Category: CES 2017

Google is expanding the reach of Google Assistant and it is coming to a television near you.  At CES 2017 yesterday, the company announced that the AI-driven personal assistant would be coming to Android TV and a wide range of other Smart TVs on the market.

In the coming months, the Google Assistant on Android TV will come to the NVIDIA SHIELD, along with all Android TVs in the US running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or Android 7.0 Nougat, such as the AirTV Player, Sharp Aquos, Sony Bravia, Xiaomi Mi Box, and more. And once available, the NVIDIA SHIELD will be the first TV device to offer a hands-free Assistant experience — so “Dim the lights” will only be an “Ok Google” away!

The news means that Google Assistant will start moving beyond Google Home or the Google Pixel phone line up, expanding further into the home as they try to compete with Amazon’s Echo and Alexa technology.

AT CES 2017, Huawei has announced the new mid-range Honor 6X phone.  Starting at $249, the phone will have 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage but, like many other phones in this price range, has compromises to keep the price down.  The 5.5″ device renders at 1080p (1920 x 1080) which is the bare minimum in phones these days.  It is powered by the Huawei Kirin 655 Octa-Core processor running at 2.1GHz.  While it comes with 32GB of storage here in the United States (there is a 64GB version for other countries), you an expanded it up to an additional 128GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.

Camera wise, the Honor 6X isn’t bad.  It has a dual-camera rear shooter comprised of a 12MP main camera and a 2MP secondary.  It is capable of shooting 1080p video.  The front camera is an 8MP shooter.  The phone is sold unlocked and works with LTE Bands 2/4/5/12/20 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900.  You’ll also find a fingerprint scanner on the Honor 6X but, disappointingly, it is equipped with a Micro-USB charging port for the 3340mAh battery.