Hands-on: The Lenovo Smart Clock is a cheaper Home Hub for your bedside table

If you like the idea of a smart speaker with a display but aren’t keen on shelling out $150 for the Google Home Hub, you’ll want to check out Lenovo’s new Smart Clock.

The Lenovo Smart Clock is exactly what the name implies: a smart speaker with a small display, made to fit on your bedside table. Despite its small size, it’s quite the capable little device. It has a 4-inch IPS LCD display that will show an ambient clock, upcoming alarms, calendar events, and any Google Assistant commands you ask it.

It’s clear Lenovo took the Home Hub’s aesthetic into account when designing the Smart Clock – it has a fabric-lined 6-watt speaker with two passive radiators, along with Dolby’s noise reduction technology.

Many people are hesitant about putting a smart speaker of any kind in their room, and for good reason. Having something always-on, listening to your every word isn’t the most calming thing in the world. Luckily the Smart Clock has a mute switch around back if you want the device to stop listening. There’s also no camera to be found on the device, but there is a USB-A port for charging your phone.

You’ll mainly use voice commands to interact with the Lenovo Smart Clock. It has Google Assistant built in, so you can use it to control your smart home devices, use custom Assistant routines, and even use it as a Chromecast target. What’s more, you can set a gentle wake up routine to have your lights progressively brighten and alarm increase in volume 30 minutes before you wake up.

The Lenovo Smart Clock goes on sale for $79.99 sometime this Spring 2019. That’s a considerably lower price than the $150 Google Home Hub (Note: on sale now for $99) and $130 Amazon Echo Spot, making this the most accessible Assistant display ever.

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