Being a huge fan of Google Home and Google Home Mini, I was quick to get my hands on the first smart display with Google Assistant. While I opted for the 10”, I also purchased the 8” for my mother a few months later.
My Lenovo Smart Display lives on the counter between the kitchen and the family room. It’s a perfect location considering everything it can do. It does very well at picking up voice commands with its 4 microphone array as well as the impressive sound that comes from it’s 10W full range driver and passive radiator.
Speaking of everything it can do, let’s start with the kitchen. In addition to asking it to set a timer or a unit conversion question like how many pints are in a cup, it can walk you through recipes step by step audibly and visually. Sounds weird, but you need to see it in action to really appreciate it.
Outside of the kitchen, it’s used as home automation panel. You can control the thermostat, lights, fans, music, televisions and more. It’s much easier for a quest to control things using this display than it is trying to figure out the right voice commands. You can also view any compatible cameras you have. This is super convenient when the nanny is here as it literally turns into an on-demand baby monitor using the nursery’s Arlo Baby.
When it’s not in use, it’s a virtual picture frame that also shows the time and weather info. And obviously it’s always waiting to answer commands and questions like its non-screen sibling.
Finally, one of my favorite features (and the reason I bought my mother one) is the Duo video calling. It’s an easy, seamless and high-quality way for us to communicate using video. It’s almost like being there in person. Almost.
