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Connects to Google Assistant.
The best smart sound bar
With a wireless subwoofer, immersive virtual surround sound, and Amazon Alexa built-in, the Yamaha YAS-209 is the best smart sound bar you can buy right now. It’s compatible with Spotify Connect and has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, making it a great speaker for listening in your living room.
Connects to Alexa.
★ Alternative: He Sonos Beam Sound Bar ($499) (8/10, WIRED recommends) is another good option. It’s not our favorite soundbar for its price, but it has Alexa, Google Assistant, and Airplay compatibility (with some Siri) out of the box.
Best Google Assistant smart display
Smart displays are great in a few different parts of the house, like the kitchen or entryway, but they may go unused for the most part. The Google Pixel tablet (7/10, WIRED recommended) solves this problem by combining a tablet and a smart display into one practical device. The 11-inch tablet snaps into the included docking station to turn it into a smart display, and looks almost identical to the Google Nest Hub Max, and you simply pop it off the screen to turn it back into a tablet. (There may be a slight learning curve to properly disengage it from the magnet base.)
Placing it on the cradle activates the tablet’s Hub mode and you can customize the screen to display your Google Photos or select one of the fun clock designs. You can easily control smart home devices by tapping the Google Home icon on the lock screen, which will display an overlay of your favorite smart home devices to let you control them and check camera feeds on doorbells and Wi-Fi cameras. This feature is only available while docked, so your camera feeds are safe from strangers if you have the tablet with you.
The Pixel tablet is now our favorite smart display for several other reasons. The base’s built-in speakers have robust sound with surprisingly decent bass, so you can jam while you’re in the kitchen or living room. There’s also multi-user support that lets you add up to eight accounts, each of which can have custom apps, layouts and wallpapers, all protected by fingerprint, so the whole family can use this device without infringing on others.
If you don’t want to splurge on buying a tablet and a smart display, the Nest Hub Max (8/10, WIRED recommended) is still a great option with similar features, a large screen, and pretty impressive speakers considering its slim size. profile.
Connects to Google Assistant.
Best Alexa smart display
The Echo Show 8 (3rd generation) keeps everything we liked about the previous model, but adds the features we like on Amazon’s more expensive Echo Show displays. For the new releases, the third-generation Show 8 gets a smart home hub that works with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread devices, and has spatial audio capabilities (although not all music services can take advantage of this feature). You also get widgets, which let you place little Post-It-sized shortcuts on your screen for things like your favorite smart home devices, a calendar, or even a small digital sticky note. On the Echo Show 8, these don’t always appear as they’re part of the screen’s content rotation, but they’re fun and useful when they do.
On top of that, the Show 8 still has great sound and a perfectly sized screen for checking the weather and reading recipes without taking up too much counter or table space. It’s easy to control your music and smart home devices, watch videos, and get content like sports scores and weather alerts right on the screen. The 13 MP camera allows you to make video calls and also works as a security camera or as a way to make video calls with your family inside the house.
