Huawei AI Cube: First look at Huawei’s Alexa-powered smart speaker

Huawei unveils one of its first Alexa powered smart speakers at IFA 2018. A look.

Huawei’s AI Cube smart speaker is powered by Amazon Alexa. (HT Photo)

The smart speaker appears very similar to Google Home, and has both plastic and fabric material on the outside. The top has volume buttons along with a dedicated mute button. The top bar is very similar to Amazon Echo devices.

On the back, the device has dedicated buttons for power and LED indicators for Wi-Fi and LAN. At the bottom, the device has ports for LAN and power.

When it comes to sound quality, the Huawei AI cube is pretty much on a par with several other smart speakers. Despite a lot of ambience noise, the Huawei AI Cube speaker managed to perform a few basic tasks like playing music and switching on a connected bulb.

Unlike many other smart speakers, the Huawei AI smart speaker comes with a SIM card slot that enables high-speed 4G internet. Apart from a SIM card slot, Huawei AI Cube comes with LTE CAT6 (up to 300Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11ac. The smart speaker also lets you make voice calls.

Huawei AI Cube supports over 45,000 skills. (HT Photo)

Huawei AI Cube supports over 45,000 skills. (HT Photo)

The smart speaker will soon support hands-free voice calling via Amazon Alexa. It also supports voice call via Bluetooth-connected smartphone.

The smart speaker supports over 45,000 skills, including playing music and entertainment, setting alarms and timers, asking questions, and controlling smart home devices.

The smart home hub allows the device to pair up with over 10,000 smart devices, including lighting, smart bulb and thermostats, among others.