Harman’s Alexa speaker is 100x uglier than its Cortana speaker

This looks awful.

Harman Kardon has announced the Allure, a smart speaker running Alexa that is very, very, ugly. It features a four-microphone array, 360-degree sound, ambient lighting, and you can stream music over Bluetooth.

The problem is it’s ugly. We know Harman Kardon can make a decent looking speaker, as it did with the Invoke, its Cortana-powered smart speaker earlier this year. There’s no reason the Allure should remind me of a food processor.

There’s the bigger question as to why the Samsung-owned company is releasing speakers running Alexa and Cortana instead of Bixby, but the immediate question is how this even made it out of R&D. I want to put fruit in it, not ask it about the weather. To be fair, It could sound better than it looks, but we haven’t had the chance to test it out yet.

If you crave an appliance-inspired smart speaker, you can purchase the Harman Kardon Allure this winter for $249 on Amazon. Or you can just buy an Echo and a real blender and save at least $50. Your choice.