Lenovo Smart Display 7 hands-on: improving the core experience
Smart displays are slowly becoming more prevalent thanks to companies like Lenovo and its line for Google Assistant-powered devices. At IFA 2019, we had the opportunity to test out the newest Lenovo Smart Display 7, a smaller, more refined take on the devices that the company first unveiled at CES back in 2018.
The hardware is pretty basic with a 7-inch display, 1.5Ghz MediaTek processor, 2MP webcam for video calls and the usual switches which block the camera’s view and physically disconnect the microphone so that Google can’t accidentally listen in on your conversations. While the 7-ich model is smaller than the previous iterations, the screen offers an ambient white balance tuning thanks to an RBG sensor which allows the display to match the lighting tone of the room it is in. The tweaks are subtle, but it gives images a more natural look.
Lenovo has also upgraded the audio system in the Smart Display 7 by giving it two 1.5″ 5W speakers which deliver stereo audio, something that was missing from the first-generation products. Since the physical footprint of the smart display isn’t that big, there’s not a huge separation in stereo sound. That being said, the audio improvement is definitely noticeable.
As for the Google Assistant features, the Lenovo Smart Tab 7 offer everything the Nest Home Hub does. Simply use the standard “OK, Google” trigger phrase to activate the Google Assistant and then ask it to play a specific song, show your calendar, check the forecast or simply ask a random question which will most likely have an answer fulled from Wikipedia. The microphone does a really good job of recognizing the trigger words in a loud room, even when the speaker is playing music. I was actually impressed with the response time of the Google Assistant when asking different queries, something we have seen other devices struggle with recently.
Overall, the new Lenovo Smart Display 7 looks promising, offering refined hardware and intuitive user experience. Lenovo plans to bring the device to market in October for $129.99 which is a pretty good deal when compared to some of the other options that are out there.