a series of devices. We tested the Lenovo Smart Clock.
Before opening the box, I got the feeling the Lenovo Smart Clock looks too much like the Amazon Echo Show 5. But I was wrong. This device is in fact as advertised the size of a bedside clock. And, yes, it is quite smart. It is small enough to be held in your hand and comes with a 3.97-inch WVGA IPL display. There are volume buttons on the top. Behind the device, along with the power and USB ports, there is a button to kill the microphone if needed.
Lenovo Smart Clock specs: MediaTek MT8167S Processor ( 1.50GHz ) | Android Things OS | 3.97”WVGA IPS AntiGlare LED Backlight 480 x 800p | 1.0GB LPDDR3 memory | 8GB RAM | One-year warranty | 30W adapter | Bluetooth 5.0
Lenovo Smart Clock price in India: Rs 5,999
Lenovo Smart Clock
You will need to go to the Google Home app to set up the device. I did this with an iPhone and the process was really quick and all I had to do was give access to my Gmail account.
The display is touch-enabled, so you can swipe up to bring up other settings line brightness controls and do not disturb and deep dive for settings. You can use these settings to change the clock face for instance and there are some very trendy choices there.
Lenovo Smart Clock is in fact as advertised the size of a bedside clock.There is more you can do on this screen. Swipe down from the top and you get some good presets like Good Morning which gives you a good morning message, followed by the time, weather and traffic update. I loved this feature, similar to the routines on Alexa. And there is a play music button here which start playing from your preset station, in my case Spotify.
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The Lenovo Smart Clock is powered by Google Assistant and can come up with answers if your query starts with ‘Hey, Google’. It could do most of the stuff you would expect from a smart device and can even control a Philips Hue speaker if you have one at home.
The Lenovo Smart Clock can be pretty loud. But loud is not always lovely and I found the audio playback to be a bit tinny and sharp for my liking. So while I might listen to a recipe on the clock, I will think twice before listening to Rahman. But then music profiles are a personal choice and I am known to be choosier than others.
To my disappointment, the device did not play YouTube and kept saying it can’t do that but could try to do it on another device. I am not sure why it couldn’t play a video for me on this screen. Also, when I asked for news, it turned to the BBC and could not give me a local news source. I hope these issues are fixed soon for the Indian audience.
Lenovo Smart Clock lacks support for YouTube.Also read| Amazon Alexa Echo Show 5 review: Perfect Echo upgrade
Priced at Rs 5,999, the Lenovo Smart Clock is a good option for those looking for their first smart device. It makes even more sense if you are a Google fan and already uses Google Assistant. Use this as a bedside clock that shows the weather, play music and even answers a few queries and you will be more than happy.
