The announcement and release of Yandex Station took place in 2022 and, reading reviews of those years, I can say with confidence that Yandex has greatly improved the capabilities of its voice assistant - corrected errors, improved various aspects of interaction with the device, added radio, made integration with smart devices houses from various manufacturers, the ability to order a taxi and many other minor improvements. And new opportunities are constantly appearing thanks to the Yandex Dialogues platform. In general, the functionality is constantly expanding, which is good news. Although in 2021 the number of updates was noticeably less than in previous years.
Due to the abundance of different functions, I decided to split the review into two parts. The first will be a general overview of Yandex Station, its functions and capabilities, the second will be an analysis of integration with the Xiaomi smart home system.
Yandex Station only works if there is Internet access. She can't do anything without him. Nothing at all.
Specifications
| Sound | |
| Frequency range | 50 Hz - 20 kHz |
| Total power | 50 W |
| Woofers | 1 piece, 30 W, 85 mm |
| Tweeters | 2 pcs, 10 W, 20 mm |
| Passive radiators | 2 pcs, 95 mm |
| Signal to noise ratio | 96 dB |
| Number of microphones | 7 |
| Connection | |
| Video output | HDMI 1.4 |
| Video resolution | 1080p |
| WiFi | 802.11 b/g/n/ac, 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz |
| Bluetooth | 4.1/BLE |
| Other | |
| CPU | Allwinner R18 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, 1 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-400 MP2 |
| Persistent memory | 8 GB eMMC |
| RAM | 1 GB DDR3 |
| Nutrition | from power supply (20V DC) |
| Available casing colors | purple, black, gray, red |
| Dimensions | 141x231x141 mm |
| Weight | 2.9 kg |
Delivery set, appearance
The kit includes everything you need to operate the device: HDMI cable, instructions, power supply and Yandex Station.
The Station casing can have several color options - silver-gray, purple and black. I have the silver-gray model. If desired, you can always change it by searching for a new one on Avito or printing it on a 3D printer.
There is also a Red Station. Unlike regular ones, the red one comes with a monthly subscription. It cannot be repaid ahead of schedule, and if you do not pay for the month, the device is blocked. It is also tied to only one account, which cannot be changed until the end of the subscription. So be careful when buying second hand.
The station has a rectangular appearance, its dimensions are 141x231x141 mm. On the side there is a heatsink and connectors for HDMI and power. At the top are the controls: volume rocker, voice assistant launch button and microphone mute button. During operation, the radiator can heat up to approximately 50 degrees. This is normal, no need to worry.
There is also an LED backlight at the top that lights up both during Alice’s answers and during various problems (for example, lack of Internet) or while adjusting the volume, showing its current level.
Is it possible to connect speakers to Yandex Station? Unfortunately, there is no audio output for connecting external speakers. Alice outputs all sound only to her own speakers. However, an audio output for external speakers can be found in the Mini and Max versions.
The manufacturer also decided not to install a LAN port in the device, so the Station only supports wireless connections via Wi-Fi according to IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac standards, that is, it can operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
Everything runs on a quad-core Allwinner R18 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1 GHz. GPU – Mali-400 MP2. RAM – 1 GB DDR3, permanent memory – 8 GB.
The device also does not have a built-in battery. Yandex positions the Station as a home voice assistant.
Description
Packaging of the speaker with Alice is made of thick cardboard with the image of the speaker. Inside the box, the station is secured using holders.
Included:
- Column.
- Cable.
- Power supply for charging.
- Instructions.
The station comes in grey, black and purple versions. Quality materials complement the design.
In addition to the materials, the column is covered with a production cover that protects parts from damage. The casing makes the sound worse, which is why many people remove it when using it.
About microphones and speakers
Yandex Station uses 7 microphones. It recognizes commands quite well when the speaker is in the next room, and in my kopeck piece I can launch the voice assistant from any room without raising my voice too much. Naturally, when it’s quiet around and all the doors are open. According to the manufacturer, the distance for effective recognition of requests is up to 7 meters.
As for the volume - there is plenty of it here - 3 speakers are used, the total power of which is 50 W:
- two tweeters of 10 W and a diameter of 20 mm;
- one 30 W woofer with a diameter of 85 mm;
- two passive radiators with a diameter of 95 mm.
And if at the time of release users complained about the sound being too loud at minimum values, now this has been corrected and the Station can be used comfortably at any volume settings. But Yandex has not yet responded to requests to add a quiet response when contacting in a whisper (like Alexa). The developers added the ability to whisper to Alice at the end of 2022. They asked quietly - she answered quietly. If you contact immediately after a recent launch, Alice will respond according to the last volume setting. But after five minutes of inactivity, the volume is reset to medium level. In any case, according to user reviews, this should be the case; my volume remains at the same level.
I won’t write anything about the sound quality - some people are satisfied with it, while others say that it is inferior to its competitors. All this is subjective, but I am more than tripled by the sound of the speaker. I’ll just note that despite a large number of requests, the developers never added an equalizer to the application.
By the way, Yandex Station supports a Bluetooth connection, which allows you to use it as an external speaker when transmitting sound from a smartphone. To activate, simply ask Alice to turn on Bluetooth. And there were some downsides here. First, when Bluetooth is turned on, anyone can easily connect to the speaker. The second is the impossibility of simultaneously streaming music via Bluetooth and using a voice assistant. Alice simply stops responding to voice commands.
Voice assistant
The voice assistant has become more extensive compared to the previous version. Alice began to joke more. Commands are recognized quietly, no need to raise your voice at a distance of less than 1.5 m.
The assistant answers more complex questions, which is why it can be comfortably used to communicate with children.
The wording of the questions is not only complex, but also simple, like: should I take an umbrella today? or what is the weather like today?
Setting the age mode allows Alice to play games with children and tell stories. In addition, the assistant Alice can set up pleasant music for the child while the parents read fairy tales themselves.
If you ask Alice to sing, the assistant will play a song of his choice from popular compositions.
Why do you need Yandex Station? Review of the capabilities of a smart speaker with Alice
Since entering the market, the capabilities of the voice assistant have been greatly expanded - smart home support has been added, many different skills have appeared, and listening to radio stations has become available. And if earlier the feasibility of purchasing the Station was in question, now everyone will find something useful for themselves.
Voice commands
Want to know something? Contact Alice with the appropriate question and she will try to answer it using Yandex services, information from Wikipedia, or by searching for information on other sites on the Internet. This way you can find out about the weather, traffic congestion, exchange rates, ask to read current news, find the right recipe and much more. Accordingly, the quality of answers taken from the network depends on the sites on which Alice finds the necessary information.
Activation of the voice assistant is possible using one of two words - Yandex or Alice. You can choose the one that suits you in the settings in the smartphone application. So, if there is already Alice in the family, then no problems will arise when operating the Station. But you won't be able to change your voice.
I would also like to highlight the weather forecast. Unfortunately, Alice only voices temperature and precipitation. It does not provide information about pressure, wind, humidity and perceived temperature. Even to direct questions, like “tell me, what is the current wind speed,” Alice will not be able to answer anything. Although it would seem - take data from your own services, and answer. But no. I’ll say right away - if you need a detailed weather forecast, then use the “My weather forecaster” skill. Just say “Alice, my skill is a weather forecaster.”
What other queries does Alice support? Here are some of the options:
The first thing is to search for places nearby. For example, you can find out where the nearest pharmacy is, where to eat sushi or pizza, where you can get a haircut and other similar information.
The second is setting various reminders. In my opinion, this is one of the most useful functions. You can set an alarm clock (or several and put any melody on each of them), create a to-do list (add new ones and delete old ones), ask to be reminded of something on a specific day and time. You can start a timer, which will be useful when cooking or during morning exercises. Just say: “Alice, remind me to turn off the stove in 10 minutes” and Alice will set a timer, and after the time has passed, she will remind you what needed to be done.
Third, you can ask to convert a certain amount of rubles into dollars or another currency, find out how much a certain product costs (information is taken from the market), ask to translate some phrase from one language to another. Or you can simply ask to flip a coin. Or ask to recognize the track currently playing.
Fourth – help in cooking. Alice will find the required recipe (if it is available in the database), read out the list of ingredients and tell you step by step what needs to be done. After each stage there will be a pause - Alice will wait until you have done everything and tell you what to do next. The downside is that at the moment the list of available recipes is quite small - only 21 dishes. You can view it on the official website using the following link. More recipes are available in different skills, but I didn't like how they worked.
Possible voice commands for Alice can be found in the Yandex directory.
Alice recognizes when a child is speaking to her and when an adult is speaking to her. For each of these user types, you can configure content filtering:
Calls. How to call Yandex Station?
Not long ago it became possible to call the Station through an application on a smartphone. How to call Yandex Station:
- Launch the Yandex application;
- Go to “Devices”;
- Next, go to the “Device Management” menu;
- Press the call button.
- You can also enable the ability to receive calls received through Yandex Messenger in the settings. So, when you make a call, it will go both to the application on your smartphone and to the Station. To do this, select Yandex Station in the same device menu and enable “Receive incoming calls”.
When you call, Alice will tell you who is calling, after which you can accept or reject the call.
Call a taxi
Yes, the Station can call a taxi. Just say: “Alice, call a taxi” or make a detailed request, for example, “Order a taxi to General Lizyukov Street, 24, pay in cash.” When the car is found, Alice will tell you the number and make of the car, and also tell you the waiting time. Upon arrival, it will notify you by voice and send a notification to the application.
Skills
Skills are additional dialogues written by users for Yandex Station. This is an excellent move on the part of the developers, allowing them to constantly expand and complement the functionality of the device. To launch, just say: “Alice, launch the skill skill_name.”
A complete selection of skills can be found on the official website at the following link.
What functionality can be obtained from skills? You can turn on fairy tales and various games, launch a fitness assistant, culinary recipes and much more.
Despite all the advantages that skills provide, there are also a number of disadvantages:
- There are not so many really useful, interesting and well-developed ones. For example, in many skills, voice commands are very poorly developed - you say what needs to be done, but Alice does not recognize it.
- While the skill is running, it becomes impossible to perform other commands with the voice assistant. That is, until you leave the skill, you will not be able to find out the weather, check what time it is, and so on.
In any case, over time, each user himself selects useful skills for himself, so I will give only those that seemed useful and interesting to me.
Interesting skills for Alice
Fairy tales
This skill is ideal for those who have small children. A large selection of different fairy tales; the duration of the selected story is announced before starting. An important feature is excellent announcers who read the text with expression. And it, like other skills, does not require a subscription. To launch the skill, just say: “Alice, Fairy Tales skill.”
Guess the animal
A great skill that is suitable for both children and adults. To start, say: “Alice, start the guess the animal skill.” In it, Alice will play the sounds that animals make, and you will need to guess them.
Cities
A childhood game familiar to everyone. Alice names the city, after which your task is to remember the city that begins with the same letter as the previous one ends with. To start, say: “Start the game of cities skill” or “let’s play cities.”
What before
A game in which Alice names two events, and you need to guess which one happened first. To start, just say: “Alice, start the skill as before.”
My weather forecaster
A useful skill for those who lack standard weather information from Alice. With it, you will not only receive information about temperature and precipitation, but also find out what the current atmospheric pressure is, what the temperature feels like, humidity, wind speed and direction. To start, say: “Alice, my skill is a weather forecaster.”
Connecting to a TV/monitor/projector
The connection to the TV takes place via the HDMI 1.4 interface and, despite the support of 4K resolution by this standard, the Station will transmit a maximum of 1080p images. It is worth noting that sound transmission is also not supported when watching a movie from the Station; all sound will come from it. A strange decision, but it is what it is.
Why connect Alice to the TV? To watch various videos – both paid (from Kinopoisk) and free (from Youtube, Contact, Odnoklassniki). It is worth noting here that Alice does not have any integration with Youtube - you cannot log into your account and there is no search/display/opening of playlists. And sometimes it’s quite difficult to find the right video.
Even when connected to a TV, you can launch Yandex Ether and watch TV channels. There are almost 200 to choose from, although you probably haven’t heard of most of them, but many well-known and favorite channels may not be here.
But Alice cannot open any website. It says it is not supported on this device.
The station cannot turn the TV on and off, but if you have a new Samsung TV, then you can use the Samsung SmartThings skill for voice control (a link to the list of supported TVs is in the description of the skill in the official Yandex catalog).
Smart House
Smart home control using the Station became available back in 2019. It was then that an update was released that expanded the capabilities of the voice assistant and allowed you to connect and control various smart devices. The list of integrations includes all the major market players in the smart home market: Xiaomi, Aqara, Tuya, Redmond, Sonoff and others. In addition, Yandex also released its own devices - a smart light bulb, socket and remote control. The remote control controls devices equipped with an IR port (air conditioners and TVs), and using a smart socket you can turn on and off electrical appliances connected to it (the connected device should automatically turn on when power is applied to it, so electrical appliances with touch buttons will not work. Keep this in mind mind).
For each of the supported manufacturers there is a list of devices compatible with the Station, which can be found on Yandex Market. There is everything you might need for automation - light bulbs, lamps, sockets, kettles, humidifiers, washing machines, coffee machines, robotic vacuum cleaners and much more.
In the application, you can configure various smart home scenarios. For example, in response to a morning greeting, Alice will open the curtains, turn on the music and put the kettle on to heat up.
As in other applications, a smart home from Yandex can combine devices into groups and distribute them among rooms. Thus, you can ask to turn on the lights in the hall and Alice will turn on the chandelier in this room.
I plan to write a separate article about the Yandex smart home and its interaction with the Xiaomi smart home a little later.
Is Alice doing a good job?
It’s not worth going into detail about each of Alice’s functions. You may say I'm biased, but I truly think she is the most helpful and intelligent assistant in our environment. And with a gorgeous voice too.
Who needs Yandex Station Light? Full review of the new product.
Siri is pretty stupid to do anything more serious than set timers and answer one-word questions (and even then it doesn’t always succeed). Google Assistant works well, but it has some limitations in Russia. But Marusya simply doesn’t have a very pleasant voice, and despite her ample opportunities, she still shows herself weaker than Alice .
Yandex Station Mini can also reproduce sound in a stereo pair. This makes it louder and more spacious. The two speakers sound great.
Why do you need Yandex Plus?
Yandex Plus is a monthly subscription that allows you to access Yandex Music, as well as films from KinoPoisk and Amediateka. When purchasing Yandex Station, a free promotional period is provided with six months of the KinoPoisk + Amediateka subscription, after which another six months of Yandex Plus will be available. Without this subscription, the Station will not include music or movies, but it will not turn into a useless brick - all the other functions discussed in this review will remain available.
Not only music is available by subscription, but also audiobooks and podcasts available in the Yandex Music service.
I would also like to say about the inclusion of fairy tales. From time to time, various reviews write that fairy tales cannot be included without a subscription. This problem can be solved using a skill. Just say: "Alice, fairy tale skill."
By the way, the morning show is launched only if you have a subscription.
Yandex Station features without subscription
As mentioned above, a subscription allows you to listen to music, fairy tales, podcasts and watch films from Kinopoisk and Amediateka. Accordingly, all other functionality will be available without a subscription, namely:
- voice assistant (internet search, alarm clock, reminders, etc.);
- radio;
- fairy tales (through skill);
- watching videos from Youtube and Odnoklassniki (including films);
- smart House;
- all skills;
- using Yandex Stations as Bluetooth speakers.
Integration into a “smart home”
The Yandex.Station smart speaker can control a smart home . What’s especially pleasing is that gadgets are supported not only from Yandex, but also from other popular manufacturers: Xiaomi, Redmond, Samsung and so on, the list is quite large.
Alice “from the column” can turn on the kettle, light, and other supported electrical appliances (coffee makers, air humidifiers, and so on) . Through Yandex Remote you can control your TV (without an HDMI connection) and your air conditioner.
Yandex Station smart home
You can create unique macros . For example, you come home from work, say to the column: “well, good evening, Alice” (or something more tragic), and several functions begin to be performed at once: the lights in the corridor and room are turned on, the kettle in the kitchen, some evening music starts playing. playlist...
You can come up with many such scenarios for Yandex Station, based on your needs. I find morning and evening macros to be the most useful; you can save a lot of time.
Smart devices are configured through appropriate applications . After that, you can add them to the Yandex application. Perhaps in the future it will be possible to fine-tune from a common application.
Yandex.Technology Station
But the two Yandex.Stations are not combined into a pair: neither in sound nor in functionality . I would like to believe that this will be realized. But the very idea of a smart home in Russian, which also works, is very pleasing.
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How are Yandex Stations different? Light, Mini, Regular and Max
Old Station Mini is the best option if you want to use the device as a voice assistant. It does not have HDMI and is inferior in power and number of microphones to the older model. It will work well in the kitchen - it will replace the radio, tell you a recipe, turn on music.
New Station Mini and Light. The mini is available in two versions - with and without a clock. Light is the cheapest option, which does not have an audio jack and the speaker power is 5 W. The Mini has a 10 W speaker and an audio jack for connecting external speakers. Additionally, unlike the old Mini version, the new and Light versions removed the touch volume control and added buttons.
Regular Station. If you are planning to connect to your TV, you should consider purchasing it. It is more powerful than the mini, it has more microphones and has HDMI for connecting to TV. The only picture resolution is 1080p.
Max, as the name implies, is a column in the Maximum configuration. Maximum power – 65 W, maximum number of speakers, support for 4K via HDMI, LAN port, AUX output for connecting external speakers, LED display with time, weather and various emotions. Well, as a bonus, a remote control with a microphone is included.
Verdict
In general, Yandex.Station looks stylish and fits well into any interior. And if you remove the casing from it, then the speaker sounds much more pleasant.
I think this device is perfect for those who love Yandex services, in particular Yandex.Music.
Oh yes, Yandex still includes some nice things in the package, but very simple ones:
- 10% discount on trips to Yandex.Taxi
- 5% discount on car sharing "Yandex.Drive"
- subscription to Yandex.Music
- free delivery when purchasing over 500 rubles in the “Take!” marketplace
- the ability to watch films without advertising on KinoPoisk
- additional 10 GB on Yandex.Disk
I think not everyone will find this useful, but it would be wrong not to mention it.
And if you remember the price tag of 9,900 rubles, then many will think about it. Is it worth taking this device?
Here you can get a discount on bonuses from the company. Roughly speaking, about 4,500 rubles were invested in this price tag. And this, for a moment, is half the cost of the device.
However, this is just a set of goodies, but nothing more. The device itself will hit your wallet hard, which means you need to weigh the pros and cons.
What I liked:
– Alice works very well, especially when it comes to music – Yandex.Station looks laconic, fits any interior – Management via Yandex.Alice is very convenient. The best when compared with competitors (who still do not have Russian language)
What I didn't like:
– Alice, although smarter than Siri, works every once in a while – The back wall heats up, so placing the speaker somewhere in the corner would not be the smartest decision – The speaker sounds fine, but it is very far from ideal (but this is a matter of taste)
My impressions. Is it worth buying Yandex Station in 2022?
Before starting to write this review, I decided to use the device for several months. The first month the Station worked without a subscription, after which I connected a gift subscription. What can we say in the end? For myself, I have identified the following pros and cons of Yandex Station:
| Voice assistant. It would seem that the main functionality should work perfectly. But no. Alice recognizes some of the questions incorrectly or does not understand what they are talking about at all. Yandex services are poorly integrated (although everything should have been great here) - the only weather information is temperature and precipitation (although the website provides much more detailed information), there is no integration with Yandex Calendar, and it does not read mail. |
| As for the use of Yandex Station by children, it seems to me that everything is fine. There are fairy tales, games that develop skills, and cartoons. |
| Connection to TV. It’s difficult for me to evaluate this functionality, since I have a computer connected to the TV, so I can launch the desired movie/series quickly and without any problems. I’ll just say that Alice has very poor integration with Youtube - you can’t display a specific playlist, you can’t link your account, and it doesn’t always search for videos well. On the plus side, you only have to pay to watch movies and TV series from Kinopoisk and Amediateka. Other videos found on the Internet (including films) can be watched without a subscription. |
| There is always something to listen to - music, podcasts, audiobooks. The only downside worth mentioning is that it is not a particularly large collection of books. |
| Smart House. At the moment I'm just planning to test it. But we can already say that its presence and constant development is a definite plus. Just this year, the Yandex team added many different functions, including deferred scenarios, work with various sensors, and improved voice control of a smart home. |
| The functions and capabilities of Yandex Station are constantly expanding thanks to firmware updates. And if I wouldn’t recommend buying it in 2022, now you can take a closer look. And next year, given the current dynamics of development, I would definitely recommend it for purchase. Although in 2022, development has definitely slowed down and not as many updates have been released as in previous years. |
Sound
The sound quality of the station is acceptable for compact acoustics. The sound is refined and free of rattle, but sagging may appear at high volumes.
The speaker sounds loud. There is bass, but not as pronounced as in previous models. There is no way yet to customize the sound using an equalizer. Sounds good at mid frequencies.
Popular compositions, listening to audiobooks, and dance tracks are suitable. The special effects sound good, but there's not the volume of sound you'd get from a home theater.
