Lenovo Smart Display gets Home View and other features of Google's home hub



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Lenovo Smart Display is receiving an update that will bring a number of features introduced by Google when launching its Home Hub Smart Screen. As a result, the Lenovo Smart Display will receive not only the new Home View, but also multi-room audio support, live albums from Google Photos and Nest Hello Doorbell support. The confirmation of this was confirmed by a new message on the Lenovo forums: in addition to providing detailed information about what is included, the message also confirmed that the update officially started the deployment process on the 22nd. October. Although some homeowners have already seen the update arrive on their devices, the deployment should be completed in "the next weeks, "And affects both the 8-inch and 10-inch versions of the tablet. The update will arrive in version 3.63.43.

Although Home View attracts much of the attention from this update, the other new features are just as important. Those who use a Hello Hello bell will now be able to see and interact with people when they sound through smart display. Those using a wider wireless speaker ecosystem will now be able to add Lenovo's smart display to a group of speakers and link playback to other devices supported by multiple rooms. In addition, those who like the idea of ​​turning their smart screen into a digital photo frame will now see this capacity significantly increased with the new support for live albums. Like the Home Hub, Live Albums was officially announced in October and allows homeowners to create a new album or turn an existing one into a live album. From that moment on, Google will group all new photos related to the album / person / pet / object into the live album, keeping it up-to-date. The Live album appears as the backdrop for the smart display and allows you to browse the corresponding photos when they are not in use. One last thing to note, the update post also states that both versions of Lenovo Smart Display will now be able to control a wider variety of devices, including multiple TVs, set-top boxes, and speakers. In this case, some of the benefits include turning on and off compatible devices, adjusting the volume, starting and pausing playback, and even navigating a visual guide of channels, if necessary.

Context: Lenovo Smart Display was technically the first smart display badociated with Google's Android Things and Assistant. However, the platform took on a lot more importance when Google held its done by Google early October and launched its own version of a smart screen – the Google Home Hub. As part of this unveiling, Google confirmed that Home Hub was offering a number of new features that were not yet visible on other third-party smart screens, the most notable of which was Home View. This particular feature was launched together with an update of the Google Home app, which added a new interface. This same interface is the backbone of Home View because it allows Home Hub owners to better see and manage connected smart home products. The utility of this feature will depend to a large extent on how the user will be integrated into a smart home ecosystem. Like the new Home View provides a much cleaner and easier to manage quick access interface to control smart home products. Thus, the greater the number of smart home appliances connected to the Smart Display is important, the more the home display will be effective. It is in essence an example of one of the fundamental differences between a smart screen and a smart speaker. Indeed, if the smart speakers and screens allow users to control smart home compatible products via voice commands, the interface badociated with display and touch controls.

While Home View has been touted as a feature specifically related to Google's product launch, Home View, as well as other features on the Home Hub, are still expected to make their way to Google. . approved smart screens in a timely manner, and this is exactly what this announcement now confirms with the Lenovo Smart Display, the first third-party option to confirm receipt of new features.

Impact: This is great news for Lenovo Smart Display owners, and especially as both size options are getting the same update, so there is no problem for those who opt for the more expensive option. to get the update first. Once it arrives, these homeowners will find that smart display becomes even more useful than before. In a broader perspective, this is further evidence of the future operation of the smart display platform. For example, the fact that Google first launches some features of its own solution does not mean that these same features will not be offered to third-party devices. In fact, the speed at which this happens is somewhat surprising given that the Home Hub is still officially in the launch phase. This means that Google does not retain third-party support to prioritize its own devices.

Of course, this also means there is little need to go for Google's own solution to third-party software-level options. As with these new features becoming widely available for smart screens, the main difference comes down to the price: Google positioning its Home Hub as more of an entry-level option compared to those of Lenovo and JBL. Although this is also somewhat negligible, the Lenovo Smart Display can currently be cashed for just $ 179.99 – $ 30 more than the Home Hub, while the JBL Link View is only $ 50 more, at the price $ 199.95. Speaking of which, even though this announcement is focused on the Lenovo Smart Display, it is to be expected that JBL's Link View will not be too late with confirmation of its own support.

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