“Ok Google, play Billie Jean by Michael Jackson”. “Ok Google, what appointment do I have today”. “Okay Google, turn off the lights”
Wouldn’t you want to start off your day by asking some virtual assistant to show you the days’ appointments, weather forecast, or directions to the nearest restaurant? Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. But a new legion of smart displays and wireless bluetooth speakers powered by Artificial Intelligence voice assistants want to be addition of gadgets and appliances in your house.
Your smartphone already automates a big part of your life. For instance, we have all gotten used to autosuggest and autocomplete by now. Your smartphone keyboard can predict the next word before you even type it. Your phone is able to take great photos previously only taken by Pro photographers by using powerful image processing engines embedded in the phone’s processor. And now with Google voice or Siri running on your phone, you can translate text to another language, control your home appliances or make payments in an instant.
However, Big tech companies have not stopped there. They think that your smartphone is already doing much. And with limited battery life that plagues smartphones, the big Tech companies want to relegate some tasks that your smartphone does to standalone internet-connected devices with good speakers, microphones and optionally bigger displays.
Smart displays/Screens
Wireless smart speakers
Related post: Top Smart wireless speakers, their price and feature comparison
One thing to note here is that these speakers need an always-on active internet connection to function well. For most of our readers in Uganda or Kenya be prepared for surge in your data bill should you choose to buy one of these. For everyone else, privacy is a big concern because all these products have embedded microphone which is always listening to whatever you say and some of that data is sent to remote servers in the cloud.
