Looking for a smart home speaker, but can’t decide
between an Amazon Echo with the Alexa voice service or a Google Home with
Google Assistant? Why not both? At least that seems to be the thinking behind
the Clarity Speaker.
It’s basically a familiar-looking speaker with a 7
inch touchscreen display and Android software. But the key selling point for
the Clarity is that it’s supposed to support Alexa, and Google Assistant. Clarity is up for pre-order for US$ 149 and up through a
crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The full retail price is expected to be US$ 199.
The device has a 1280 x 800 pixel display, stereo 5
watt speakers and far field mics that can pick up your voice even if you’re not
standing near the speaker. Clarity’s speaker measures about 12.8″ x 6.3″ x 4.3″
and weighs 2 pounds.
It has a 2MP camera for making video calls, a
quad-core processor, 16GB of storage, a microSD card reader, and dual-band WiFi
and Bluetooth. It runs Android 6.0 with a launcher app featuring large icons to
make the system look a bit more appliance-like than a typical Android tablet.
There’s also a 1600 mAh battery that Clarity says
should provide up to 6 hours of audio playback time, or up to 2.5 hours of
video playback. While there are plenty of Android tablets that can do better,
this isn’t really a tablet. It’s a speaker that’s meant to be used around the
house, so it’s probably fair to think of the battery as a bonus feature that
lets you move the speaker from room to room without turning it off, or use it
unplugged for brief periods.
Chinese device makers have been cranking out similar
hardware for a few years, but the promised support for both Alexa and Google
voice services makes this model a bit unusual.
