It’s pretty impressive how quickly Google Assistant has spread to third-party smart speakers, and one of the first offerings came from Insignia. Today, it’s been confirmed that Insignia has officially discontinued both of its Google Assistant smart speakers.
One powerful feature of Google Home is the ability to make phone calls with just a quick voice command. It’s something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed on my Google Home Max, but it has always been a shame to miss out on it with third-party options. Now, Google Assistant phone calls are spreading to more speakers, including options from Insignia and Harman.
Google Assistant speakers come in all shapes and sizes, and one of the few with a clock displayed comes from Best Buy’s Insignia brand. Now, Insignia Google Assistant speakers have added a constant temperature indicator.
In most instances, the Google Home and Home Mini are perfect little speakers that you can set in the corner of a room and forget about. But in the bedroom, it can be useful to have the functionality of the Google Assistant in a speaker that also shows the time. With the Insignia Voice Speaker, you get all of that with a price tag lower than the Google Home, even when it’s on sale…
This is not the first time we heard major Android vendors are aiming to hit lower price points in the months to come. With iPad mini expected to eat into a large chunk of the 7-inch tablet market, and recent price drops and refreshes to the Kindle lineups, it makes sense Google and other Android manufacturers are aiming to offer an even better value following its launch. Digitimes, despite not having the best track record, stated confidently in September, while citing its usual supply chain sources, that Google is planning a $99 Nexus 7 tablet. It also claimed an upgraded model would take over the $200 price point. This would seem to make sense with rumors of a 32GB Nexus 7 landing for under $250. Leaked retail inventory listings and even a unit that accidentally shipped have backed up those rumors.
Digitimes is once again claiming today that Google’s $99 Nexus tablet is real, adding that Taiwan-based manufacturers have confirmed it will launch in the fourth quarter of this year. Where this leaves the rest of the Nexus line is unclear. If the $99 tablet and 32GB Nexus for $250 are real, it could mean the $99 tablet comes with 8GB or 16 GB. There is also a chance Google keeps a tablet at the $199 price point. This would seem to point to a 8GB model at $99, 16GB model at $199, and 32GB model at $250. However, we are not quite buying the idea tht Google will offer an extra 16GB for only $50 more than a $199 16GB model…