Xiaomi spoke Russian. A quick overview of the smart speaker Mi Smart Speaker
This column is already known in Europe and India. There it is sold with a Google Assistant. And now Mi Smart Speaker has learned Russian and has officially entered the Russian market. We check in practice what a smart speaker is capable of.
What Mi Smart Speaker looks like
The column is small: height 15 centimeters, width 13, and depth 10.4. Moreover, it is quite weighty - 853 grams. The body is mostly covered with a silver metal grille, under which a speaker with a diameter of 63.5 millimeters is hidden. The top and bottom of the model are made of solid white plastic. There is also a black version, but we do not know yet whether it will be sold in Russia.
On the top panel, there are two microphone holes and touch buttons responsible for play/pause, volume control, and mute. There is a thin LED strip along the entire edge of the panel. It is usually off, but lights up and shimmers with soft light when the speaker hears your command and answers a question. The hue changes from light blue to yellow-red, depending on the volume level. But there is no color-musical accompaniment of the tracks. Or we could not find where it turns on.
How does the speaker sound
According to the specifications, the speaker power is 12 W. In practice, at maximum volume, music is perfectly audible anywhere in a three-room apartment. And in the neighboring apartments too, so don't get carried away. This is not a hi-fi device, but the sound is quite decent and surprisingly bass, especially given such a compact body. For background listening to melodies from the network and Internet radio, the sound quality is more than sufficient. Yes, and for a party, it will do.
Mi Smart Speaker can play tracks from a smartphone via Bluetooth or independently play music from VKontakte - without a smartphone, but you need a subscription. To listen to songs from Spotify, you need to specify the speaker as the playback device in the mobile app. You also need to launch the playlist from your smartphone.
The speaker understands natural voice commands: "Put on calm music", "Play rock", "Turn on the Shpongle". You don't have to bother with the wording. The instruction “Turn up / down” is recognized in the same way as “Add volume”. The device understands the phrase "Next track" no worse than "Previous track". And to stop the music, a dozen words and expressions like “Turn off”, “Stop”, “Stop” and even “Shut up already!” Are suitable if you are suddenly not in the mood.
For Mi Smart Speaker to access music from Internet services and the functions of a smart assistant, it must be activated. To do this, you need to install the "Marusya - Voice Assistant" application from the Play Store or AppStore on your smartphone, give this software a command to connect the speaker, and then follow the instructions. However, the gadget itself will tell you everything when you turn it on for the first time.
And talk? Smart assistant
For the smart functions of Mi Smart Speaker, the voice assistant "Marusya", which is part of the VK ecosystem, is responsible. It is enough to say this name to attract the attention of the assistant, and then request information or give a command. If required, the app can enable child mode and child voice recognition so that the algorithm avoids topics that are inappropriate for children.
"Marusya" is always ready to announce the weather forecast, exchange rates, or the results of sports matches, she converts money, counts for you on a calculator, sets a timer, and creates a reminder. It can turn on news or music radio, find information on the network, tell an anecdote, a poem, a children's fairy tale, play games ... The list of assistants' skills contains dozens of items and is constantly expanding.
We liked how the recipe search is implemented in the assistant. Say: "Maroussia, how to cook ratatouille?" - and the assistant will ask whether it is necessary to read the recipe found in its entirety or explain it step by step. In the second case, the system will wait until you complete the next stage and ask you to go to the next one. If the recipe contains a cooking time, it will offer to set a timer. Comfortable.
Integration with smart home
With Mi Smart Speaker, you can use your voice to control smart home devices. It was in this scenario that we appreciated the high sensitivity of the microphones. You can command "Maroussia, turn off the light in the living room" even from the far corner of the apartment.
Interaction with the smart home is configured in the application on the smartphone. From a long list of compatible brands, we chose the right one, entered the account details, set the names of the home devices - and voila! Now we start the robot vacuum cleaner with the command “Marusya, start Zhorik” (yes, that’s what his name is). More complex commands like "Send Zhorik to clean the kitchen" were not available. At least in the Mi Home smart home, we tested.
Outcomes
Mi Smart Speaker is a nice and small, but powerful speaker with very good sound for a household device. You can select music on the network and control playback with voice commands. The smart column is made by "Marusya". At your request, the assistant searches for information on the Internet, perform assignments such as calculations or setting reminders, entertains with games, anecdotes, aphorisms, and fairy tales. Can make a call to a friend from the VKontakte friends list. Knows how to control smart home devices - also by voice command. A reliable assistant who is always ready to help. And if you want to be a little alone, just turn off the microphone with the button on the case. The price of the device at the time of writing the review was not announced. We'll add it as soon as it becomes known.
https://www.lktechsky.com/2020/10/acer-halo-rarest-google-assistant.html
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