PC maker Lenovo today announced its first smart speaker with Amazon's voice-activated virtual assistant built in.

Called the Lenovo Smart Assistant, the connected speaker integrates Amazon's Alexa Voice Services and offers the same speech-activated features as the Echo family of devices, but housed in a slightly redesigned unit.

Lenovo-smart-assistant-all-colors_678x452
The speaker keeps the same cylindrical profile as Amazon's Echo, but with the microphone portion of the device in a slightly raised position, which Lenovo says offers better ventilation to cool the internal components. Lenovo's unit also has eight far-field microphones versus Echo's seven, with noise suppression and acoustic echo cancellation included for picking up voice commands from up to 16 feet away.

The Lenovo Smart Assistant comes in a range of color schemes including green, gray, and orange fabric. The speakers will ship in May for a price of $130 (less than Amazon's Echo at $180). Lenovo is also offering a Harman Kardon edition of the Smart Assistant featuring better sound quality for $180.

Amazon's Alexa Voice Services API is expected to crop up in a number of new third-party products at this year's CES. Microsoft has previously teased third-party devices using its own Cortana virtual assistant technology.

Top Rated Comments

Aluminum213 Avatar
108 months ago
Amazon echo really is a great device to have in the house, Apple is so far behind in this market
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nicksd84 Avatar
108 months ago
I really don't see the appeal of these devices at all, I hope Apple does not waste any resources building a speaker of their own.
Have you owned/used one? They are quite handy and the voice recognition ability of a stand-alone device is infinitely better than a smartphone
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5105973 Avatar
108 months ago
I didn't like the idea of a little spybot in the house but I relented and got the Echo and Echo dot that were on my husband's Christmas wish list and I am glad I did. Alexa is a lot of fun and often useful and we all love her funny little "It's Raining in the Cloud" song.

But I still rely on Google Assistant (in my Allo app on iPhone and on my Android phones) for better answers or any answers at all when Alexa doesn't know how to answer me and Siri completely mangles my question into something absurd and unrelated.

I am impressed by how well Alexa seems to work with ordinary colloquial speech. I'm so used to speaking so precisely and robotically to Siri.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mike Oxard Avatar
108 months ago
Amazon echo really is a great device to have in the house, Apple is so far behind in this market
I think apple must be working on this. With the death of the Airport express they now no longer have an audio airplay product. An Echo style solution for Siri would fill that gap. I just wish they'd hurry up as I might end up getting an echo!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redbeard331 Avatar
108 months ago
I really don't see the appeal of these devices at all, I hope Apple does not waste any resources building a speaker of their own.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Return Zero Avatar
108 months ago
Honestly, I love these devices except for the privacy issue. By no means am I about to allow google or amazon to have an always-available microphone in my house.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iphone 17 pro majin bu sky blue

iPhone 17 Pro Allegedly Coming in Sky Blue Color Used for MacBook Air

Tuesday April 22, 2025 4:08 am PDT by
Apple will unveil the iPhone 17 Pro in a new Sky Blue color, the same color that debuted on the latest M4 MacBook Air models Apple released in March. That's according to the leaker Majin Bu. Concept mockup from Majin Bu Writing on his website, Bu claims that "sources close to the supply chain confirm that several iPhone 17 Pro prototypes have been made in various colors, with Sky Blue...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...