We’re fans of smart displays here on the WIRED Gear team. They let you watch videos or news clips, walk step by step through recipes, display photos, play music, or ask it questions with different sized screens to meet your needs. Lenovo’s Smart Clock (which we rated a 7/10) is our favorite for the bedroom.
The Smart Clock typically sells for $80, which is already on the lower end of the price point for smart displays, and right now it’s on sale for $50 at Best Buy and Walmart.
If you’ve been considering it, it’s a good time to buy. It’s a good first smart display, too, if you aren’t sure how many screens you want to add to your life.
Of the smart assistants, we prefer Google over Amazon’s Alexa. Google-powered devices are easier to set up, are better at answering questions, and can perform most other basic functions. They include the ability to Chromecast audio or video, as well—or “cast” it from your phone app to a device. Assistant is also compatible with a ton of other smart speakers and smart displays, like this Lenovo.
A Nightstand Companion
Lenovo’s Smart Clock can do almost anything that other Google Assistant devices can do, but it has a smaller 4-inch display (nightstand-sized) and has a nice fabric cover to blend in with your aesthetic. The screen can get dim enough so you can sleep with it near you, and you can set morning and evening routines, like hearing the news, traffic, and weather for the upcoming day, or dimming the lights and locking the doors as you settle down for the night (assuming you have smart locks and lights). The clock face and alarm features are also customizable. A mute button is important on any smart device, but especially for somewhere as private as the bedroom, and this Smart Clock includes that feature. And there’s no camera to worry about here, either.
If you want to watch videos on a larger screen, you can stream to your bedroom TV through Chromecast. Plus a USB port on the back can charge your phone, so there are fewer wires hanging off your bedside table.
If you’re still not sure, check out our other smart display picks. We also have picks for our favorite smart speakers of all kinds, and our picks for Google-powered speakers and Amazon Alexa speakers.
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