Amazon has just revealed its home digital assistant called Echo. It is a voice-recognition speaker tower designed for your home with Siri-like capabilities, summs up The Verge. The announcement marks the e-commerce giant's first major push into the smart automation market, and shows the company continues its efforts to push into consumers' homes following the introduction of its Fire TV, and Fire TV dongle. The Amazon Echo is a stationary cylinder-shaped tower which is activated by the word "Alexa", a name derived from the library of Alexandria.
The company claims that Echo's built-in voice recognition can hear users from across the room, with seven microphones on board, recognising your voice even while music is playing in the background. The speaker produces 360-degree audio to fill an entire room and will play music from Amazon Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Tuneln Plus, whilst being fully Bluetooth compatible. This means that playback from Spotify and other popular audio apps is available too.
Users can issue commands to Alexa via an accompanying mobile app, which will launch upon availability. Amazon's Echo device is always connected to the cloud and is capable of providing information, music, news, weather and more by scouring the Web. In addition, users can utilise Echo to add items to a shopping list on the companion mobile app, and perform tasks such as setting timers, alarms and notifications.
"We think it makes everyday life a bit easier - when you have a question or want to do something, all you have to do is ask," a company spokeswoman said.
Regularly priced at $199, Amazon is offering Echo for $99 to Prime members who receive an invite, for a limited time only. The company told The Verge that it will start shipping Echo "in the coming weeks". You can take a look at the 4 minute video below, introducing the device, to get a glimpse of its capabilities in action.
