Smart Speakers

Smart Speakers at Box

Welcome to the smart speaker range at Box. Here at Box we have one of the best smart speaker collections available, including Alexa, & Google Assistant and Apple. A smart speaker is one of the most popular entertainment devices on the market now due to its ability to help with tasks, stream music and control smart home devices.

What is a Smart Speaker?

Smart speakers have revolutionised the way that Smart Home products are used. A smart speaker works in the same way as a normal speaker as you can connect your device (such as a phone or tablet) to it and play music. However, a Smart Speaker also has a built-in Voice Assistant (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple Siri). You can use this Voice Assistant to give voice commands like ‘Alexa, what is the weather like today’ or ‘Hey Google, when is my dentist appointment’ and find out the answer in no time, hands-free.

Smart Speaker uses

The introduction of the next generation of Speakers has given users incredible creativity with their Smart Home setups. Here are some of the best ways to utilize smart speakers, as recommended by Box:

Music Streaming

There is no need to connect your device to a speaker to play music. You can simply use your smart speaker to stream music directly from your Spotify, Google Music or Apple Music playlist.

Control Smart Home Devices

Tired of leaning down to turn off a plug or getting out of bed to turn on the lights? Get your smart speaker to do it for you! You can say phrases like ‘Hey Google, turn off the living room plug’ or ‘Alexa, turn on the bedroom light’ and the Smart speaker will do it for you!

Fact Checking

Everyone has had that moment when you are stuck in a debate with a friend. Ask your Smart Speaker for the answer! You can say phrases like ‘Hey Google, how many people live in the UK?’ or ‘Alexa, how many states are there in America’ and you will have the answer in no time!

Entertainment

On your bored or lonely days, get your Smart Speaker to keep you company. ‘Alexa, tell me a joke’ or ‘Hey Google, ask me a question’ are some of the fun ways you can interact with your smart speaker.

Smart Speaker terminology explained

What is a Voice Assistant?

A voice assistant lives inside your smart speaker and is what processes and responds to your commands. There are currently 3 main voice assistants, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa & the Google Assistant. You can say things like ‘Alexa, what is the weather like today’ ‘Hey Google, what is the sterling to euros conversion rate’ or ‘Hey Siri, play my gym playlist’.

Connectivity

This refers to how you can connect to the device. All smart speakers will have WIFI connectivity as standard, so you just need to connect it to your router, some also offer Bluetooth & the versatile 3.5mm jack.

What is a Chromecast?

This is a service from Google which allows you to play music from the speaker without pairing your device. It connects via WIFI which allows you to connect more than one device to your speaker at the same time and play music from anywhere in the house. Only smart speakers which have the Google Assistant will have Chromecast as an option.

What is Premium Audio

There are some smart speakers are designed around the voice assistants but still give you good audio levels. However, there are some smart speakers with incredible sound quality that were built to give you a premium audio experience. Any speaker with the premium audio feature will do just that.

Touch Controls on Smart Speakers

The smart speaker has physical buttons but they are operated by touch rather than being pressed in.

Touchscreen on Smart Speakers

The smart speaker comes with a built-in touchscreen. This can be used to show you videos, weather reports, your schedule and many other things.

Microphones on Smart Speakers

This refers to how many microphones the smart speaker has. The more microphones used means that it has a further reach, meaning you can give commands from further away.