Let's talk about the hardware first. The 10-inch Lenovo Smart Display offers an elegant design that some might find a little quirky in spots, but we think will look great on many a kitchen counter or living room end table. The 8-inch version looks similar but instead comes with a soft-touch gray backing that's a bit more subdued. The controls on the device are rather minimalistic, similar to its physical design, in traditional Google form. The intent here is for you to interact with the device audibly, more so than physically.





And there-in lies the first rub, but it's a small one really. There's actually no way to power down the Lenovo Smart Display, unless you physically unplug its small AC adapter from the wall or the back of the unit. And you can't ask Google to just power down. No big deal but an oddity none-the-less. Fortunately, from there, you do have a lot more control over your experience, as well as a few buttons to play with.

There are a set of two dual-array microphones on the edge of the unit that do a really nice job of picking up your commands from across the room or even in an adjacent room. During the course of our testing and producing the video above, we often activated Google Assistant unintentionally from a voice track on a video clip. It works that well but responds to "Hey Google" or "OK Google" only. Anything even remotely close to that was thankfully ignored. Also on board for controls is a volume rocker, as well as both a camera privacy shutter and a microphone mute button, the latter of which, when engaged, Google will let you know "the microphone is muted." All of these simple controls work quite well and give you a sense of privacy, should you not want the help of your beloved robot overlord listening in, or watching for that matter, with its infrared-capable camera that you see blinking in our video demo above.

Quality Visuals And Audio Are Key - Fortunately, That's What You Get