![]() If you tap it when the Invoke isn’t doing anything, Cortana will serve up a random fact.īut like the Echo and Google Home, the main way you’re supposed to use the Invoke is through voice commands. You can tap the top of the Invoke to pause music that’s playing or cancel a command. It’s easier to see across the room than the lights on the Google Home, but the Echo’s brighter ring is better still. It will shine red when the speaker is muted, and it will display a white ring when you adjust the volume. ![]() ![]() The touch-sensitive pad at the top of the speaker will illuminate with a blue-and-white circle whenever the “Hey Cortana” wake-up command is said. The Invoke’s only real competitor here is the equally priced Sonos One, which is louder still with even better bass. It fills a room with sound much better than either of those speakers, and though it won’t be suitable for bumping a house party, it has actual bass response, which is all but non-existent in the others. This speaker array makes the Invoke much nicer to listen to than the Echo (even the new and supposedly improved model) and the Google Home. All of this is pushed by a 40-watt amplifier, which Harman Kardon boasts is more powerful than any of its direct competitors.Īn x-ray view of the Invoke’s speaker array Image: Harman Kardon The Invoke doesn’t have a subwoofer, but there is a passive radiator to enhance the bass. Under the speaker grille are three 1.75-inch midrange drivers and three 0.5-inch tweeters, arranged in an outward-facing circle to provide 360 degrees of sound. Not that you’d have much of a reason to hook the Invoke up to another speaker even if it could. The Invoke can be used as a standard Bluetooth speaker, but it cannot connect to a larger speaker either over Bluetooth or with an aux cable like the newer Echo devices can. The only physical controls on the Invoke are the volume ring at the top (which effectively works identically to the first-gen Echo’s, but has smoother damping), a touch-sensitive pad on the top, and the mute and Bluetooth buttons on the back. It is available in black or white color options, both of which should look nice in a modern home décor. The finish is definitely a step up from Amazon’s offering, with a more attractive speaker grille and a chrome bevel at the top that catches light nicely. It’s a roughly four-inch diameter cylinder that’s just under 10 inches tall, with a tapered design that gets narrower at the top. In terms of design, the Invoke is most similar to the first-generation Echo from 2015. Further, while Cortana is a capable virtual assistant, it’s clear that this device is Microsoft’s first effort in this space, and it has some catching up to do with Alexa and Google’s Assistant. Since Amazon itself admits that the thing people use the Echo for more than any other is to listen to music, the Invoke’s improved audio experience is definitely appreciated.īut that experience comes at a cost, and the price difference between the Invoke and the others is not insignificant. The Invoke has more powerful speakers than either of its competitors, and, as a perhaps obvious result, it sounds a lot better than the Echo or Home. The Invoke can also be used to listen to music, and this is where it separates itself from devices from Amazon and Google. And it can be used to deliver facts, perform unit conversions, set timers or alarms, look up directions, control smart home gadgets, or add things to a to-do or shopping list. It has a circular light on top that illuminates when it hears its wake word or is responding to a request. It has seven far-field microphones to hear your voice commands from across the room. The $199 Harman Kardon Invoke is not hugely different than the Amazon Echo or Google Home. Not one to be left out of the party, there’s now a smart wireless speaker that uses Microsoft’s Cortana assistant. For a company that makes a voice-controlled assistant, it has become table stakes to have a smart speaker for the home that uses it: Amazon’s Alexa debuted on the Echo smart speaker three years ago, Google now has a complete lineup of Home speakers that use the Google Assistant, and Apple’s forthcoming HomePod is powered by, you guessed it, Siri.
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