The TicHome Mini
Tyler Lizenby/CNETGoogle Home is making friends in Germany.
At IFA, the consumer electronics show in Berlin, Google’s announcing five new speakers with its Google Assistant built in. The Zolo Mojo by Anker, the TicHome Mini by MobVoi, the GA10 by Panasonic, the Sony LF-S50G, and the JBL Link will all supposedly work just like a Google Home — they’ll respond to voice commands and act as your personal assistant and smart home controller.
Google recently opened its Assistant to developers with the hope that third parties would build it into new devices. Until now, we haven’t seen or heard much progress from those outside developers — though I did get to try a cocktail made by Google Assistant at the company’s developer conference in May. The new speakers announced at IFA are the first sign that new consumer-ready devices with the Assistant built-in are indeed on the way.
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Details are scarce on a couple of the options, but you can read more about Panasonic’s effort here and here are our impressions of the Sony LF-S50G. All of the speakers are due out by the end of the year. Given how similar they seem to Google Home — a smart speaker that responds to your voice commands — the announcement doesn’t seem to do much to help Google catch up to Amazon in device versatility. Amazon’s assistant Alexa is built into quite a few devices at this point, such as a fridge, a lamp and a fashion-savvy camera. Alexa’s also in a speaker made by Anker.
Google also touted its integration with LG in its announcement Wednesday morning. Soon, you’ll be able to control LG washers, dryers and vacuums with a voice command. LG and Google first announced this integration back in May. Still, it’ll be cool to control appliances with your voice, and we’re finding more and more Google enabled products as we explore Europe’s biggest tech show.
