Now, here’s a gadget from ASUS that we see as a potential solution to “too many gadgets.” Called ASUS Lyra Voice, this sleek piece of gadget is a tri-band WiFi router with AiMesh and a smart speaker, specifically, with Amazon Alexa integration. Also, it is a Bluetooth speaker that boasts ASUS and DTS audio technology. Basically, with Lyra Voice, you can own one device instead of three. Aesthetically, it looks nothing like a router. There are no unsightly antennas, which may be a good thing and honestly, it looks like a half-size sound bar more than anything.
As far as audio reproduction goes, you can choose to stream audio to the device Bluetooth or get Alexa to playback music for you. Speaking of Alexa… you can, of course, use voice to interact with Alexa, including the usual like asking questions, check news and traffic information, and control smart home devices. And it is well-equipped to pick up your voice, even when spoken at softly or from across the room – thanks to a pair of microphones with 360-degree far-field voice detection.
As a router, it has, as mentioned earlier, AiMesh. AiMesh is ASUS’ proprietary meshing technology that allows you to pair other ASUS Lyra devices to create a dead spot-free coverage. ASUS Lyra Voice Router/Speaker will be available I coming weeks, starting at $219.99. Oh, as it turns out, ASUS isn’t the first to offer Alexa-enabled router. Apparently, NETGEAR has beaten ASUS to it when it announced Orbi a few months ago. So, I am guessing voice-enable router/smart speaker is going to be a thing moving forward?
Images: ASUS.
Source: TechCrunch.
