Today, Alibaba-owned Tmall announced a number of new smart products as well as version 4.0 of its AliGenie smart assistant at a special event in China. Among the products announced today is the Tmall Elf IN, a smart speaker with an “emotional engine”.

Smart Home products either have a display or they don’t but the Tmall Elf IN sits between the two. Rather than an LCD display like you have on the Tmall Elf CC or Amazon Echo Show 5, the smart speaker has a Dot Matrix display.

The dot-matrix screen will display info like the time, the temperature, weather reports e.g. animated raindrops, and even show animations when you are streaming music, making a voice call, or connected to a smart home product (light bulbs, air conditioner). It can also display emojis that mimic the mood of its owner which is where the emotional engine part comes in.

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The Tmall Elf IN works with several hundred home appliances from brands such as Haier, Bosch, Midea, Hisense, and Dyson. It is priced at ¥149 (~$21) and will go on sale on September 29 at 10 AM. The smart speaker will be available in white, red, and gradient blue.

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