Review Huawei AI Cube, the smart speaker of the Chinese brand that integrates Amazon Alexa and acts as a 4G router. </p><div>
<p>After being presented at IFA 2018, <strong>Huawei AI Cube finally arrives on the market</strong>. It is the response of the Shenzhen giant to Google, Apple and Amazon. With the latter, however, he collaborates. The virtual assistant of the Huawei device, in fact, is really <strong>Amazon Alexa</strong>, from which it also takes up part of the design. In Italy it reaches € 249.90, an important figure that will not make it easy to compete against those who now dominate the market.
However, Huawei AI Cube has an ace up its sleeve. Besides being a speaker with artificial intelligence, it is also a router that can be activated by inserting a micro-SIM or via Ethernet cable. This is the function that makes it different. It is a feature that can be useful in many scenarios. It can share its own wired network or can be taken on vacation to be used as a modem to connect all the devices that need an Internet connection. Unfortunately, there is a lack of dimensions to impact transportability. We go by order.
Design and technical features Huawei AI Cube
Contrary to what the name suggests, Huawei AI Cube it has a cylindrical shape and looks a lot like Google Home. A portion of the lower part is covered in a gray fabric very similar to that used by Big-G, while the remaining part is made of opaque white plastic. As we said, the dimensions are not contained: it is 21 cm high and has a weight of almost 998 grams. Important numbers that make it less easy to transport. In short, the style is sober and makes it suitable for almost all types of furniture.
On the back, we find three connection indicators (signal, Wi-Fi and LAN) together with the power button and the one to activate the WPS connection. In the lower part, finally, the door for the power cable and the port for the Ethernet cable were well hidden. In the support area, there is the slot to house the micro-SIM and the hole that hides the button to reset the device.
The upper part of Huawei AI Cube integrates a physical button to disable the microphone and three touch-sensitive buttons that are used to raise / lower the volume and to recall Alexa manually. The light ring, on the other hand, works in exactly the same way as Amazon Echo.
Huawei AI Cube is equipped with a Wi-Fi router compatible with the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. It is able to operate on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies and to transmit data on LAN up to 1,200 Mbps. As already mentioned, it offers support for 4G SIM cards (LTE Cat.6 with speeds up to 300Mbps in download) . One of the advantages of using a SIM card is to be able to activate 4G connection sharing anywhere, without having to keep the device connected to a wired network.
As regards the audio sector, the device presents a 400 ml sound cavity that – coupled with the aluminum diaphragm and Huawei Histen proprietary technology – allows you to play high quality audio. There is no 3.5 mm audio jack or even Bluetooth support, a lack that doesn't allow you to exploit it to the full.
Installation and performance
After inserting a micro-SIM or connecting the device to your home network via Ethernet cable, you need to install the Huawei HiLink application. It is unable to connect to our Wi-Fi network. To connect the device to the app, the smartphone must be connected to the Wi-Fi network provided by Huawei AI Cube. At this point, you can connect your Amazon account to enjoy almost all of Alexa's features. Therefore, it is possible to ask to turn on the smart lights present in the surrounding environment, ask for weather and traffic information, play music and much more. In this regard, support for Spotify is unfortunately missing. The music is therefore reproduced by Amazon Music.
As for speech recognition, Huawei AI Cube performs well in almost all situations, managing to recognize the command remotely in some cases. Other times, however, he did not immediately respond to vocal input, forcing us to repeat the sentence in order to awaken it. Probably, it depends a lot on the environment in which it is kept. The audio output is of a high standard. The sound is always strong and clean in practically every circumstance. We are not at the level of devices designed specifically as Sonos One, but the result is convincing.
Through the HiLink application, it is possible to manage all the connected devices (up to 64 simultaneously) and not only. In fact, the user can send messages to other users connected via the app, share images, monitor the signal strength and create a guest Wi-Fi network. The interface is well designed and easy to understand. Some options – such as SMS and signal intensity control – are blocked if the SIM card is missing which, on the contrary, activates all of them. Moreover, as regards the sharing of files (photos, videos and documents), the app specifies that it is possible only if the friends are connected to the same Wi-Fi network and have installed the HiLink app. In reality, we have never been able to complete this process for a reason which – at the moment – is not yet clear to us.
During our test, the network signal, however, has always remained stable. We have never had any problems. However, the range of action is not very wide. In some cases, the signal did not reach the room farthest from where Huawei AI Cube was located. A flaw if we consider that the goal of Huawei AI Cube is precisely to act as a 4G router.
Conclusions
Huawei AI Cube is a special device, whose big obstacle is the sales price. The € 249.90 list price is probably a bit high for what is offered, but we must not forget that it is a multifunctional device able to combine different services in a single product.
He is a smart speaker who integrates Amazon Alexa and acts as a 4G router. In short, it is a device that offers a different combination from the other solutions currently on the market. It is the ideal device for those looking for these features in combination with a minimal and refined design and good audio quality. Bluetooth and Spotify support would certainly have made it more complete. It is not the ideal solution for those who want a simple intelligent speaker. In that case, it's better to focus on other cheaper products like Amazon Echo Plus currently sold for less than 150 euros.
