New From Amazon: Dot, Echo, Microwave! Wait, What?
As the variety and skills of home devices continues to expand, the amount of time we will spend talking alone in the house will grow. Thanks a lot Amazon! That’s not weird. That’s not weird at all!
Naturally, the Amazon devices that many of use for music consumption are included:
In an event today at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, the company announced a slew of updates to its infamous smart assistant – and a whole load of new devices that go way beyond smart speakers.
The presentation began with David Limp, VP of Alexa at Amazon, announcing a sequel to the Amazon Echo Dot that will ship for the same price – $49.99 (£49.99 / AU$79).
There’s also the Amazon Echo Input, which will cost just $34.99 (£34.99), and which removes the speaker from the Dot and focuses on voice input.
To enhance the audio of existing Amazon speakers, there’s Amazon Echo Sub – a subwoofer that pairs with Echo speakers, and which leaked yesterday – the Echo Link Amp and Amazon Echo Link, which add Alexa voice control to your existing audio setup.
And then, there’s these:
Two of the stranger products Amazon announced today were the Amazon Basics Alexa Microwave and Echo Wall Clock.
The Wall Clock is really an extension of Alexa’s widely used timer feature. It will have an LED for timers which can tick down when it’s close to zero, and flashes when a timer is done. That will be $29.99 in the US and ships later this year.
The Amazon Basics Alexa Microwave works with connected devices as well as having a regular interface, and can connect to a nearby Echo. It has Dash replenishment for popcorn, and an Ask Alexa button that you can tap and tell the microwave what’s cooking (e.g. “1 potato”). That’s $59.99, shipping later this year. Again we don’t know when these devices will be available outside the US.
I’m still waiting to be be able to say, “Alexa, please flush, number two”.
Read about all the products here.
