Lenovo Smart Clock Essential w/ Alexa Rooting

[DoraTheExploder]

I've just ordered a couple of normal Smart Clock 2's from eBay to mess around with using this procedure, but I also saw that there's a model called Smart Clock Essential w/ Alexa which has the Essential-like screen but the same body as the Smart Clock 2 (w/ Google Assistant) and grabbed those too. I was able to confirm that the Alexa version also has the same cutouts for POGO pins, so hopefully they'll work as a straight drop-in.

Because the screen is not a touchpanel, I can forsee there being some issues with getting the payload onto the device but hopefully I can figure something else out. I'm hoping that I can get the device rooted and put Google Assistant (or another voice assistant) back on it, since I like the look of the Essential clock face, but am not a huge fan of Amazon's platform.

I looked around to see if I could find anyone else who'd tried this with the Alexa version and couldn't find a whole lot, so I figured I'd start a discussion here to see if anyone has any interest or experience. I'll post updates when I can get my hands on them and give the procedure a shot with details to follow!

[DoraTheExploder]

Received the devices, haven't put together a rig for mounting it (apparently the Alexa version used the ports for a special reactive lighting dock) but have plugged one in and turned it on. Having trouble getting it to connect to my home IoT VLAN, says "Provisioning failed" and it seems to be a common issue. Will see what I can get out of the port when I've a bit of time.