Friends (stylized as Clova Friends in Japan) is a

LINE Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

character-themed

smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and hands-free activation with the help of one "hot word" (or several "hot words"). Some smart speakers can a ...

developed by

Naver Corporation The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the online ...

and

Line Corporation Line Corporation is a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Z Holdings, which is jointly owned by Softbank Group and Naver Corporation. The company's business is mainly associated with the development of mobile applications and Internet services, particul ...

(a subsidiary of Naver). The device is the second smart speaker that is powered by intelligent personal assistant Clova. Introduced in December 2017, Friends has a

cylindrical A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an in ...

shape and has the appearance of the characters in

LINE Friends Line Friends (stylized as LINE FRIENDS) are featured characters, invented by South Korean designer Kang Byeong Mok, based on the stickers from diverse applications of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation and the Japanese mes ...

– Brown the bear and Sally the chick, providing two versions – Friends BROWN and Friends SALLY. The "Action" button, which activates the device, is placed on the nose of the character, while a LED indicator and other buttons such as volume and bluetooth settings are placed on the back. The LED ring are placed at the bottom of Friends. Same as the Wave smart speaker, it was first introduced as a bundle package included with

Line Music Line Music (stylized as LINE MUSIC) is a subscription-based music streaming service by Line Corporation that combines existing Line Messenger app with the entertainment system that users not only can stream the music on-demand, but users can shar ...

. The developer, Naver and Line, claims that this kind of character design gives "a sense of character, and ..a same sense of familiarity". Same as the Wave, the device is able to do tasks such as reading text messages, creating memos, online shopping, calling taxis and controlling home appliances. Voice commands is currently only available in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and the device is currently available in Japan and Korea. Other than Friends, Naver partnered with South Korean cellular carrier LG U⁺ to release Friends+, a speaker that will run the U+ Home AI rather than Clova.

References

External links

Official website
(Korea) Naver Corporation Smart speakers Products introduced in 2017 {{Electronics-stub