New smart speaker from Xiaomi: It looks boring, but this feature makes it special

• Xiaomi has introduced a new smart speaker.
• It has an infrared sensor.
• You can use it to make conventional devices smart.

Amazon Echo, Google Nest, Apple HomePod – smart speakers are a dime a dozen. Many not only look similar, but also offer almost the same range of functions. At first glance, the new smart speaker from Xiaomi is no exception. But one feature makes it special: It has an infrared sensor (IR).

You can use this to make conventional air conditioning systems, fans and the like, which are still controlled by remote control, smart and in future also to be operated by voice command. According to Xiaomi, this even works at a distance of up to ten meters.

IR controller makes “old devices” smart

However, the built-in IR sensor is apparently not capable of learning, as can be seen from the footnotes on Xiaomi’s product page. Instead, the smart speaker probably accesses a code database and pulls the necessary control commands from it.

Disadvantage: If your device is not in the database, you cannot control it. With a learning IR sensor, on the other hand, you could transfer the commands to the smart speaker yourself using the original remote control.

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Apart from the IR sensor, the new Xiaomi Smart Speaker is a speaker based on the Google Assistant. As a result, the speaker also has an integrated Chromecast.

price and availability

Xiaomi offers the smart speaker in its in-house online shop for 49.99 euros. Other dealers like Otto already carry it. Here it is sometimes much cheaper.

at Buy Xiaomi Smart Speaker IR for 42.50 euros*

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at Buy Xiaomi Smart Speaker IR for 43.90 euros*

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at galaxy Buy Xiaomi Smart Speaker IR for 41.70 euros*

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at xiaomi Buy Smart Speaker IR for 49.99 euros*

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It is only available in black. Earlier smart speaker models from Xiaomi, on the other hand, were also available in white.