Lenovo's Smart Assistant, a speaker made in collaboration with Amazon Alexa, will be available for purchase in May. (Photo : Getty Images)
Lenovo has joined a growing number of tech firms entering the market for voice-enabled gadgets with the launch of the Smart Assistant, the Chinese company's take on artificially intelligent speakers.
The Smart Assistant was unveiled ahead of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Sold for $129, the device is actually a team-up venture with Amazon and adopts Alexa, the e-commerce firm's popular AI-based assistant.
According to Lenovo, the new device can respond to voice commands and perform tasks such as creating playlists, searching for a song and playing music.
"Our goal has never been to simply build smart home devices for the sake of advancing technology alone," Johnson Jia, Lenovo's senior vice president for personal computers and smart devices, said in a statement.
"In the same way a person's IQ is measured by applied knowledge, we believe products are 'smart' to the degree they're actually understood and applied to daily life by their users," Jia added.
The announcement follows Google's launch of a device that also answers to voice commands and connects to smart home appliances.
The Smart Assistant also bears a strong semblance of Amazon's Echo, including the design and compatibility with third-party appliances. It will have a standard edition and a special Harman Kardon version for an additional $50.
But one aspect that remains unclear to reviewers is the gadget's software compatibility.
"Amazon's Echo connects with Amazon's own Alexa app, which is primarily a setup and manager app for the speaker, but also keeps a log of everything you ask Alexa for.
"Lenovo said that Smart Assistant users will have to set up the speaker using Lenovo's app for iOS and Android, but couldn't answer whether queries made through the speaker will be logged in Lenovo's app," Lauren Good, writer at The Verge, said.
The Smart Assistant will be available for purchase in May.
