Lenovo Smart Clock With Alexa Is A Cute Upgrade For Your Nightstand
Lenovo has added a new, more affordable smart clock to its line-up, with the Lenovo Smart Clock with Alexa Built-in delivering Amazon's virtual assistant to a nightstand. The new connected clock also supports a number of new smart docking accessories, so that owners can add features like a wireless charging pad without needing more cables or power adapters.
Design-wise, Lenovo hasn't strayed far from the existing Smart Clock 2. There's a soft-touch fabric cover, with a choice of two colors, Misty Blue and Clay Red.
Unlike more expensive smart displays, there's no full LCD touchscreen on the front. Instead, Lenovo uses a more simplistic LED screen, scaled so that users can glance across the room and see the time and upcoming weather forecast. The LEDs auto-dim, too, depending on the ambient lighting of the room, and you can tap the buttons on the top of the Smart Clock to snooze or dismiss alarms as well as adjust volume.
As you'd expect, there's a mute switch that turns off the microphones. Lenovo left out a camera, too, given the likelihood that the Smart Clock with Alexa will be used in a bedroom. There's a 3W speaker and a full-size USB port which can be used to charge other devices, such as a phone.
Alternatively, for those smartphones that support wireless charging, Lenovo will have a number of different docking accessories. The Lenovo Wireless Charging Dock with Night Light was launched last year alongside the Smart Clock 2, for example, and adds a Qi charging pad and ambient lighting as well.
New for 2022 is the Lenovo Ambient Light Dock. That comes in two styles – one of which leaves the Smart Clock looking like a charming little octopus, complete with the display giving it "eyes," while the other is meant to look like a sealion – and supports multiple different colors. It can be set to one of eight different lighting modes, including motion lighting, with adjustments via voice command or through the Alexa app.
The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential with Alexa Built-in will go on sale this month, priced at $59.99. That's $10 less than the Google Assistant-powered Lenovo Smart Clock. As for the Wireless Charging Dock with Night Light, that's already available, while the Ambient Light Dock will follow on later in Q1 this year, priced at $29.99.