'Hello Siri, Alexa, Google ' Meet the newest smart hub 'Essential Home'
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - Move over Apple, Amazon and Google, a new home smart hub will soon hit the market for consumers.
Android co-founder Andy Rubin announced the arrival of "Essential Home." The device website says it will activate through glance, tap or asking a question.
The small, puck-shaped device contains a slightly slanted display screen where messages and images are viewed.
“We are focused on delivering a home assistant that you’ll actually be proud to display in your home. No boxes, tubes or strange lights,” the website states.
In a recent blog post, the company hailed the hub as “unobtrusive and respects your privacy.”
Dwipal Desai, Essential Home business unit lead for home devices, says they created the device to ensure “your privacy is taken seriously.”
“We designed Essential Home to directly talk to your devices over your in-home network as much as possible in order to limit sending data to the cloud,” Desai said.
Essential Home will operate on a newly created operating system called Ambient OS. The company says its new system can sense if background music is playing too loudly while individuals are talking and prompt the user to lower the volume.
According to a recent article by Mashable, the device will also work with other smart home platforms and even work with your preferred digital assistant like Siri, Alexa or Google. The device works to allow users to customize the device to their preferences but does not require an app.
Like other smart home hubs, the device will also provide reminders and notifications, even reminding users when they leave a light on.
The company also released a new phone with a small, attachable 360-degree camera.
