Xiaomi Smart Speaker (IR Control) Review: Should this be your first smart speaker?

Smart speakers have become quite common in our homes these days, but if you’ve missed out on buying one so far, you can check out the Xiaomi Smart Speaker with IR Control. At a pretty reasonable price of ₹4,999, is this a good first smart speaker for you?

Design

In terms of design, this smart speaker is definitely very classy. This cylindrical shape and matte dark grey finish means that it will look quite nice in any sort of home setting, be it in the living room or a side-table in the bedroom. The dimensions are 10cm in length and breadth, and 14cm in height, so it won’t take up too much space as well.

I’m also quite a fan of the perforations on all 4 sides, for the sound to escape, and the understated yet elegant xiaomi logo on the front. Also on the front is the digital clock, which is incredibly neat and minimalist. It’s a simple clock display, but I found it pretty useful.

On the bottom you also get rubber feet so the speaker won’t slide around. It also does come with a power adaptor, of course. Overall, this is a very well-designed smart home product, and it will blend in nicely with the decor of your house.

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Utility

So the top of the speaker houses the buttons for controls. There are play/pause and volume control buttons, along with the light that lets you know the speaker is activated. There’s also a mute switch for the privacy inclined, which will assure you that your conversations aren’t being overheard.

But you probably won’t be using those buttons much because, well, this is a smart speaker! There are 2 microphones on this unit, which have far-field support which means they can pick out your voice even from the other end of the room.

You set this speaker up with the Google Home app, after which it works with Google Assistant and can also become a smart home hub. So you can of course ask it questions and set alarms or reminders or add calendar events, and also use it to control your IoT enabled gadgets. It has both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 5.0 support, and a built-in Chromecast so connectivity will never be a problem. It’s really very easy to cast music to it using any supported app, and works much more smoothly than even using a bluetooth speaker.

But more importantly, the killer feature for this speaker is that you can also use it to control non-IoT enabled gadgets. So, if you have an older AC that’s not Wi-Fi enabled, this speaker can control that too! The setup process is slightly lengthy, and it only supports a set number of gadgets like ACs, Set top boxes, lamps, and TVs. There are a wide variety of brands on offer though, and it should support most brands that are seen in Indian homes. After you set this up, your non-smart AC or TV can also be controlled by voice commands, which is fantastic.

If you buy two of these, by the way, you can sync both of them and use them in stereo mode.

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Sound

All the smart features are fantastic, but when it comes down to brass tacks, how does the Xiaomi Smart Speaker sound? There is a single 1.5-inch driver inside this smart speaker, which sounds, well, about okay. It definitely gets really loud, so that won’t be a problem but the clarity could have been better. It’s fine if you’re listening to Bollywood or Pop music, but anything more involving, like heavy rock or bass-focused electronic music, makes the sound really muddy. The bass also gets kinda tinny sometimes. It does a little better with mids and highs, though.

Verdict

The Xiaomi Smart Speaker with IR control provides all the benefits of Google Assistant and Chromecast, and a truly unique feature with IR control, that will let you control even non-smart devices with your voice. For a price of ₹4,999, if you’ve missed out on the smart speaker train so far, this would be a good first ticket.