By will-buy
The latest generation of Echo smart speakers and related devices served like a centerpiece for Amazon's hardware and services event this year. The tech giant revealed new iterations of the Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock, two new designs for the Echo Dot Kids, and a revamped Echo Auto for engaging with Alexa while driving. Even though there isn't a new Echo Studio in the mix, Amazon is pushing out a spatial audio software package for that sound-centric smart speaker in an over-the-air update.
Echoing Again
The new versions of the Echo Dot, with and with no clock, look much the same as their spherical predecessors. However, they offer improved processing and audio control of the last versions and have a thermometer, accelerometer, and ultrasound-based motion detector embedded within. The brand new sensors are tied to features unavailable in the last Dots, for example tap gesture controls for Alexa. Users are now able to ask the voice assistant to adjust connected environmental devices based on temperature, activating an aura conditioner once the thermometer rises enough. The $60 Echo Dot with Clock features its own upgraded visuals without its $50 sister device. The updated display can display the weather, scheduled events and times, music titles, along with other information. The improvements essentially package features restricted to the bigger Echo smart speakers into the smaller sized Dots and contribute to Amazon's focus on 'ambient experiences.' Which includes eero mesh wifi extenders. The $200 Echo Studio's upgrades are purely software-based, but Amazon's smart speaker for audiophiles will quickly be able to process spatial audio data and widen its frequency range to make stereo experiences stronger and add immediacy to movies and TV soundtracks. The Echo Show 15 smart display will even receive this over-the-air upgrade.
“A true ambient experience is there to simplify your day-to-day life when you need it and fades in to the background whenever you don't. This generation of Echo devices are made with this vision in mind,” Amazon Alexa devices vice president Nedim Fresko said. “With the upgraded audio and compact form factors, each of these new devices give customers more ways to make Alexa a seamless part of a full day. And, using the new sensors and technology built in to Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock, customers can have Alexa do even more on their behalf.”
For the child-focused Echo Dot Kids, Amazon chose to expand its cartoonish animal options. The brand new owl and dragon models cost exactly the same $60 as the existing tiger and panda designs and are available with similar year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+. The new animals won't just be visually different, however. Amazon teased the owl and dragon will have their very own custom Alexa voice to match the character and different “character-inspired songs, jokes, and fun facts on Echo Dot Kids or any Echo device powered by Amazon Kids+.” The presentation didn't indicate if there'd be tiger and panda voice options in the voice AI menagerie.
AAA – Alexa Automobile Association
The new Echo Auto is the first hardware update for that in-car Alexa access point since Amazon released the first version in 2023 following a year of testing. The 2nd edition changes nearly everything about the device. It's smaller and lighter, with only five microphones rather than eight, also it can be mounted with adhesive instead of on an air vent. Improved hardware means the reduced microphone number shouldn't impact how good Alexa hears requests. Alexa still utilizes a car's speakers to respond.
“Ambient technology is at its best in environments where individuals are centered on other tasks, and nowhere is that more important than in the vehicle,” Amazon Alexa v . p . Heather Zorn said. “Voice can minimize distractions and assist you to keep the eyes on the road so that you can focus on the fun of driving.”
The embedded Roadside Assistance feature is easily the most notable addition to the $55 device's Alexa toolset. Drivers can ask Alexa to “call Roadside Assistance” and get connected to a real estate agent who will arrange an alternative tire, extra gas, or other emergency services. Amazon didn't say what company it is dealing with to provide assist with cars, just that the cost drivers pay is based solely on the service provided. The most obvious candidate is Blink Roadside, a third-party Alexa skill created by app developer Agero that Amazon gave top-level intents almost two years ago. Which means telling Alexa you're out of gas or have a flat tire prompts the voice assistant to enable the skill and start arranging help through its providers as though it were an Amazon-built native Alexa feature. We've reached out to Agero and Amazon to inquire about if that's the case and can update whenever we find out more.
