In fact, the category didn't really come into its own until Google joined the fray with its own line of hardware about a year later. Now, both of these companies are essentially dominating the smart display landscape, with each offering their own take on a smart assistant with a screen. It's that screen that makes smart displays so much more useful than smart speakers. Rather than just having a voice recite the current weather report, for example, you can see a five-day forecast as well. The same goes for when you ask about your shopping list or calendar; it's simply easier to see the whole list or your day's appointments at a glance.

Smart displays have evolved quite a bit since the initial debut of Amazon's first Echo Show back in 2017. In fact, the category didn't really come into its own until Google joined the fray with its own line of hardware about a year later. Now, both of these companies are essentially dominating the smart display landscape, with each offering their own take on a smart assistant with a screen. It's that screen that makes smart displays so much more useful than smart speakers. Rather than just having a voice recite the current weather report, for example, you can see a five-day forecast as well.

Lenovo is back with more smart clocks. It's one of a handful of third-party companies that make Google Assistant-powered displays, and we were impressed by the original Lenovo Smart Clock's simplicity and low price. Lenovo then followed it up with the Smart Clock Essential, which was basically a smaller alarm clock with speakers and a mic for you to talk to Google's Assistant. This time around, the company is launching the Smart Clock 2, and it offers some improvements over its predecessor for $10 more. Plus, it comes with a wireless charging pad that lets you juice up your compatible devices and doubles as a nightlight.