I primarily used this setup to charge up my Pixel Buds and/or Galaxy Buds 2 as well as my Galaxy Watch 4, while charging my phone on a vertical stand charger as, personally, I just prefer that setup. When connected, you’ll get one Qi wireless charging pad and one USB port, making it really simple to charge up a phone or earbuds along with a smartwatch. The dock connects magnetically and uses pins for power transfer. The really new thing about this year’s Smart Clock is that Lenovo has added a wireless charging dock to the setup. I have no idea why, and nothing I do seems to fix it, but it did recently give my wife and I a pretty rude awakening as we didn’t realize it had messed up the time. When it asks me what time I want the alarm to go off, it occasionally will ignore whatever I say and change it to 4am. The other annoying quirk I had that seems to be on Google’s end is that my nightly “Goodnight” routine on Assistant often messes up asking for the alarm to be set. So the “Alarms” menu that lets you turn on/off an alarm with touch instead of voice can be very messy. Google Assistant, and in turn this interface, will show an entry for every time you’ve set an alarm. The first is just a quirk of the software. “Hey Google, change my alarm to 8 a.m.” works wonderfully if you remember at the last minute you need to wake up at a different time the next day.ĭuring my time with the Lenovo Smart Clock 2, I ran into only two real issues with the alarm. Things are better on Google’s end since the last Smart Clock, too, with the ability to ask Google to change the time of an alarm without canceling it. Just ask Google to set an alarm and it gets the job done, no fuss. The most obvious use case for this device, though, is alarms, and they work just about as well as on a Nest Hub or smart speaker. Google Assistant works as usual on this device, too, with support for answering questions, running Routines, handling commands, and more. Google Nest Hub or Lenovo Smart Clock: Which should you buy?.It really is just super intuitive, to the point where anyone with a basic understanding of their smartphone would probably be able to wrap their brain around the Smart Clock’s interface in a matter of minutes. Long-pressing the clockface allows a quick way to switch the design out, much like switching your wallpaper on a phone or watchface on a smartwatch. A swipe down from the top shows various quick settings, just like you’d have on a mobile phone.
#FLIP CLOCK SCREENSAVER FOR PIXEL 2 XL SOFTWARE#
The software runs well and is designed intuitively. As a quick aside, the screen on this year’s model feels roughly the same as the original, but with slightly more even backlighting. Matching the original model is the software, which is still a Google-made platform that’s similar to what you’d find on a Nest Hub, just condensed down to fit the much smaller screen. There is still a hardware mute switch on the back, though, which is always great to see, and there are two buttons at the top of the device for physical volume control. It’s a fair trade overall, but just a little bit frustrating when you consider the most affordable way to buy this device is without that dock. Instead, that port has been moved to the wireless charging dock. I stopped using that feature as a result because it just wasn’t reliable enough with the small surface area.Īnother notable change this time around is the removal of the built-in USB port on the clock itself. I’d say the only regression in the physical design is that the top area is so small, which makes the “smack” option for snoozing the clock significantly less usable. It actually has a smaller footprint on your nightstand, which is nice, and I’m a huge fan of the new blue colorway. The new version is taller with fewer flat edges. In terms of the physical design, the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is pretty similar to what came before, just with a more inviting overall design. For the past several weeks I’ve been using the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 with its wireless charging dock, and it evolves the original’s formula to be an even better fit for the bedside. In 2019, Lenovo debuted its Smart Clock which was specifically designed with your bedroom in mind, and this year, it has a successor. There are dozens of Google Assistant speakers and displays out on the market today, but most really just serve that one purpose of being a voice assistant with some music and/or video features.