Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker review: OK Google, the game is on!

Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker review: Okay Google, the game is on, Xiaomi announced with the launch of its new smart speaker in India – set to take on the few options available in the country like Google Nest Mini and Amazon Echo Dot. While many still see Xiaomi as a smartphone maker, the company is constantly expanding its product portfolio by entering newer segments. Launched at the Smarter Living event last month, the Mi Smart Speaker is first from the company with voice assistant.  

But, how does Xiaomi plan to compete with others who have been in the segment for a while now and have their own voice assistants? By promising a more powerful audio performance and of course, a highly aggressive price point.  

Mi Smart Speaker is priced in India at Rs 3,999 (Rs 3,499 for pre-orders). Does it justify that? Does it offer better value than Google and Amazon products? Let’s find out in our review of Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker.  

Mi Smart Speaker review: Design and Build  

Mi Smart Speaker is bigger and thicker than most smart speakers available in the country. It requires decent space to fit in and works only with power supply. Xiaomi justifies the bulkier design by adding bigger drivers, which it claims are capable of delivering better audio performance than competitors.  

The frame of the speaker is made of ABS material. The Mi Smart Speaker features a matte finish on top of its 0.7mm-thin metal mesh that delivers a premium look and feel. You get the touch controls on top in Xiaomi’s familiar orange colour scheme. You can use these buttons to control the volume, turn off/on mic and play/pause music. The two microphones are also placed on top of the speaker. 

There is a LED light array around the speaker top which lights up whenever you give a voice command. It is very similar to the light ring you get on Amazon smart speakers.  

Apart from this, the design is pretty much basic with only a power port at the bottom. At over 800 grams, the Mi Smart Speaker is on the heavier side and you will be better served by finding a fixed spot for it in the house.  

Mi Smart Speaker review: Voice Assistant Response  

No matter what Xiaomi claims, a smart speaker is smart first, speaker next. And, while the box does a decent job, it could have been smarter. I had it placed in my room and found the voice response slightly inconsistent. It’s quick to respond when you are sitting next to the speaker but there are times when the speaker fails to respond beyond a certain distance.  

The bigger challenge with smart speakers is usually when the music is playing. Your voice is often overlapped by the music with the speaker failing to understand the command. The Mi Smart Speaker performs fine here. It picks up commands with ease at least till 70 per cent volume levels. Beyond that, you need to speak louder or, even shout at times to wake up the voice assistant.  

The speaker works with the Google Home App which gives you options to select default options of playing music or streaming video content, among others.  

I had Spotify as my go to platform for music streaming and observed some issues in integration. In some case, the speaker tends to take the right voice command, yet ends up playing a totally different track. For example, when I asked it to play ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weekend, it kept playing different songs by the same artist on different occasions.   

Mi Smart Speaker review: Audio Performance 

The audio performance is what should be the deal maker for Xiaomi. The company hopes to give a tough competition to others with a powerful audio performance on the Mi Smart Speaker. This has been a pain point of users for a while as most smart speakers fail to deliver desired results as independent audio devices.  

To give context, the Amazon Echo dot has one 1.6-inch speaker, the Google Nest Mini has a 1.5-inch audio driver and the Mi Smart Speaker is equipped with a 2.5-inch, 12W full-range driver with a paper diaphragm. This gives the Mi Smart Speaker an upper hand over others. It has features an U-shaped air duct design at the bottom to better bass – another element missing from Google and Amazon devices.  

Xiaomi has offered a Hi-Fi audio processor made by Texas Instrument on the Mi Smart Speaker to help accurately decode audio signals. You can also get a stereo sound experience by connecting two Mi Smart Speaker units together via Bluetooth. The last allows you to use it as Bluetooth speaker in case there is a problem with Wi-Fi. 

All of these help the Mi Smart Speaker to sound louder than the competitors with a deeper bass. However, in terms of audio quality and clarity, there is still close competition. I played a number of tracks across genres over the past week to test the audio performance of the speaker and it does well in most cases.  

There are times when the mid frequencies are overlapped by the heavy beats but only to levels, where it isn’t a major problem. You can also use the Google Home App to adjust the EQ levels and have an audio experience closer to what you like.  

Also, I found the volume to be just good enough for a study or bed room. When placed in a living room, it fails to fill the entire space.  

Mi Smart Speaker review: How Smart is it? 

Needless to say, when you are spending on a smart speaker, you actually expect it to be smart. The Mi Smart Speaker is. You can use voice commands to set alarm, put the speaker in pairing mode, check news, weather, score and a lot more.  

The speaker understands both English and Hindi which makes it more accessible. There are several other things you can do like setting reminders and controlling all smart devices in your house. The speaker also has Chromecast built-in, which worked well.  

Mi Smart Speaker review: Final Verdict  

The Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker has the potential to occupy a decent market share in the smart speaker segment, which is otherwise short of options. It is smart, delivers a louder audio performance than the Google Nest Mini and Amazon Echo Dot and is priced significantly lower than them. The only issues are slightly inconsistent microphone and voice response.  

At Rs 3,999, it can be a good choice for those who are planning to buy their first smart speaker. As for others looking for a more advanced option, they can wait till the Google Nest Audio arrives in the country.