Lenovo Smart Assistant vs Amazon Echo: Quick Comparison

TheAmazon Echosmart speaker, powered by theAlexa voice assistanthas been a surprise hit. It’s popularity has given a rise to a number of smart home speakers. The Google Home, powered by Google Assistant is a great smart speaker and some would sayit’s even better. Then, there’s theHarman Kardon’s speaker, powered by Microsoft’s Cortana, in the works. And as you might have guessed, the Lenovo Smart Assistant is the latest entrant to the category. Announced prior to CES 2017, it’s not really an Amazon Echo competitor, considering it’s powered by Amazon’s Alexa platform.

Now that a new Alexa smart speaker has arrived (apart from Amazon’sother offerings like Tap and Echo Dot), you must be wondering, how does the Lenovo offering fare against Amazon’s, right? Well, we thought so and thus,we are pitting Lenovo Smart Assistant against Amazon Echo to find out which is the best Alexa speaker out there:

Design and Size

TheLenovo Smart Assistant speaker looks a lot like Amazon Echoand that’s not a bad thing, considering we like how the Amazon device looks. It features the same cylindrical tube-like design but there are differences. First off,unlike the Echo’s flat top, the Lenovo Smart Assistant features a top that is jutted out. According to Lenovo, this makes up for a better ventilation for the Intel Atom processor. Also, the Lenovo Smart Assistant is available is three vibrant colors: Light Gray, Orange, Blue and a Black Harman Kardon edition.

Other major difference when it comes to the design is the fact thatLenovo Smart Assistant ditches the mute button, that you find in Echo on the top. The mute button is handy, when you don’t want Alexa to listen to you and its removal in Lenovo’s speaker is a big deal, at least for me. Lenovo’s speaker does feature the activate button, which is used to set up Alexa.

Other than that, it features the volume ring on top along with the cool LED light ring, we’ve come to love in the Echo.

Microphones and Speakers

The Lenovo Smart Assistant features8 far field 360-degree microphones with noise cancellation, so that it can hear you well even if you have a large house. The mics work in 6+2 arrangement and can hear commands from as far as 5 metres. On the other hand, the Amazon Echo features 7 far field 360-degree microphones that do the job of receiving commands pretty well. The Amazon Echo mic does a great job and with an additional mic, the Lenovo speaker should do even better.

When it comes to speakers, the Lenovo Smart Assistant features some serious power, especially in its Harman Kardon edition. The standard Lenovo Smart Assistant features a speaker thatpacks 5W Treble and a 10W Woofer. TheHarman Kardon edition adds a 2-inch sound cavity, which offers deeper bass and clearer sound. The Amazon Echo features a fairly powerful 360-degree sound system with a 2.5-inch woofer and 2.0-inch tweeter. While the sound quality is decent on Echo,the Harman Kardon Lenovo Smart Assistant should offer way better sound.

Connectivity

Like Amazon Echo, the Lenovo Alexa speaker featuresWiFiDual-band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) tech and support the 802.11a/b/g/n standard. Both the devices also support Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, so that you can play music overBluetoothfrom your Android or iOS device.

Also, the Lenovo speaker, like Echo, is not a portable device and you will have to keep it connected to a power outlet all the time for it to work.

Hardware

TheLenovo Smart Assistant trumps the Amazon Echowhen it comes to under the hood specifications. Compared to Echo’s outdated Texas Instruments DM3725 ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 256 MB RAM and 4 GB of storage, the Lenovo speaker features Intel’s Celeron N3060 processor and packs in 2 GB RAM, 8 GB of storage.

Alexa Features

The fact that even the Lenovo Smart Assistant is powered by Alexa, makes sure that the voice capabilities on both speakers will be pretty much identical. Basically, you get the sameAlexa commandsfor both the devices, plus you can customize your experience withAlexa skills.

However, there’s a bit of confusion on the fact that Lenovo is said to be releasing its own app to pair the Smart Assistant with your Android or iOS device, whileLenovo’s websitestates that you will be able to use theAlexa app. Well, we should know more about it when the Lenovo Smart Assistant is released.

Price and Availability

The Lenovo Smart Assistant will be released in the US in May 2017. Itsstandard edition will go for $129.99, while theHarman Kardon edition will be priced at $179.99. Before it arrives in the US, it will be released in Lenovo’s home market, China, in March. On the other hand, the Amazon Echo is available in the US, UK and Germany and is priced at $179.

Specs Comparison

SEE ALSO:Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Google Assistant Takes on Alexa

Lenovo Smart Assistant vs Amazon Echo: Which Alexa Speaker Should You Buy?

To sum things up, the Lenovo Smart Assistant speaker is simply a repackaged Amazon Echo with a better speaker. So, if you have been waiting for a new Echo that packs in better speakers, the Lenovo offering should be a decent choice. However, the lack of mute button is kind of a big deal to me but to each his own. Well, that’s what I think but I’d love to hear from you. What do you think of the Alexa powered Lenovo Smart Assistant speaker? Sound off in the comments section below.

Rupesh Sinha

Rupesh is a section editor here and one of the hosts at our YouTube channel. A long time mobile lover and technology aficionado, he loves to indulge in all things technology! In his free time (which is non-existent), he loves watching Westworld, Silicon Valley, and Game of Thrones, obviously.

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