Orbi Voice: One part Harman Kardon smart speaker with Alexa, one part Wi-Fi extender video – CNET

[MUSIC] Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have been a thing for a while. But in the past year, premium smart speakers like the Apple Home Pod, Google Home Max And sonos one that offers a perfect audio quality around the rise. but things are just getting warmed up. Netgear, the popular mesh wifi system partnerd with high end audio maker Harmon to create the ORBI voice. It’s a premium smart speaker with full Alexa support But also works as a satieltte station to extend your home Wi-Fi. That is something no other smart speaker can do. With Alexa on board, the Orbi voice can stream music from Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora and [UNKNOWN] And you can pretty much do anything you can do with an Amazon Echo. The four microphones on top accept voice commands to control the Orbi voice. There’s also a slick looking light up interface for controlling volume. Clad in gray fabric, Orbi voice has a tailored, sophisticated look. It’s slightly shorter than Amazon Echo Plus. And has a curved oblong design that mimics an Orbi wifi mesh router. On the back are a DC port and two gigabit ethernet ports for connecting wired devices. It’s this last feature that really sets this Orbi Voice apart. Besides extending your home wifi, you can also plug in a device like the Playstation 4 to share an internet connection. But there is a catch. To use the Orbi voice, you need an Orbi wi-fi mesh router. Now, if you already use and Orbi wi-fi mesh system in your home, this speaker will work fine, but if you don’t, Orbi offers and Orbi voice mesh wi-fi system kit which comes with the Orbi voice speaker and an Orbi wi-fi router. This kit should appeal to people looking to upgrade their home Wi-Fi to a mesh network and add a premium smart speaker. The Orbi voice speaker will be available later this fall and costs $300 in the US, while the Orbi WiFi system kit will be available at the end of September for $430 US. [MUSIC]