Tag Archives: Smart Speaker

Apple’s HomePod Lineup Lands in Malaysia Bringing Audiophile Sound for Every Room

April 30, 2024 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Apple is bringing its acclaimed HomePod speakers to Malaysia. The HomePod lineup offers stunning audio experiences for every corner of your home. Starting May 10th, both the full-sized HomePod (2nd generation) and the compact HomePod mini will be available for purchase.

Apple HomePod and HomePod mini — Source: Apple

The lineup delivers powerful, room-filling audio that will elevate your listening experience. The larger HomePod boasts rich bass and crisp highs, perfect for audiophiles. It utilizes advanced computational audio and a custom-engineered woofer to deliver clear vocals and immersive instrumentals. Additionally, room sensing technology adjusts the sound based on its placement, ensuring optimal acoustics in any room.

Apple HomePod mini color lineup — Source: Apple

The mini, despite its size, packs a punch. Its Apple-designed acoustic waveguide delivers rich 360-degree sound, while the S5 chip and software work together to optimize volume and clarity.

Your Smart Home Command Center

Both models go beyond just music. With Siri built-in, you can control your smart home with simple voice commands. Set lights, adjust thermostats, or even check the temperature in a room – all hands-free. They also act as a smart home hub, allowing you to connect and manage various smart home accessories through the Apple Home app.

Apple HomePod HomePod mini ecosystem — Source: Apple

The HomePod lineup integrates seamlessly with the Apple ecosystem. Handoff allows you to transfer music playback between your iPhone and HomePod effortlessly. Multiroom audio lets you play the same song throughout your house or create different sound zones with multiple HomePods. Additionally, pairing with Apple TV 4K unlocks a powerful home theatre experience, complete with enhanced dialogue clarity.

Pricing and Availability

The HomePod (2nd generation) will be available in Malaysia for RM1,549, while the HomePod mini comes in at RM529. Pre-orders start May 1st through Apple’s online store and app, with in-store availability starting May 10th.

Accessories, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

[MWC 2021] Lenovo’s Smart Clock 2 is What Your Side Table Needs

June 28, 2021 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

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.

lenovo clock smart clock gen 2 subseries feature 1 daily assistant — 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

Accessories, Consumer Electronics, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

[Next@Acer] Acer Halo Smart Speaker Quietly Slips Under the Radar into the World

October 22, 2020 Darwin Sucipto Leave a comment

If you watched the announcement that was made by Acer last night, you might have thought that you already have all the information you need from Acer about their upcoming products that will lead into 2021. They did launch plenty of products last night that might be very compelling for your work from home set-up as well. In fact, if we count our press releases correctly, they had eight separate launches launching more than 20 individual products (this is quite normal, trust me).

There is one product that missed an appearance in the show though. If you checked back into their YouTube page though, you might have seen it. They also launched a smart speaker.

They call it the Acer Halo Smart Speaker, and it is a looker. Its transparent, glass looking thing at the bottom for its base is also an RGB light right that makes the speakers look as if it is dancing with you as you play music to it. Even if it is just responding to you, it just looks funky and light-hearted.

The overall design is just as industrial and pretty as you can expect a Google Nest to be. Like the Google made speaker, the Acer Halo Smart Speaker has a fabric mesh overall body that is shaped into a boxy tower. Underneath the mesh fabric is an LED display that can tell you the time or weather at a glance. You can even customise messages that is displayed on the LED panel.

It is not just all show and no go though. The Acer Halo Smart Speaker is made with DTS Sound certification. That also means that the speaker is made with sound quality and enjoyment as well. If you put it in the living room, you could easily play a relaxing music through the speaker and sweet music will fill the air with its 360^oprojection. Its dual far-field speakers ensure that you could communicate with the speaker or give it commands, if you like, from anywhere in the room.

Why do you need to communicate with the speaker? It is a Smart Speaker, why would you not communicate with it? You can tell it to start your slow cooker, turn the TV on, turn the air-conditioning on, turn the washer on, and more, if all these things are Google Home enabled. The Halo Smart Speaker works with Google Assistant, the same one you have on your Android device. That also means that this works as a Google Home controller as well.

Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer
Source: Acer

There is a curious matter of why Acer has made this product though. While we do find it intriguing and finding ourselves wanting one, Acer has not made any other significant smart home items. They introduced the AcerPure Cool and AcerPure Pro air purifying systems at Next@Acer. The only one that seems to be available globally at this time is the AcerPure Cool air purifier and that is not exactly a smart home product. It still operates with a traditional remote.

There are no mentions on the availability and pricing of the Acer Halo Smart Speaker. We have high hopes for this product though and are praying for it to land in this part of the world. It would make a good alternative to Google Nest, that is not officially available in Malaysia as well. Here is our fingers crossed, our toes as well.

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