If Amazon Alexa owned CES 2017, the Google Assistant has arguably repeated the feat at this year’s Las Vegas showcase.
On Monday, during a rare appearance at the biggest tech show of the year, the Mountain View firm announced that a host of third-party speakers, headphones and auto integrations were on the way.
However, the headline news was a range of smart displays squarely aimed at challenging the Amazon Echo Show.
Over the past couple of days we’ve seen entires from JBL and Lenovo, and now it’s time for LG to show its hand.
Unfortunately, the LG ThinQ WK9, which goes on sale this summer, is probably the least attractive smart display we’ve seen so far.
It’s boxy, boring and very black – but that doesn’t mean the WK9 doesn’t have it where it counts.
It has an 8-inch touchscreen display and speakers that the company says are tuned by Meridian Audio on either side. There’s also a camera above the display.
Related: CES 2018
Not a lot is known about the specs, but Google has confirmed the smart display will run on the Qualcomm SD624 Home Hub platform.
Sony is also working on a smart display with Google Assistant integration, but we’ve yet to see that model in the flesh.
Away from the touchscreen solutions, Altec Lansing, Anker, Bang & Olufsen, Braven, iHome, JBL, Jensen, LG, Klipsch, Knit Audio, Memorex, Riva Audio and SōLIS are all building audio accessories with the Google Assistant at their heart.
Meanwhile Jaybird, JBL, LG and Sony are working on Assistant-powered headphones.
Google also announced Assistant for Android Auto at CES, while Kia has pledged to build the tool directly into some of its vehicles.
Has the Google Assistant dominated CES 2018? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
