Google I/O in May 2023 saw them launching a sort of experimental open-sourced AI platform that is the Google Bard. In our write-up, we theorized that Google Bard is a direct response to ChatGPT, or rather, an attempt to compete with or replicate the technology that is ChatGPT-4. Before you get confused, again, Google’s Bard is not the result of their DeepMind AI project. It is not exactly Google Assistant as well, though sharing plenty of similarities.
At its launch, Google’s Bard was only available in English, Japanese, and Korean. Despite only working in three languages, the experiment was made available in 180 countries at launch. It is also important to know that the Google Bard you see in May’s Google I/O 2023 is not in its first iteration.
A few months on and Google is updating Bard to be more relevant to plenty more users around the world. The latest update to Bard makes it now available in over 40 languages, including the ones it started with. They also made it available in more than the original 180 countries including countries in the European region and Brazil. Of course, this is not where Google will stop with Bard. They are still planning to bring their Bard service to more regions in the future, but they are also doing it in stages in accordance with regulatory bodies, policy makers, and experts in the different regions they are expanding to. They also say that they are taking privacy and data into consideration when taking steps in expanding their services.
Language is also not the only thing that is being updated in Google Bard. Google has also updated Bard to improve its ability to customize its responses even more. Instead of just written responses, Google Bard can even read out its own response with correct pronunciation in case you are wondering how to say certain words. This is also available in 40 languages in the new update, which makes Bard super useful when you go travel too. You can even customize the responses from Bard by telling it to respond in five different options: simple, long, short, professional, or casual. Like ChatGPT, you can even ask Google Bard to create listings or postings for various things on various platforms. For now, this one is only available in English though. Obviously, the feature will be available in more languages as Google Bard collects more contextual data in different languages and regions.
Like your browser history, your interaction with Bard should not only last for that short minute you interact with the platform. The platform makes it easier for you to revisit conversations and topics you might have dropped off from with Bard. You can now pin your conversations and rename them so that you can archive it and bring it up on a later date when you have the time or whenever necessary. They have also improved Bard’s coding capabilities by now offering the ability to export Python codes to Replit and Google Colab to make coding much easier and faster. You can even share your Bard conversations with your friends and have them see the ideas you have thought of with the help of Bard. Google Lens is also now integrated into Bard. That means you can either take a photo or upload images with prompts or requests and Bard will analyze the photo to help with its responses.
Google’s Android Auto experience is bidding goodbye to smartphone screens. The experience which was first announced back in 2015, will be moving exclusively to car screens in the near future. This news comes after Google released Android Auto for phone screens in 2019 as a stop guard measure as the platform matured for the in-car infotainment systems.
Source: Android.com
It looks like that stop guard measure is now being replaced by Google Assistant’s driving mode. You would have realised that Google Assistant tends to notify you when it detects you driving or when you say “Hey Google, I’m driving”. The new driving mode isn’t a full-fledged Android Auto replacement, but it does provide easy access to all the apps you will need while driving.
While it does seem like a sudden move to remove Android Auto for Phone screens, it’s not as sudden as you might think. Google has been slowly removing support for Android Auto for phone screens since 2019. In its latest update, support for the app was reduced to only devices with Android 12 and above. Keep in mind, that the app for Phone Screens is already a whole generation behind Android Auto itself at this point.
Google Assistant’s Driving Mode has been in the works for a while now. It was only rolled out last year after extended delays. Moving forward, it seems like Google will be putting more emphasis on Driving Mode for phones and keeping Android Auto exclusively on Car infotainment systems.
Google Assistant’s Driving mode is available for Android smartphones running Android 9.0 or higher with a minimum of 4GB of RAM. According to Google’s own support page, the feature is available in selected regions only including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. However, we’ve been using it for the past month in Malaysia. So, it might need to be updated.
.Did you use Android Auto for smartphones? Are you using Google Assistant’s Driving Mode? Let us know in the comments.
3There is a huge debate between Google Maps and Waze users. Google Maps users prefer the cleaner looking interface with the enormous amount of detail you can get on their display without making their smartphone look like a mess of squiggly lines. You even get Google to tell you which lanes you need to take. Waze also adopted the lane guidance system by Google toward the end of last year, which was a hugely welcome addition to the app. Waze was one of the first few apps in the industry to allow for real-time traffic tracking and rely on user inputs to analyse traffic situations. But in some sense, its UI feels a little more clunky than the plain and clean looking Google Maps.
Since Waze added the lane guidance feature that was vital to Google Maps’ popularity though, it seems that Waze is leaping ahead. They had features that helped users really plan their journey out, complete with an estimate cost of the journey. Waze, at one point, was the only reliable app you could use to estimate your toll payment costs. Google Maps is now taking a backseat. Ironically, Waze is owned by Google as well.
Google Maps might be able to regain some foothold though with an upcoming feature to mimic Waze’s toll cost feature. In that sense, now you can use your Google Maps to really plan out your journey, costs included.
Since Waze’s acquisition, the Google Maps and Waze apps have been getting numerous updates that adds functionality in one way or another. While Waze’s app development has been largely driven by its users, Google Maps takes a slightly different approach. Still, some functions from Google Maps will make way into Waze and vice versa.
The feature update that is touted to come in the coming weeks is supposed to show estimated toll prices alongside the drive route. Before this, Google Maps recognises the existence of tolls on its route but does not display its estimated cost. Before you pick a route on Google Maps too, the app will tell you that you are going to be taking a route with tolls on the way. The update is expected to finally tell you how much you might need to spend for tolls on the route of your choosing. There are no clear indications on how Google Maps plan to collect toll price data for this function. The best guess is that Google would be using collected user data for the function to work. Or Google could just completely rip the feature off from Waze and dunk it into their app.
Whatever it is, it can only mean good things for users at both ends. Being able to plan your routes accordingly and accurately is not just important to cut down your travel times, but also important in making your journey a less painful one with a certain amount of predictability. In that case, we are looking forward to Google Maps finally having some new features. Google Maps and Waze are both available for free on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
The Lenovo Smart Clock was one of the simplest ways for you to get started on a smart home ecosystem. Right next to Google’s NEST speakers, the first iteration of the Lenovo Smart Clock is the best smart home peripheral you might be able to put on your nightstand. It does not look totally invasive as a home tech; it looks like a regular bedside clock. It is also powered by a Google Assistant. How could the Lenovo Smart Clock be better?
Lenovo has the answer to that in the new Lenovo Smart Clock 2 though. If it is not obvious enough with the naming scheme, the Lenovo Smart clock2 is the follow up to the original Lenovo Smart Clock. It shares all the great design cues that made the Lenovo Smart Clock a great one. Lenovo added a few more things to make it even better though.
Source: Lenovo
The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 still has a 4-inch display. This time though it is an LCD display that you can use to display your photos and clock. It even has a night mode that turns down its display brightness just enough that it does not hurt your eyes when you see it first thing in the morning. While the display remains the same size, the entire device got a bigger compared to before though. That also means that it stands a little more upright than before.
While it is also still powered by a MediaTek processor that you find on the previous Lenovo Smart Clock, the larger body allows Lenovo to hide 3W front-firing speakers just below the display. The new Smart Clock 2 rocks a 1GB RAM to work with Google Assistant and to display your gallery. With 8G of storage, you can even store some music in the clock alongside photos you want to display.
Like the original Lenovo Smart Clock, the Smart Clock 2 does not have a camera to work with, or to spy on you. The new Smart Clock to also includes a button that a mute toggle to turn off the microphone at the back of the device. There are no USB charging ports on the clock itself though.
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
To remedy that is a secondary plate dock that you can use with the Smart Clock 2. The base adds an additional wireless charging pad that sits right beside the clock. The charges at up to 10W, which also means that it should quickly charge your smartphones, including the Apple iPhone. The base also adds a USB-A port behind the entire clock assembly for wired charging too.
The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 will be available globally September 2021 onward. It will be available in three colours – Abyss Blue, Cloud Grey, and Shadow Black. It will retail for US$ 89.99 (MYR 373*) onward. There is no word on whether we will see the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 coming to Malaysia though.
*Approximately based on exchange rate of US$ 1 = MYR 4.14 as per xe.com as of 28/06/2021
Google I/O 2021 is happening right now. The three-day conference kicked off with a bang though. To put it bluntly, Google I/O 2021 kicked off with a two-hour keynote highlighting everything coming from Google in 2021. While two hours do sound like a lot of drag, the announcements do sound mighty interesting though.
Google Workspace for Everyone
Source: Google
They kick off with something that everyone is concerned about in the period of pandemic, working from home. For that Google has something called Google Workspace. Google Workspace has been one of the most popular and thriving services since the world has gone into isolation with the looming pandemic situation. In 2021, the suite is updated with something called Smart Canvas.
Smart Canvas is a collaborative workspace within Google Workspace built for project management and keeping track of a project with your team members. It is kind of like a private chat or conversation within the larger organisation, but much cleaner. You can create and share Google Docs, Sheets, and even Slides within the group and work on the files together in real time.
Workspace is also now integrated with Google Meet, Google Doc, Google Sheet, and Google Slides. That also means that you can have a meeting on Google Meet within Google Workspace, share your files across the chat, and even edit the files together with your team in the Meets room. It is all about making remote collaborative work as seamless and organised as possible. Google also said Google Workspace will be available for free later in the year.
More in Google Search
Source: Google
Google search can also bring contents or search results that comes from other parts of the world in different languages with the integration of Google Translate algorithm and Google Lens as well. On top of that, Google is improving their language understanding and processing algorithm that should benefit more than just Google Translate, Google Lens, and regular Google Search.
They developed something called Wavenet, to make Google Assistant sound more natural and more contextual. They put that together with something they call Multitask Unified Model (MUM). All these makes Google Search and Google Lens the most powerful search and item identification tool ever.
The technologies that got mashed together means that Google search is not just single words anymore. It could be a sentence, a photo, and even both. The results can turn to be more than just web suggestions too. The result can turn out to be top suggestions, a place, and even connect you to merchants to buy what you need. If you set up your Google wallet correctly with all your merchant memberships as well, Google can connect you directly to deals that might be tied to your memberships too. There is a bit more to that too with Google Chrome, where you can track back your shopping carts on various sites even after you close the page.
Cleverer Google Maps
Source: Google
Google Maps is technically the most popular navigation app in the world. But that does not mean the app is flawless. There is always room for improvements.
Eco and Safe Driving
For example, Google introduces an ‘Eco Mode’ into the app. That basically means Google will take you through the most fuel efficient and economical route to get you to where you want and need to be. It may not be necessarily the fastest though, just keep that in mind.
They also introduced ‘safer driving’ routes for Google Maps. Obviously, that is what we call it, not what Google calls it. The idea is to navigate you to routes that might avoid traffic with sudden braking points and overall a smoother, clearer ride. All these are obviously done with Google’s navigation algorithm, traffic analysis, and GPS data such as speed or acceleration that Google Maps itself can see and work with in real-time.
Better Live View
Source: Google
They have expanded on Live View too in this case. Google Maps Live View does not just include navigation data in Augmented Reality anymore. It now shows you street names so that you can navigate better. It also now includes points of interest, landmarks, and you can pull up information regarding a place including its reviews directly from Maps app itself. Google Maps is also introducing Live View indoors now. It starts with the major train stations and airport in Zurich for now. The feature will be introduced to Tokyo also next month.
More Details
If you are getting yourself around by driving though, Google Maps is also a lot more detailed. Major intersections with road crossings and traffic lights will now show on maps so that you are better prepared. With Google’s understanding on your behaviour, your routine, and your usual routes, Google can also highlight relevant information, landmarks, or points of interest for you. A breakfast takeaway for example, on a Monday morning drive to work.
On top of all of that, Google Maps can now be a tool to help you plan your day not just on the road. Google Maps can track or predict how busy and packed an area will be at certain times just so you do not have to squeeze into the area at that time. You could plan to go another day for example, or just not go at all if it is not important. This is important in this day and age where social distancing is a recommended practice.
LaMDA
Source: Google
LaMDA is meant to be a conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI). Google says they have been using and testing it internally and it is powered by everything great about Google’s search engine and linguistic programming. In its demo, it sounds like an amazing piece of tech that could keep you having conversations with it from day to night.
It is programmed to know everything there is to know about our current world and situation. But it is not built to answer you with data necessarily. It is built to have natural conversations about the weather in general terms like “you might want to bring an umbrella in the afternoon”, rather than “there is a 78% chance of a light rain at 2.00 p.m.”.
While the answers that we saw from the demo does sound a little metallic and robotic at times, we cannot wait for LaMDA to be introduced into things like Workspace, YouTube, or even Google Maps. It is like having your own version of Iron Man’s JARVIS in your smartphone, or PC, or whatever you fancy.
More Organised Google Photos
Source: Google
Google Photos is a little bit more than just your photo gallery now though. It is now something you can use to create photo collages, to understand yourself better, and sort of your memory bank. Google’s image recognition recognises your photo patterns and puts all of them together to tell you that you tend to take photos of a certain context or a certain look. It tells you that you might be attracted to a certain sort of colour for example.
With Machine Learning (ML) as well, Google Photos can stitch multiple similar photos taken in succession to create a moving photo or video for you, even if there are gaps. Organisation and searching for your photos are even more intuitive too when you can find photos associated to certain celebrations for example.
Android 12 and Wear OS
Source: Google
Trust us when we say Android 12 is a huge overhaul of the Android OS. There is nearly no difference in terms of function, to be fair. Most of the changes are in the way things look and gets organised, and even customised. They call all this Material You design.
In terms of looks, things are a lot more intuitive, most organised, bigger, and a lot less cluttered. You get more control in how your User Interface (UI) looks in total as well. There are supposedly about 22% faster animation, they say.
You get more control over your own security and even privacy, and they are easier to access and understand with Privacy Dashboard. With the new UI as well, IoT controls are more front and center than before. There is a new improved remote app for your Android TV too.
Wear OS is getting a fresh lease of life too, thankfully. They want to make Wear OS a major smartwatch platform competitor to Apple’s WatchOS. To do that they managed to strike a partnership with their long-time partner, Samsung to bring Tizen and Wear OS together to make a more robust wearable operating system (OS) for everyone to use. Fitbit will also be introducing their own Wear OS later in the year and lend their expertise and know how in health and fitness into the upcoming Wear OS.
Your Safety, Privacy, and Protection Matters
Source: Google
Google has also improved their Google Password Manager. While the app still functions the same as before, you can now transfer password information from older devices. That also means that your passwords can be stored on-device instead of on-cloud. With Android’s on-device encryption nature, saving your managed passwords on your device could be a more secure option. With compromise alerts, you know when your accounts are accessed, and you can easily change passwords for whatever you have quickly via Password Manager.
Privacy Core
Google also introduced something called their Privacy Core. It is Google’s effort in giving control over information shared with Google back to its users. Supposedly as well, thanks to Privacy Core, you Live Caption sessions or translations will not be shared back to Google.
But security and privacy are more than that as well. It spreads to your search history, and even browsing history. Google is including an option now to delete ‘recent history’ on your Google Chrome.
Even in Google Maps, you can tell the app to not track your location history just so that the app does not collect your location data. You can allow Google Maps to track you accurately, or just give Google access to your approximate location now, in different apps. Not allowing Maps to track your data and build a history data also means that you are not going to get recommendations or suggestions from Google though. A worthy trade off, we think, for more privacy.
Better Health, Better Quality of Life
Source: Google
Since Google’s expansion and changing their own corporate name to Alphabet, they have been hugely involved in medical research. One of the places they have been pushing on is in the field of Mammograms. Google’s AI push into the platform means that screening for breast cancer is more accurate than ever. Their AI also helps doctors in understanding Mammograms and the severity in the diagnosis helping the health institutes prioritise different cases.
That is not all though. Dermatology is one huge field that could be expanded even using your own devices. Because this field has more to do with skin conditions, Google Lens can be an early diagnosis tool. You can take a photo of your skin conditions and Google can possibly identify what you have to a certain degree. Of course, nothing replaces a doctor in matters of treatments and full diagnosis, so Google can direct you towards a dermatologist near you via your browser. This feature will be available in the EU region by the end of the year 2021.
Project Starline
Source: Google
Speaking of health, we cannot ignore the current pandemic situation. We are all recommended to stay at home as much as possible and avoid as much human interaction as possible. The COVID-19 pandemic, while has brought humanity together more than ever, ironically has isolated us even more too.
Project Starline is a video chat tool that uses multiple cameras to create a 3D image model and project that 3D image to another part of the world. While that means that the file packages from that implementation are so bug that our regular internet speeds will not be able to cope, Google is working to compress the image files to a more sensible package size so that the images can be transferred using our regular internet connection.
The function of that is to implement a 3D video chat experience. While regular video chat today has progressed further than before, nothing replaces a physical presence and interaction. The idea with 3D projection calls looks to bridge that gap a little. Although you cannot touch the person still, having a 3D representation of a person is as close as you can get in having a physical presence in today’s world.
Google I/O 2021
Source: Google
To wrap up, Google announced that they are committing to shift their entire operation to carbon free energy sources by 2030. While Google has been proud of operating entirely on renewable energy, they are taking the first steps in relying on clean energy that does not leave any footprints. The commitment has led them to invest into Geothermal energy currently.
As promised by Google, the Google I/O 2021 is the largest ever. It is not just based on attendance though. It is also about the number of things that Google is introducing for 2021. It is also about Google’s commitments for the future, and we are excited, especially for Wear OS. For more information on what happened in Google I/O, you can check out Google’s Blog.
Google’s I/O even is set to happen on the 18th of May 2021 onward (19th May 2021, following Malaysia time). Usually also, Google’s I/O is where Google announces their latest and greatest Android version. We can safely assume that the latest update to Android (Android 12) will be announced in Google I/O with Beta version rolling out immediately after.
According to their three-day conference calendar too, a new Android update is definitely on the cards with all the talk about “What’s new in Android”, and “What’s new in Material Design” talks. But Google I/O is more than just Android. This year it really seems like Google’s biggest one yet.
According to the calendar also there seems to be a new Chrome OS lined-up for announcement with its own keynote. There is also a new update to Google Assistant in Google I/O. Smart homes ecosystem is getting some attention this year too at Google I/O with its own keynote segment. Google Play and Google Pay also get some new updates this year from Google I/O.
Oddly enough though there are no mentions of Wear OS within the schedule. While that also means that there should not be any update to Wear OS for the time being, do not discount Wear OS to be updated later in the year. Google’s acquisition of Fitbit will also not be addressed in Google I/O 2021, in this case. The Fitbit acquisition could also mean a new hardware announcement from Google in the wearable space though.
There are also numerous rumours surrounding Google’s upcoming or speculated Pixel device, the Pixel 5a. Alongside that, Google is also supposed to be announcing their new TWS earbuds in the conference. According to the schedule, there seems to be no acknowledgement on the hardware end of things. Most of the time though, hardware announcements are made in the first keynote of Google’s I/O. We are still expecting some new hardware from Google from Google I/O though. If you are too, keep your eyes peeled on Google’s I/O 2021.
You’d be wondering if anyone is still using Google Assistant – the short answer would be, yes. However, development on new features for the Assistant hasn’t been as fast as it once was – at least not as revolutionary. That seems to be changing with the a tasty update codenamed “Guacamole”.
The new update reportedly appears on the the beta version of the Google app which runs atop Android 11. Version 12.5 of the beta has a menu called Guacamole in the settings of the Google app which comes with a short description of, “Quickly get things done with Guacamole.” Needless to say, we’re pretty sure they don’t mean the delicious Mexican spread.
Source: 9to5 Google
Source: 9to5 Google
Upon opening the menu, users are greeted with another screen saying, “Skip saying “Hey Google” for help with quick tasks”. In 9to5 Google’s deep dive into the APK, they discovered that the feature will allow users to define commands where they can skip saying the activating “Hey Google” for Google Assistant. In their exploration of the APK, they found that ringing alarms can be cancelled by simply saying “Stop” or “Snooze” whil.e “Answer the call” or “Decline the call” will work for calls.
The feature isn’t really a revolutionary new feature. Nest Hub users have been using a similar feature since 2019. However, it looks like Google is looking to bring the feature to mobile devices which makes so much sense – I mean how many of us actually use our phones as alarm clocks!
There’s no real indication of when the feature will make it to the public Google app but it looks like the search giant is testing the feature with their employees. The screencaps, acquired by 9to5 Google appears to link to an internal page accessible by Google employees only.
The television is usually the centre of the living room and the main source of entertainment in a household. As the centre it holds a unique position of being the only item that not only has to look good, it needs to be able to seamless fit into any design. However, this centre piece is slowly finding its way into bedrooms and boardrooms.
This shift is prompted by the additional use cases it has acquired over the years thanks to the internet and the advent of Wi-Fi and streaming. Nowadays, we use the television a complementary screen in addition to our media centre. It connects to laptops, desktops and smartphones seamlessly but, more importantly, it’s become a tool that everyone for work and play.
It has, therefore, become more important that we make an informed choice when it comes to purchasing a television. This is increasingly true with the myriad of choices that we are seeing in the market. There is now a television for every price point. The subject of this review, the HAIER LE550K6600GU, comes in a slither under MYR2,500. Is the MYR2,399 you pay for it worth it? Does it stand up to the competition? Should you go a tier higher for better performance? Those are the questions we’re looking to answer in this review.
Design
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is one of the sleekest television sets we’ve seen in a while. That especially rings true when it come to the sub MYR2,500 price point. HAIER didn’t hold back much when it comes to the design of the TV. It has one of the slimmest bezels for a television of its price-point and its minimalistic design allows it to blend seamlessly into any room setup.
Keep in mind, the HAIER Smart TV isn’t a small one either. It’s 50-inches; while it’s on the smaller end of the spectrum nowadays, it’s still pretty substantial when you put it in the middle of a room. The slim, near bezel-less design allows its to standout while blending in. It may sound a little oxymoronic, but the television is able to blend into any setup thanks to the large, black screen but it also has a panel which is bright enough to make it stand out. It’s built-in Chromecast feature also gives it beautiful pictures to cycle through when not in use. Even when the screen is blank, the surface of the black screen is mattified to minimise its reflectivity. You don’t get much distractions even with the screen off.
The overall footprint of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is also smaller and sleeker than its competition. At its thickest it measures just about 3cm; at its thinnest it’s about 0.5cm. This means that mounting it or even standing it shouldn’t be too much of a space issue. However, the legs provided to stand the TV on a console is about 15cm in width. While the design of the stand is sleek, it’s basically two slim throngs which are in an inversed V.
The one blemish on the sleek design of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is the infrared receiver for the remote control. I mean, it’s a literal blemish on the lower left corner of the TV. The odd bump also glows an ominous red when the television is off. Perhaps the main reason I call it a blemish is the odd brown colouring of the rather large casing for the receiver. It’s about a centimetre thick. However, HAIER placed it in a position that doesn’t take much away from the overall façade of the TV itself.
Features
Android TV
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is one of HAIER’s new Android TV touting smart TVs. It runs Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. However, HAIER couldn’t confirm if there would be upgrades to Android 10 later on. They mentioned that it heavily depended on the hardware requirements of Android 10 for TVs. If the hardware requirements are still met in the LE50K6600UG, it is likely that it will get the update.
However, being an Android powered TV, the HAIER LE50K6600UG is able to access a wide variety of TV optimised apps from the Google Play Store. Apps like TubiTV, Amazon Prime TV and more can be downloaded from the Play Store to optimise your viewing experience. Netflix and YouTube come pre-loaded with a dedicated button on the remote. The wide variety of apps also extends the multipurpose nature of the TV. During our time we had remote streaming apps and even apps for productivity installed.
Android TV’s interface has also been optimised with introduction of Android 9 Pie. The new interface streamlines your frequently accessed apps and has quick access to your most frequently used apps. For example, recommended programs on Netflix are placed front and centre in a widgetised version of the app called channels. This quick access ribbons can be customised and personalised in the settings of the TV.
That said, there is a big flaw when it comes to HAIER’s implementation of Android TV on the LE50K6600UG: pressing the power button on the remote control as you usually would doesn’t turn off the TV. Instead, it sends it into sleep mode. This keeps the processor and graphics processor of the TV running even when the screen is off. However, the most detrimental effect of this is that the TV can get sluggish after a day or two. That said, sending the TV into sleep mode speeds up the boot time of the TV significantly.
AI, Chromecast, & Bluetooth remote control
The remote control of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is not just a standard infrared remote. It comes equipped with Bluetooth connectivity as well. The Bluetooth connectivity of the remote control is setup with a simple button combination during setup. After setting up the Bluetooth, you’ll be able to control the TV without pointing the remote at the tv itself. This also means that if you’re trying to mute the volume or turn the TV off in a hurry, you won’t be stumbling to point the remote control at the TV. That said, this functionality doesn’t work when you shut down the TV properly. It will only kick in after the TV has booted the next time.
Aside from that, the LE50K6600UG comes with AI built in. The AI automatically adjusts and optimises the display settings depending on the surroundings of the TV. It works most of the time. However, I found the optimisations to be a tad bit too minute and too focused on the brightness of the display. It rarely adjusted the saturation, gamma or contrast of the display. I’m also pretty certain that the AI could be contributing to the slowdown of the TV’s performance when its not shutdown. However, it’s a simple fix for HAIER with a software update.
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is a 4K UHD TV. It has a resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels. That said, the picture quality of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is passable. It’s not overly saturated like some of its competition. However, when it comes to the colour reproduction, the colours seem a little washed out and heavy on blues. This could be due to HAIER’s configuration of the individual pixels of the panel. There may be more white pixels to compensate for brightness.
That said, it doesn’t affect the overall experience much unless you’re looking for cinema grade screens – which, to be very honest will never be in the price range of this TV. The viewing angles of the screen affects the crispness of the details on the screen which is a little weird. In our review period, anything above about 60° makes the characters and alphabets look a little fuzzy. However, like many of the flaws on the HAIER, you won’t notice it unless you are trying really hard to.
Another big plus for the TV is the built-in Chromecast functionality. This allows the TV to work as a second, complementary screen to your phone, tablet or laptop. You can easily use YouTube and other streaming apps which are able to take advantage of the Chromecast API. It also allows you to be able to project from your PC with ease, allowing you to use it to project presentations seamlessly. The Chromecast functionality is one of the biggest advantages the TV has over its competition.
Google Assistant & Connectivity
Of course, being an Android TV, the LE50K6600UG comes with Google Assistant. This allows you to give the TV commands with your voice. Keep in mind that you need to be signed in and have an active internet connection for it to work. The voice recognition is pretty accurate but only if you enunciate your words properly. That said, I found myself using the Google Assistant very sparingly. I found it more tedious than helpful especially when searching in apps. However, it did come in useful when I wanted to launch apps quickly. It allowed me to launch the apps without clicking into the app drawer and searching for the apps manually.
The HAIER Smart TV comes with a whole array of connectivity from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi. It has 1 ARC HDMI input, 3 HDMI inputs, 2 USB inputs, 1 LAN input, a microSD card slot, L/R out, 3.5mm out and a few more for your over the air television signals. That is a whole lot of inputs and output. That said, the TV is able to intelligently name and label the channels according to the device that is plugged in. However, when it came to the USB inputs, we noticed that it could only read USB 2.0 drives. When we tried USB 3.0 and higher, the TV was unable to detect the drive and its contents. We’re unsure if it is a software issue but it’s likely that it may be a fault with the software of the unit that we had for review.
Picture & Sound Quality
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is a 4K UHD TV. It has a resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels. That said, the picture quality of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is passable. It’s not overly saturated like some of its competition. However, when it comes to the colour reproduction, the colours seem a little washed out and heavy on blues. This could be due to HAIER’s configuration of the individual pixels of the panel. There may be more white pixels to compensate for brightness.
That said, it doesn’t affect the overall experience much unless you’re looking for cinema grade screens – which, to be very honest will never be in the price range of this TV. The viewing angles of the screen affects the crispness of the details on the screen which is a little weird. In our review period, anything above about 60° makes the characters and alphabets look a little fuzzy. However, like many of the flaws on the HAIER, you won’t notice it unless you are trying really hard to.
When it comes to sound, the quality is pretty good. In fact, I would go so far as to say that HAIER is a class above most of its similarly priced competition. While the sound isn’t full and rounded, it doesn’t take away from the experience of the TV unless, like a reviewer, you are looking for flaws. The sound coming out of the built-in speakers was rather hollow and tinny. This also made the sound feel a little too bassy. However, this is easily remedied with an inexpensive sound bar, if the sound quality is an essential for your TV.
An Option for Those Looking for a Well-rounded experience without breaking the bank
The HAIER Smart TV is one of the most well-rounded options in its price range. It provides a good picture quality, enough connectivity options and good sound quality. Overall, it has a complete package and provides a pretty commendable experience especially if you’re looking for a good overall experience without going broke.
At MYR2,399, it’s one of the most affordable 4K UHD TVs in the market. In fact, it’s one of the most affordable Android TVs in the market which is a big plus. Android TVs run a premium just because of the licensing that companies have to pay Google. However, HAIER has found a way to keep the TV affordable while equipping it with most of the sought-after features; making it a serious option for people who are looking for an easy, plug and play Smart TV to complete their rooms or home.
It is completely fair and not overstating to say that the Google Assistant has become one of the Google’s most important products. While people are still fantasizing of contact-less computing experience, which is still not realized by most people, Google Assistant has already worked its way into the society through variety of products like the Google Home and Chromecast. Google Assistant, we can safely say, has become a big part of plenty of people’s lives.
Google has added several new features to the Assistant this year, making it better and more helpful to users. The virtual assistant is now gaining the ability to open up, search, and perform general tasks across your favorite apps. As long as you have an Android phone that is Assistant-enabled, you will be able to open and search within Android apps just by calling; “Hey Google,” or “Okay Google.”
Google has kicked off this deeper integration by partnering with over 30 of the top apps on the Google Play store. Here a list of some of the apps such as Nike Adapt, Nike Run Club, Spotify, Snapchat, Twitter and of course more.
Source: Google
The new integration will allow you to do things that need several taps in the apps themselves. For instance, apps like Nike Run Club can be easily accessed without needing users physical input. This can be huge time saver.
For all the apps that support Google Assistant, you can simply create a shortcut phrases for it and it will perform whatever preset actions for you. Nike’s Adapt training shoes could be a great example. Through Google Assistant, could create a preset action command and get your shoes to automatically tighten itself on your feet. All done via Google’s voice command, something that dreams are made of.
Source: Google
The new usefulness is a major advance towards Google offering a totally without hands processing experience. While Android 11 previously included some genuinely incredible voice control openness choices, this adds much greater usefulness to the Google Assistant.
Google says the Assistant will be able to work with more apps in the near future. You could be a part of this exciting future though by creating these shortcuts and allow developers to map users’ intent to get Google Assistant to integrate with their favourite apps. Stay tuned and be excited for more fantasy acts.
Rumours have been spreading about Samsung’s digital assistant being retired in favour of deeper integration of the Google Assistant. Lending more credence to the rumour is Samsung’s apparent removal of several AR features from Bixby Vision.
Samsung has already sent notices to its users that they will be discontinuing some of the features in Bixby Vision. The notice sent out late last month mentioned the removal of features such as Styling, Home, Decor and Places by the end of October. These features may return in some form with partnerships to enhance the AR features but the likelihood of that happening at this point seems slim.
While the discontinuation and removal of a bulk of AR features from Bixby may seem like a sudden move, it’s not surprising. Samsung was a late player to the game when it came to virtual assistants with companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft spearheading development. However, more recent rumours point to Google actually offering Samsung a large sum of money to drop Bixby in favour for deeper Google Assistant integration into the company’s ecosystem.
That said, minimising or removing Bixby would be counter intuitive for Samsung. The company announced a few years ago that the Bixby would be the cornerstone of their Galaxy Ecosystem. In fact, they went in depth during their Southeast Asia – Oceania (SEAO) forum held in Singapore. They were detailing the integrations that would be pursued.
That being the case, this development is definitely one we’ll be keeping our eye on.
