Household And Kitchen Gadgets Will Be Equipped With Alexa

The American giant include its vocal assistant Alexa on a dozen new products and ventures into the world of television and connected cars.

Microwave oven, wall clock, Hi-Fi amp, TV box. This is a veritable avalanche of new connected products that Amazon e-commerce giant has presented recently at its Seattle headquarters. With the success of its vocal assistant Alexa, popularized by the connected speaker Echo and its variants (Echo Dot and Echo Spot), the company decided to include it in a series of domestic products of all kinds.

A voice-activated microwave

At the kitchen first. Alexa allows the first microwave oven of the brand to regulate the cooking of certain foods. Place a potato in the oven and tell him "Alexa, tell the microwave to cook my potato." The voice emitted by the device will answer, "OK, I run a cooking of 6 minutes 30 at full power" while the device will start.

We also find the voice assistant that we all know as Echo Show; a screen connected the size of a touchpad. Particularly comfortable on the kitchen worktop, it can display the progress of a recipe systematically. As a bonus, the object is also used to communicate by video telephony and to broadcast television programs.

The connected speaker revisited

At the show, Alexa is still materialized in the Echo, but it evolves with a new version called Echo Plus, a name yet already used for another model. Adopting a more rounded and slightly more massive design than the previous Echo, the Echo Plus is equipped with higher-performance speakers that provide superior sound quality.

It recognizes equipment compatible with the ZigBee home automation standard and can automatically configure several devices. Better thanks to the local voice recognition device, it no longer needs to transmit audio recordings in the cloud and wait for the result, which speeds up orders for household items.

To further enhance the audio experience, two Echo Plus speakers can be paired together for a stereo system. However, Amazon goes even further, adding to its new family of speakers a subwoofer, the Echo Sub, which helps produce a more realistic and more enveloping sound.

It seems that, like Google with its Home Max, Amazon also seeks to remedy the poor audio quality of its products. In addition, a new version of the miniature speaker Echo Dot made its appearance, with a speaker a little more powerful.

An assistant in a Hi-Fi system

Amazon also thought of those who want to turn their hi-fi stereo into connected speakers by launching Echo Input, a small, thin, speaker-less package that connects to existing speakers. A competitor to Google's Chromecast audio. But there is also a solution for a more demanding clientele.

Audiophiles and homeowners with built-in speakers can also make their installation compatible with the Alexa assistant. This is what the Echo Link Amp and Echo Link boxes allow. Featuring high-end electronic components (including a 24-bit decoder) and specialized connectors, they easily connect to the most advanced audio systems to which they bring Alexa's voice commands and access to online music services like Deezer, TuneIn, Spotify, Amazon Music or Tidal.

A new idea of TV and the car

Amazon is also venturing into television with a specialized box, the Fire TV Recast, which captures television via its antenna for broadcasting on a television, in addition to online video services, but also on television. iOS and Android devices, and which allows you to record programs.

To complement this domestic family of objects, Amazon unveiled a connected wall clock that also serves as a voice-activated timer, a connected electrical outlet that responds to voice instructions through an Echo speaker, as well as video cameras, surveillance and smart bells.

Finally, the Alexa assistant can also follow you by car thanks to the small Amazon Auto box that installs on the dashboard. It will be able to memorize the purchases to be made that are stated, initiate phone calls by hand or give directions to a restaurant nearby.

Amazon Dot Setup | Echo Dot Setup | Amazon Echo Setup

About This Author

kimberly phillips Joined: October 10th, 2018