Lenovo Smart Clock Essential Review: Is Alexa Enough To Wake You?
Retail Price: $39.99
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Disclaimer: Lenovo sent us a unit of the Smart Clock Essential free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
Product Specs +
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 5.1
- 1 x 1.5” 3W speaker
- Compatible with Lenovo Smart Clock docking eco system via pogo-pin
- 4” Digital LED Display (monochrome, non-touch)
- Built-in Alexa
Who knew a simple bedside clock could be 'smartified'? Well, the new Lenovo Smart Clock Essential with Alexa built-in is exactly that: a smartified alarm clock. Lenovo literally turned an ordinary bedside digital clock into a smart device that can manage any Alexa compatible device, fill your Amazon shopping cart, play audio streaming content, and ultimately be part of a multi-room intercom system throughout your home, all through this tiny form factor. And of course, it can provide the most important functions of all: tell time and wake you up.
Just a clock
Unlike many modern smart devices with touch screens, the Lenovo Smart Clock moves away from physical finger controls. The tech giant also strips away any form of camera systems on this clock. Their mentality is that a bedside clock is just that, a clock that tells time. There isn’t a need to have another device that can handle video chats. Instead, what they provided buyers with is a display that is a 4" monochromatic screen which only features a digital clock. This screen does provide configurable settings for displaying humidity, outside temperature, and weather readings that can be set up through the Alexa app. The Smart Clock Essential also has an automatic dimming feature that lowers the brightness when it senses that it is nighttime. Lenovo wrapped up the clock in a fabric material finish which has a Google-esque resemblance of modern home furniture design. The color I received from Lenovo to review is called 'Clay Red', but there's also another fabric color called 'Misty Blue'.
On the top frame of the clock, there are physical buttons for activating and adjusting alarm schedules as well as a button to activate Alexa. Of course with anything Alexa related, using voice control is also an option to control Amazon’s assistant. Even though there is no camera for video use, users do have the ability to mute the microphone for those times of privacy needs. The buttons are almost comically large with overly simplified symbology. You’ll have to really be oblivious to common sense to not understand what the +, -, o, and clock button respectively function as. The Lenovo Smart Clock Essential also has a unique feature available that pairs with the Lenovo Smart Clock Charging Station (sold separately) that essentially turns the clock into a bedside station for wireless charging devices while providing additional USB ports.
The smart clock can be easily be added to an existing Amazon account through the Alexa. Once that is done, users have complete control of many of their Alexa enabled devices such as lights, plugs, thermostats, and the rest. It all works very seamlessly as all I had to do was connect the clock to my Alexa account and I'm instantly ready to manage all my devices. There’s no noticeable difference between how Alexa works here compared to an Echo device. However, the clock settings such as time and alarm settings are not able to be configured through the Alexa app. Like a traditional clock, this must be adjusted through the buttons on top of the unit itself or by using voice control. It is interesting that Lenovo decided to just separate assistants onto different models of the same device instead of just throwing them both onto the same product and letting users decide which one they want to use for their home. There must have been licensing issues as we really haven’t reviewed a product with both Alexa and Google Assistant together since Alex’s HTC U11 review.
Main Functions
As this product's main function is being an alarm clock, it has come up short in terms of usability and practicality when compared to modern technology. While the clock can store multiple alarms at once, as well as storing reoccurring alarm schedules which can be added or deleted by using the buttons on the device, there is however, no easy option to turn off any specific one of the alarm schedules. What this specifically means is that the alarm schedules set up will always occur and the only way to disable a specific alarm schedule is to delete that schedule. On top of that, as mentioned earlier, there is no access for the user to manage the clock or alarm schedules through the Alexa app, which is a missed opportunity. On the other hand, using the Alexa app allows users to set up alarm schedules along with other routines, but these are independent to the Lenovo Smart Clock and any smart speaker will have these functions through the app. It’s a fractured ecosystem that you wouldn’t normally see if you used Alexa through an Echo device.
Finally, the physical buttons to use the clock are not that intuitive to use. There are a series of procedures to add or delete alarm schedules that users initially would have to refer to the user manual. And while that may work to program things, it just doesn't seem like the interface is intuitive enough because after some time, I found myself struggling to remember its alarm settings thus forcing me to have to play around with it a little before eventually referring to the user manual for assistance. Of course, voice command can be used to enable or disable alarms, but not before Alexa reads out loud all your alarms and asks which one to cancel when disabling. Honestly, all of this extra work can be avoided simply by having a touch screen display that actually displays stuff you can control with your finger. I understand that Lenovo was aiming for a simplistic approach to bring back a traditional bedside clock in the age of technological privacy concerns. However, the Smart Clock Essential does feel counter-productive at times and it has made me realize that I might be willing to forgo some of those privacy values for an easier life. That just goes to show how much added convivence modern technology has provided us over the last decade. Before the smartphone era, having a bedside clock that can play music as a speaker, control your lights verbally like this product does, all the while displaying the always important digits of the current time, would have been a game changing product. It’s amazing to think just how archaic that concept feels now in 2022.
Worth It?
The Lenovo Smart Clock is a simple device, but truly does lack modern necessities to function for user essentials. Because it does not have touchscreen capabilities, users have to use manual input through combinations of physical buttons. That can be a little counter-productive to such a simple task as an alarm cannot be disabled without fully deleting it. There are very limited features that the clock can be configured with through the Alexa app and none of those relate to actual alarm settings. While the $39.99 MSRP is very affordable, the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential has to be viewed as a low-cost Alexa enabled hub more than a modern bedside companion. The fact that it does allow full Alexa control of smart devices throughout the house does provide value to some buyers looking for privacy in the bedroom. Unfortunately, its core functions as an alarm clock leaves a bit to be desired.
Ben
The complex integration of buildings and automobiles always intrigued Ben. So much so that he dedicated his life to further his knowledge of technological development in building design. Whether he’s on a job site with new homes or in a studio designing a home, Ben understands the smarts required inside a home.