With the advent of smart gadgets and given the circumstances that we are required to stay home more often these days, it’s more convenient than ever to have a smart assistant that attends to our information needs. You might already be familiar with voice assistants or even have your own smart home device. If you’re looking to upgrade to a new model, we have rounded up the 3 best smart displays you can get today.
Google Nest Hub
While it may look like a tablet at first glance, the Google Nest Hub functions almost like one too. Users of Google Assistant will find its user interface pretty intuitive. Instead of tapping on the Nest Hub, you can simply command with your voice for various tasks. It fulfills your entertainment needs like watching videos on YouTube or playing songs on YouTube Music, Spotify, or Pandora. What’s more, you can now spend your weekend doing a Netflix marathon with it. Go to the settings in the Google Home app and link your Netflix account under the “Videos and Photos” section. Then, use voice commands to broadcast a certain show or movie you’d like to watch.
Syncing Google Photos is also hassle-free with this one. You’ll no longer need a photo frame to display your favorite photos with Hub. In addition, you can view other compatible smart devices at home such as lights, cameras, and TVs while controlling them. Got any questions for Google? Hub will present to you visual answers from Google or helpful recipe videos when you’re trying to make a Christmas turkey.
Amazon Echo Show 8
Coming pretty close to the Nest Hub is the Amazon Echo Show 8, which comes with a physical camera lens, allowing you to connect with your loved ones via video calling, provided that they have the Alexa app or an Echo device pre-installed. Of course, some may be skeptical about the idea of a camera lens watching their every move at home. Amazon is considerate of its users’ privacy, hence they have designed two privacy protection features. Once a video call ends, you can disconnect the microphones and camera electronically with just one press of a button, then slide the built-in shutter to cover the camera lens.
Enjoy your entertainment hands-free as you can simply ask Alexa to play the latest movie trailers, TV shows, or movies that have long been on your to-watch list as well as podcasts or audiobooks while doing mundane house chores. Comparing this to the Nest Hub, it has better audio quality and a nicer interface. If the Alexa ecosystem is no stranger to you, then the Echo Show is the best match for your home.
Lenovo Smart Display 10
Powered by Google Assistant, the Lenovo Smart Display sports a speaker to the left of the sleek and large display screen. As with Google Nest Hub, it can perform all sorts of tasks based on your voice commands. Whether it is asking about the outdoor temperature, checking the weather forecast, seeking recommendations for nearby eateries, watching videos on YouTube, making video calls on Google Duo, turning on your living room lights, browsing favorite photos, or following food recipes, this Lenovo device can do it all.
Prop this up on your kitchen counter when you need a visual food recipe to walk you through the steps of cooking a complicated dish, or set this as an alarm clock on your bedside table. On top of that, use this smart display as your personal interpreter that breaks down the language barrier, so you can communicate with someone who speaks a language you can’t comprehend.