Tmall Genie CCL vs. Xiaodu at Home 1S, which smart speaker with screen is better?

In the past two years, as Chinese companies and consumers have rapidly transformed towards digitalization, the smart home industry and related ecosystems have been rapidly activated. As a result, the most ideal smart home entrance - smart speakers - has also entered a blowout period.

According to IDC statistics, in Q1 2019, China's smart speaker market exceeded 10 million, a year-on-year increase of 787.2%. Alibaba and Baidu's smart speakers have achieved good results.

I believe that as consumers, you are also very curious about the differences in experience between Alibaba and Baidu's smart speakers, and which one can provide the best user experience.

Today, we will select the most representative products of Alibaba and Baidu - Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S, to see which one is better, as they are both priced at 400 yuan and are equipped with screens.

Two design styles, each one meets your needs

Overall, Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S both use a design where the upper half of the front of the body is the screen and the lower half is the speaker. Although the overall design language is similar, there are still many differences between the two products in the details.

On the front of the body, the screen and speaker of Xiaodu Home 1S each take up 1/2 of the space. Although this increases the design sense of the body, compared with the design of Tmall Genie CCL where the screen occupies 2/3 of the space, it is obvious that the screen of Tmall Genie CCL is larger and more visually comfortable.

On the top of the speaker, Tmall Genie CCL is equipped with four buttons, from left to right, they are still volume +, -, mute button and power button. Xiaodu at Home 1S is only equipped with one button, short press to turn off the screen, long press to turn on and off the device, etc.

From a humanized perspective, the four clearly defined buttons on the Tmall Genie CCL are undoubtedly more intuitive. The only button on Xiaodu Home 1S makes you feel overwhelmed when you first start using it.

On the back of the body, the difference between Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S is quite obvious. Xiaodu at Home 1S adopts a straight-up and straight-down cylindrical design, while Tmall Genie CCL hollows out a part of the area and only makes necessary bulges at the bottom.

As for the aesthetic difference between the back of Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S, it is a matter of personal opinion. But in general, the hollowing out of the back shell of Tmall Genie CCL undoubtedly reduces the thickness of the body and increases the agility of the whole machine.

In terms of details, Xiaodu Home 1S has dense speaker holes on the front, top and back, which will surely cause people with claustrophobia to feel a chill. Tmall Genie CCL only has small openings on the front of the body. At a distance, the small holes can be integrated with the body, increasing the integrity of the body.

Overall, Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S have their own strengths in design. The clever combination of interaction and design of Tmall Genie CCL brings a very smart feeling, while Xiaodu at Home 1S hopes to give consumers the feeling of a "speaker", which is slightly regular.

Tmall Genie CCL has a wider sound performance

In terms of usage, although these two products support touch screens, they both focus on voice interaction. Shouting "Xiaodu Xiaodu" can wake up Xiaodu at Home 1S, and shouting "Tmall Genie" can wake up Tmall Genie CCL.

In actual testing, both Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S can give feedback immediately after the corresponding trigger voice is shouted, without any delay. However, when conducting distance tests, there are still some differences between the two products. When tested at a distance of 6 meters, Xiaodu at Home 1S will be intermittent and unable to give immediate feedback, while Tmall Genie CCL can still give feedback immediately.

However, considering that the main application scenario of smart speakers is the living room, Xiaodu’s poor feedback at home within 1S beyond 6 meters will not lose too much points.

Inside the body, Tmall Genie CCL is equipped with Texas Instruments TI5805 and built-in DRC+AGL audio processing DSP, which can ensure the purest sound restoration. Coupled with a 1.75-inch full-range speaker, the sound thrust is increased, which can bring a more shocking visual experience.

Xiaodu at Home 1S has a passive diaphragm and built-in Bass Boost bass enhancement technology, and its performance in low-frequency sound is quite good.

Overall, Xiaodu Home 1S is particularly suitable for listening to music for men, and it has achieved the bass standard. Tmall Genie CCL not only has a certain level of accomplishment in low frequency, but also has a layout in mid-high frequency, making the overall sound more three-dimensional.

The screen on the speaker is not useless, but a "smart screen"

I believe many people think that having a screen on a smart speaker is a bit useless. In fact, through our experience, adding a screen to a smart speaker is not only for easy control, but also can expand its usage boundaries.

In terms of hardware, both Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S are equipped with a 7-inch IPS screen. The viewing angle of Tmall Genie CCL reaches 110°, avoiding the problem of color cast on traditional large screens when the head is slightly tilted.

Regarding the large screens of Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S, the most intuitive usage scenario is video calls - since both Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S are equipped with front cameras at the top of the screen, both devices support video calls with their own devices.

It is worth noting that the front camera of Tmall Genie CCL adopts a 5° downward tilt design and supports an 84° wide angle. Through body recognition technology, family members are always in the C position during video calls, so it will be more friendly than the video picture of Xiaodu at Home 1S.

However, overall, the hardware difference between Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S with a large screen is not very obvious. Therefore, the difference in screens between the two devices mainly depends on the software optimization of the two for large screens.

Therefore, we can say that in addition to hardware, the main competition between Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S is their own platform resources.

With the support of Alibaba, Tmall Genie CCL can use all mainstream resources such as Taobao, Alipay, Youku, and Himalaya, while it continues to expand to Starbucks Coffee, Tencent Video, etc.

Alibaba excels in the field of e-commerce, and Tmall Genie CCL naturally continues this advantage. It has added "voiceprint" recognition as a payment verification channel. We only need to say to Tmall Genie CCL "Tmall Genie, help me recharge my phone bill" or "Tmall Genie, I want to buy a piece of clothing" to shop easily.

Xiaodu at Home 1S has integrated its own Baidu Netdisk resources. We just say "Xiaodu Xiaodu, open Baidu Netdisk" and we can view our saved TV dramas, music, and photo resources on Xiaodu at Home 1S. This makes up for the problem of Baidu's slightly inferior resources to a certain extent. Of course, Tmall Genie CCL can also use its own netdisk to turn the smart screen into an electronic photo frame in seconds.

It is worth noting that in order to cover all age groups, Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S have also specially added a "children's mode". In terms of resources, they have added animations that children love to watch. In terms of functions, when it is detected that children are watching videos too close, it can give eye protection and anti-addiction reminders to protect children's eyes at all times. However, Tmall Genie CCL's unique Fire Eyes and Genie Reading capabilities are still slightly better in terms of experience for busy parents.

Overall, in terms of hardware, there is not much difference between the screens of Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S, but in terms of camera and sound quality, Tmall Genie CCL has a great advantage. In terms of software, thanks to Alibaba, a big tree with deep roots and lush leaves, countless resources have been directed to Tmall Genie CCL, so the experience is still slightly better than Xiaodu at Home 1S.

IoT creates a differentiated experience

In addition to the speaker products themselves, the ecosystem is also an important factor in testing the excellence of Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S. According to Tmall Genie, Tmall Genie CCL has been connected to more than 660 IoT platforms, covering more than 60 categories and more than 900 brands, supporting more than 3,600 models of connected devices, with more than 325 million controllable devices, covering more than 70% of smart devices.

After consumers install IoT ecological products that can be controlled by Tmall Genie CCL in their homes, they only need to say "Tmall Genie, open the curtains" to Tmall Genie CCL when they wake up in the morning, and Tmall Genie CCL will automatically control the opening of the curtains, which is full of science fiction.

Although Xiaodu at Home 1S also focuses on supporting IoT, according to Baidu, Xiaodu at Home 1S is currently only connected to more than 200 brands and 70 million controllable devices. Both the number of covered brands and covered devices are slightly inferior to Tmall Genie CCL.

Overall, as the two most representative products in the smart speaker industry with screens, Tmall Genie CCL and Xiaodu at Home 1S still have a big gap in design and usage.

Tmall Genie CCL designs its products with consumers’ needs at the center, so the final product is very much in line with consumers’ needs. Whether it is video resources for audio-visual entertainment, exclusive e-commerce shopping, or serving as an IoT control center with a wider coverage, it is more competitive.

Xiaodu at Home 1S is designed with "speakers" and "screens" in mind, and continues Baidu's consistent high standards in encyclopedia search, popularizing and simplifying knowledge by understanding encyclopedias in seconds. In addition, Baidu's practice of using Baidu Netdisk to make up for its own lack of resources and leaving the task of searching for resources to consumers has slightly increased the burden on consumers.

In short, considering the design, functions and product highlights, the various highlights of Tmall Genie CCL are very suitable for high-quality home life. Of course, if you don't mind adding some usage burden, Xiaodu at Home 1S is also an option.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.