Google clearly means business at its first CES 2018 appearance, with a massive booth hosting the reveal of Smart Display, the search giant's take on the Amazon Echo Show devices.
Smart Display is, essentially, a platform for Google Assistant-powered smart speakers featuring a display. Google insists such devices are not mere Android tablets, since they use a full voice interface and actually run on Android Things, a variant of the OS designed for IoT. Smart Display devices cannot run apps and present traditional assistant functionality using what appears to be a card-based UI.
YouTube support comes out of the box-- unlike the Echo Show, following the recent Google-Amazon kerfuffle-- while a built-in camera allows for Google Duo videoconferencing. It can also act as a home automation hub when paired with other Google Assistant-compatible devices, such as Nest cameras or thermostats.
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