Amazon has been expanding its efforts to improve its cloud-connected Alexa voice assistant, making it closer to its original promises every year, even though it basically continues to work much better in English. The company needs Echo devices to capture voice interactions reliably and continuously improve Alexa as it listens and trains its remote assistant engine, learning from every false wake-up, conversations that it wasn't supposed to involve Alexa, and every single direct query - even from people that interact with it as if Alexa was a real person they can have a conversation with. For this data to be useful, there's nothing better than actual hardware devices with quality audio front-ends placed in different rooms of the house, and having different members of the family interacting with it daily.
After a few years of staying away from the traditional smart-speaker design approach, Amazon created a new generation of Echo Dot and Echo Auto, creating more reasons for users to bring Alexa to every room of their homes and into their cars. In addition, Amazon announced a new generation of Echo Dot Kids with new update fabric designs, in an effort to expand its ecosystem with children, a key demographic for the Alexa strategy. Kids have a unique way to interact and communicate with a voice assistant, which introduces valuable machine learning improvements, while at the same time creating new generations of users that have grown with Alexa.
For the past years, Amazon also experimented with new form-factors for Alexa endpoints in the home and even the office, by creating designs that combine a smart-speaker with a moving screen, while also introducing Echo Show frames, that simply feature a screen as the main user interaction element - but add more microphones to the home ecosystem.
"A true ambient experience is there to simplify your day-to-day life when you need it and fades into the background when you don’t. This generation of Echo devices are designed with this vision in mind," says Nedim Fresko, vice president of Amazon Alexa Devices. "With the upgraded audio and compact form factors, each of these new devices give customers more ways to make Alexa a seamless part of their day. And, with 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."
The all-new Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock are the simplest and smallest in the Alexa hardware family, but they are also the most powerful yet. The redesigned audio architecture features a new custom full-range driver and the highest excursion speaker of any Echo Dot, delivering clear vocals and up to double the bass of the previous generation — all within the same compact, spherical form factor.
These new Echo smart speakers and Alexa things, are powered by the AZ2 Neural Edge processor, which means that the Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock enable more of those simple commands and interactions to be processed on-device, resulting in faster responses for tap gestures, ultrasound motion detection, and on-device execution for some of the most common requests to Alexa. Also, to care for privacy concerns, Amazon confirms that all the Echo devices include multiple layers of privacy controls, a microphone on/off button, and the ability to view and delete users' voice recordings.
The new Echo Dot with Clock includes upgraded high-density dot technology, offering a more vibrant and dynamic way to see information at a glance. Now, in addition to the time, users can view the name of a song title or artist, the weather, a calculation or unit of measurement, calendar event times, and more features when you ask Alexa for information.
Additionally, for the first time, Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock feature eero Built-in, which makes them the first Echo devices to serve as eero mesh WiFi extenders and improve coverage in the home. After account linking, eero Built-in can add up to 1,000 square feet of coverage to an existing eero mesh WiFi network. The previous 4th Gen Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock will also receive over-the-air updates to receive eero Built-in functionality in the coming months, so users can get more value out of the devices they already own.
Echo Dot Kids, the smart speaker for kids, now comes in new Owl and Dragon designs, and soon will feature new Alexa voices to help bring Owl and Dragon to life for Amazon Kids+ subscribers. Kids can hear greetings, jokes, facts, songs, and more from the perspective of an Owl or Dragon, transforming Alexa into a fun, immersive experience. Parents and guardians can access easy-to-use parental controls to set daily time limits, filter explicit songs, and review activity in the Amazon Parent Dashboard. Echo Dot Kids comes with a two-year worry-free guarantee and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, the only kid-focused content service that gives families access to thousands of ad-free books, games, videos, Audible books, songs, and Alexa skills.
Echo Auto comes in a new, slimmer design and includes a new adhesive mount for more placement flexibility in the car. The device is built with five microphones designed to hear your requests over music, the air conditioning, and road noise. With Echo Auto, users can add Alexa to their car to make calls, and even get roadside assistance hands-free when they run into vehicle trouble.
Echo Studio Enhanced
Echo Studio was originally introduced as the best-sounding Echo speaker and it was mainly intended to be the platform that would enable a whole new generation of users to learn about spatial audio, including Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio, which was also available at the time through Amazon Music HD. Four years later, Amazon says that its Echo Studio is now even better with new spatial audio processing technology and frequency range extension. As the announcement states: "Our custom-built spatial audio processing technology is designed to enhance stereo sound, making music and movie soundtracks feel closer to the listener with greater width, clarity, and presence. It mirrors the performance of a hi-fi stereo system, so vocal performances are more present in the center, while the stereo panned instruments are better defined on the side, creating a more immersive sound experience that reproduces the artist's intent. Additionally, frequency range extension technology delivers better performance, improved mid-range clarity, and deeper bass."
Along with Echo Studio, this spatial audio processing technology is available on Echo Show 15 and will roll out to other compatible Echo devices in the future, Amazon adds. To learn more, visit https://www.amazon.science/blog/the-science-behind-amazons-spatial-audio-processing-technology. These upgrades are in addition to Echo Studio’s existing support for both Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio.
Echo Dot is available in Deep-Sea Blue, as well as the original Charcoal and Glacier White for $49.99. Echo Dot with Clock is available in Cloud Blue, and the original Glacier White for $59.99. Echo Dot Kids is available in all-new Owl and Dragon designs for $59.99. Echo Studio is available for $199.99 in new Glacier White and Charcoal. Echo Auto will be available for $54.99.
www.amazon.com/echodevices
