Vodafone Portugal to offer UEI Nevo Butler smart hub

Vodafone Portugal has announced a partnership with Universal Electronics to offer the tech accessory maker’s Nevo Butler entertainment and smart home hub.

Available to residential TV and broadband customers, Nevo Butler is a voice-enabled, white label hub that blends entertainment and smart home control experiences for various applications. A key feature of the device is its connectivity with set-top boxes and TVs.

Nevo Butler will utilise Vodafone’s existing voice assistant tech, and is fully integrated with Vodafone’s Portugal infrastructure to provide a consistent user experience.

Customers using the device will experience hands-free voice search of Vodafone’s libraries and video playback, as well as power and audio control of televisions.

Luis Cardoso, responsible for content and services at Vodafone Portugal, said: “Vodafone Portugal and UEI have been working collaboratively for several years and we share a strong commitment to innovation and continuously improving the user experience. We are excited to bring this advanced technology to our customers, allowing them to easily set up and control our entertainment service with their voice using our customised wake word. Customers can relax on the couch and say ‘hello, TOBi, turn on the football game’ and the TV will turn on and take them right to the content they want to watch.”

Paul Arling, UEI’s chairman and CEO, said: “UEI is thrilled that Vodafone is the first company to offer Nevo Butler to its customers. As one of our flagship products, Nevo Butler encompasses many of the leading discovery and control capabilities of our QuickSet® platform and represents another example of our ongoing investment in technology for the future.”