Naver has unveiled its new smart speaker, ‘Friends Mini,’ which is based on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform ‘Clova’. It is smaller and weighs less than its predecessor to enhance its lightweight performance and mobility.
Naver unveiled its Friends Mini on April 30th and announced that it will sell it through its Naver music promotion program beginning May 2nd.
Friends Mini was created based on the motif of Line Friend’s ‘Brown’ and ‘Sally’. It is smaller and lighter than the existing Friends device at a weight of 258 grams. Moreover, the speaker will be able to run for 6 hours on a single charge.
In order to maximize the voice recognition quality of Friends Mini to Clover, Naver applied the default call name to ‘Hey, Clova’. The Smooth pronunciation of the call names makes it easier for users to start conversations. Existing Friends and Friends+ devices can also use the ‘Hey, Clova’ launch name through the Clova App update.
Friends Mini provides various life-oriented functions such as weather, stock market, and traffic information search, music recommendations, English conversation, audio content for children’s tales, news briefing, schedule management, alarms, memos, and smart homes. Furthermore, it is also capable of making use of market services such as delivery orders, education, and domestic and overseas market conditions.
During the first half of this year, Naver will add features that enable voice shopping on smart speakers, including the Friends Mini. Kang Suk-ho, head of Clova, said, “The Friends Mini is light weight and compact in size and provides users with the functionality they need, especially in outdoor and camping areas. We will continue to enhance the technology and extend the life-like functions to enable use of smart speakers equipped with Clova in various environments.”
