Xiaomi announces world's second Cortana-powered smart speaker, it costs just $30

by Cosmin Vasile / Dec 29, 2017, 8:21 AM

Xiaomi announces world's second Cortana-powered smart speaker, it costs just $30

Harman Kardon was the first company to launch a smart speaker powered by Microsoft's Cortana personal digital assistant – the Invoke. Unfortunately, the Invoke is slightly more expensive than other smart speakers that benefit from more exposure, but Cortana might push its sales in countries where the brand is powerful enough.

Invoke was just the first Cortana-powered smart speaker that made its debut on the market this year, but a second should have already been announced by HP. Although that didn't happen, it looks like another company will be using Cortana to power one of its smart speakers – Xiaomi.

The Chinese company has just introduced the so-called Yeelight Voice Assistant, a new smart speaker that is said to come with two AIs systems believed to be Alexa and Cortana. Another good news is the device will cost just $30 when it launches on the market on January 31.

The Yeelight Voice Assistant features 6 mics, a 2-watt speaker, a 64-bit 1.2GHz quad-core processor, as well as 256MB RAM and 256MB storage. It can be activated by voice command from over a 5-meter distance and it's only available in China for the time being.

Keep in mind though that Cortana only knows around 230 skills, a very low number in comparison with Alexa's 25,000 skills. Luckily, the smart speaker is equipped with dual AI systems, so it will work with both Cortana and Alexa. We expect Xiaomi to launch its cheap Echo Dot copycat in other countries very soon, including in the United States.

source: Xiaomi via MSPU

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7 Comments

1. xfire99

Posts: 1207; Member since: Mar 14, 2012

If it were Alexa and Google Home/Assistant. I will definitely buy it!

posted on Dec 29, 2017, 9:50 AM 3

2. worldpeace

Posts: 3135; Member since: Apr 15, 2016

It make sense that they include 2 assistants.. Alexa = Lots of skills but didn't understand Chinese command (since the article said "only available in China") Cortana = Limited skills but understand Chinese language But why not use Google Assistant? :-/ Probably because it's chinese version, hope they'll use Google Assistant for international version

posted on Dec 29, 2017, 10:53 AM 0

4. Sora77

Posts: 70; Member since: Mar 31, 2014

Why you buy this when you can buy google home mini at same price?

posted on Dec 29, 2017, 11:27 AM 0

7. worldpeace

Because I already own XIaomi's "Mi smart home"? (I'm not btw) Xiaomi make lots of smart home stuff (like rice cooker, thermostat, robot vacuum, smart lamp, etc)

posted on Dec 30, 2017, 5:07 AM 0

5. DnB925Art

Posts: 1168; Member since: May 23, 2013

Isn't Google (services like Search which Google Assistant is dependent on) blocked in China, maybe the reason why they didn't go with Google Assistant.

posted on Dec 29, 2017, 12:56 PM 1

3. ZeroSlack_Jack

Posts: 35; Member since: May 02, 2017

Xiaomi's press release doesn't mention Cortana anywhere!!! You drunk PA???

posted on Dec 29, 2017, 11:04 AM 1

6. xfire99

Now I understand, this doesnt have Dual AI at all! It comes with 2 different versions. One in chinese meant for chinese market and global one comes with Alexa AI. So it DOES NOT COMES WITH DUAL AI! What a misleading article!