Amazon's Echo: a $200, Multi-Function, Audio-Centric Device

An anonymous reader writes Amazon today quietly unveiled a new product dubbed Amazon Echo. The $200 device appears to be a voice-activated wireless speaker that can answer your questions, offer updates on what's going in the world, and of course play music. Echo is currently available for purchase via an invite-only system. If you have Amazon Prime, however, you can get it for $100. I've put in a request for one; hopefully we'll get a hands-on look at the Echo soon. It looks useful and interesting for random searches, and for controlling devices, but one small speaker (interesting driver arrangement notwithstanding) doesn't bode well for "fill[ing] any room with immersive sound," as Amazon's promo materials claim.

Comments

3COM's Audrey

[linuxrunner]

Did Amazon think that 3com's Audrey aka the web appliance did fail hard enough?

and because pressing a button on your phone that's in your pocket will be more work than you're willing to put in to remember a task.