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Google announces three third-party speakers with Assistant, plus LG appliance integration

Google announces three third-party speakers with Assistant, plus LG appliance integration

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Back in May, Google announced that it was releasing an SDK so anybody could make a smart speaker featuring the Google Assistant. Now, as IFA approaches, it’s officially announcing three three third-party speakers will be available later this year.

The one to pay attention to (at least at first) is the Zolo Mojo from Anker. It’s not Anker’s first smart speaker — it made a little Echo Dot competitor running Alexa called the Eufy Genie. Anker calls the Mojo as “entry-level smart speaker” with a price to match, $70. It’s a 5-watt speaker with two microphones and it supports Google Cast Audio, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. So it’s not a tiny as an Echo Dot, but probably won’t offer the same sound quality as a more expensive speaker. Anker says it will be available in “late October.”

Details are still thin about the other two, especially the Panasonic GA10, but we’ll update this post with more details as we get them. There’s also the TicHome Mini, a tiny little portable speaker from a Chinese company called Mobvoi. It was announced back in May alongside the SDK, and as of today the company is offering a 30 percent discount on the still-unpriced product for people who sign up for a mailing list.

Alongside the speakers, Google is also announcing that the Assistant is able to integrate with some of LG’s home appliances. So you can ask about the state of your laundry or tell your LG robot vacuum to get to work.

As far as availability for the speakers goes, Google says “most will be available in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, and France.” And while these third parties are nice, what we’re really waiting for is word from Sonos, which is holding an event on October 4th where we expect a smart speaker to be announced. Amazon’s Alexa is likely to be supported on the Sonos, but the company is committed to getting other assistants working with its devices as well.

In the meanwhile, it’s entirely possible that we’ll see more speakers with the Google Assistant announced at IFA, which is kicking off this week in Berlin.