Acer reveals a new waterproof Assistant-enabled smart speaker at CES called the Halo Swing

Announced at CES this year as a follow-up to its predecessor – the Halo Smart Speaker – Acer has now announced the “Halo Swing”. The Swing is a wireless, waterproof (IPX5 rated), Bluetooth (and Wi-Fi 6) speaker with a handle for, well, swinging or hanging! While the name does seem to come from the fact that it is portable and has a handle, the true focus should be on the fact that it need not be tethered to a power outlet as it has its own built-in battery.

It’s also covered in a fabric material and has an LED display underneath which shows things like the weather, time, any active alarm, and more. It can even display your phone’s notifications if you’re connected to it and within range. Something I didn’t realize upon seeing it was that you can also use the LED section to show off any word or phrase (or image) you write yourself using the app that you’re encouraged to install upon buying it.

Most notably, and the reason we’re covering it today, is the fact that the Halo Swing comes with Google Assistant baked in. If you notice the colorful lights at the base of the speaker, you could probably already guess what they’re for. Not only will the transparent base of the device flash, pulsate, and change in color while music plays, but also when Assistant is triggered with the hot word phrase.

It comes with a base or docking station included, and the speaker has one Type-C USB port that you can use for charging. Oh, and the top features your standard play and pause, and volume up and down buttons, but also a manual microphone mute button for anyone privacy-minded.

I imagine that the Halo Swing sounds great too given its DTS Sound and 360-degree audio projection technology, but we’ll honestly have to wait until it releases to see for sure. There’s currently no pricing available, and the release date itself has yet to be dropped, so stay tuned. If you’re looking for a good third-party Assistant-enabled smart speaker on the go or to use at a pool party (within Wi-Fi range for Assistant use, of course), I would keep this one in mind as it sounds promising. It will