Acer Halo takes on HomePod mini with weirdest smart speaker ever

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Acer's first speaker costs $109 and comes with Google Assistant

(Image credit: Acer)

Acer Halo — not to be confused with Amazon Halo — is an all-new, $109 Google Assistant smart speaker with an LED display beneath its fabric and a glowing RGB base. 

While Acer's name choice is obvious, the inspiration for the Halo speaker's 3.7-inch tall design is harder to identify. It looks like a Google Nest Audio merged with last year's Amazon Echo, and added the clever display of the Echo Dot with Clock. The transparent bottom reminds us of Cleer Audio's levitating Mirage smart display, too.

No matter Acer's muse, the Halo looks pretty awesome. It seems recently the best smart speaker manufacturers are hoping their devices sound great and double as home decor, Acer now included. Though it's the company's first true connected home product, it's entering with the support of Google Assistant.

(Image credit: Acer)

Google has lent its voice assistant to third-party brands before, but we're not sure that we've ever seen such an animated approach. The Acer Halo's display shows the time, temperature and notifications, while the RGB base lighting can be customized and synced to music.

As for audio, Acer hasn't revealed what kind of hardware powers the Halo speaker. For the price we're expecting something comparable to the new Amazon Echo or HomePod mini, although the company says Halo "provides rich, high quality audio," through its 360-degree grille.

Meanwhile, two far-field omnidirectional mics are on standby for "Hey Google," wake word. There's also a physical switch for muting the microphone when you want a little privacy.

We still have plenty of questions about Acer Halo, primarily about how it sounds and performs. Non-Google brand speakers usually lose out on some of the best Google Home commands and communication features, but the LEDs and RGBs might be distracting enough to make us forget that.

The Acer Halo costs $109 (although we may be able to help you save with our Acer promo codes) and is coming in Q1 of 2021.

Kate Kozuch
Kate Kozuch

Kate Kozuch is the managing editor of social and video at Tom’s Guide. She writes about smartwatches, TVs, audio devices, and some cooking appliances, too. Kate appears on Fox News to talk tech trends and runs the Tom's Guide TikTok account, which you should be following if you don't already. When she’s not filming tech videos, you can find her taking up a new sport, mastering the NYT Crossword or channeling her inner celebrity chef.