Lenovo's Smart Display with Google Assistant hit the market on Friday.
There are two versions of the device, one with an 8-inch full HD screen and the other with a 10-inch full HD screen, priced at US$200 and $250 respectively.
"The cost is significantly below an iPad mini and it offers far more functionality than just a digital picture frame or a Bluetooth speaker," said Alan Lepofsky, principal analyst at Constellation Research.
Buyers will get three months' free access to YouTube Premium.
The Lenovo Smart Display runs on Google's Android Things, an operating system developed for the notoriously insecure Internet of Things.
Google has addressed the IoT security problem by providing three years of OS updates for free for every Android Things-based product.
Automatic updates are enabled by default. After three years, there will be options for extended support.
You Can Speak Softly
The Lenovo Smart Display lets users play music, make video calls, conduct Web searches, view their calendars, and access YouTube videos. It has native integration with Google Duo video calling and Google Photos.
However, Android Things reportedly can run only one app at a time.
Both versions of the Lenovo Smart Display have a 10W speaker with tweeters, and both offer multiroom audio support. They have two microphones that are sensitive enough to pick up commands spoken softly.
Voice commands are the main interface, but the device also has a touchscreen for follow-up actions such as zooming in on a map, for example.
The 10-inch version can be stood horizontally in landscape mode, or vertically in portrait mode. It comes with a privacy shutter to block the camera, and a microphone mute toggle setting.
Tablet or Speaker?
Sound quality is "mediocre -- about on par with the Google Home or entry-level Amazon Echo -- but nowhere near as good as a Sonos One or HomePod," noted Dieter Bohn in his review for The Verge.
The device's speaker lacks bass impact, said Daniel Bader in his review for Android Central.
Also, Android Things isn't fully baked yet, he pointed out. It lacks Netflix and other big-name Chromecast support, and it's better optimized for voice than touch.
However, the sound quality is "great," according to Nicole Lee, who reviewed the Smart Display for Engadget.
"While I have portable speakers that produce better sound overall, I was impressed with the audio quality of the Smart Display, as it was better than that of the [Amazon] Echo Show," wrote Valentina Palladino for Ars Technica.
"Lenovo is trying to thread the needle between tablets and smart speakers, but it seems like the best parts of both devices are lost in this product," observed Eric Smith, director of tablet and touchscreen strategies at Strategy Analytics.
"The sound quality isn't as good as other smart speakers, and the functionality isn't as strong as most tablets," he told TechNewsWorld. "The second generation needs a full Android or Chrome OS to be as useful as possible."
Amazon offers a docking station that enables voice input "to transform the UI and functionality of its Fire tablets at the low end of the price spectrum," Smith said, suggesting that Lenovo should follow suit.
The Smart Display's mikes are sensitive, noted Ars' Palladino. "I never had to yell or raise my voice for the Google Assistant to hear me."
Although the 10-inch device can be set up in portrait mode, it's useful only for Duo video calls, The Verge's Bohn noted, as the software otherwise isn't designed to work in that mode.
The device can be set up to recognize different voices attached to different Google accounts, but the display will default to showing information from the primary account, Bohn found.