IThings could soon get tight in the kitchen of Amazon users. The group presented a new Echo device with the digital voice assistant Alexa on Tuesday. The Echo Show 15 looks like a picture frame and is hung on the wall.
Alexa not only answers questions and takes commands there. The display with built-in microphone, loudspeaker and camera also shows information such as shopping lists, notes, recipes, calendar entries – and of course photos.
With a screen diagonal of 15.6 inches (almost 40 centimeters), the Echo Show 15 is the largest smart display in the Echo family. So far, the devices have only been available for placement in five, eight and ten inches.
The new Echo Show 15 can also be placed on the table with an optional stand. But it was designed for the wall, where it can be hung up or across.
Alexa widgets can be placed on the Echo Show 15 from Amazon
What: Amazon
Amazon has redesigned its start screen for the large display. Users can now customize it with Alexa widgets that they choose from a gallery, for example to display to-do lists and the family calendar. Smart home favorites can also be stored there, so that, for example, the light can be switched on or off with a tap of the finger.
The group has developed its new Echo Show 15 especially for use in families. Each family member can create a “visual ID” on it. The built-in camera of the echo recognizes who is standing in front of it. In this way, certain notes can only be displayed to the user.
Photos are saved locally
According to Amazon, photos for facial recognition are not transferred to the Internet and stored in the cloud. “All images that are used to create the visual ID are encrypted and only saved locally on the device,” it says. This visual ID can be deleted by the users at any time.
With the Echo Show 15 from Amazon, the camera and microphone can be deactivated by pressing a button
What: Amazon
The Echo Show 15 is designed like a picture frame, but has to be connected to a power socket by cable. The display has a full HD resolution and can play videos from streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Arte or the ZDF media library.
The Echo can also display images from Amazon Photos and receive the image from multiple surveillance cameras.
Although Amazon is the market leader in smart speakers with its Echo devices, many people shy away from using them because voice commands are transmitted over the Internet. For users in the USA, the group has now announced that speech recognition will take place locally on their devices. This should be possible with the Echo Show 10 and with newer models, because Amazon has installed its own processors here. When and whether users in Germany can access the local speech recognition, the group has not announced.
The new Echo Show 15 will cost 250 euros. Amazon has not yet announced the exact market launch. The manufacturer has also presented a new video bell under its Blink smart home brand. Until now, you could only buy cameras there.
Amazon is constantly introducing new devices and services in the US that either find their way onto the German market later or not at all. On Tuesday, the group showed its first robot for the US market. The device called “Astro” can drive through the apartment like a vacuum cleaner robot and carries a display, microphone and camera with it that can be extended like a periscope.
Astro from Amazon can extend its camera with a periscope
What: Amazon
Thanks to its sensors, Astro can drive around obstacles and stop at stairs. Users can define areas that Astro is not allowed to enter and times when they do not move. With Astro, so the idea of Amazon, you can, for example, keep an eye on older relatives – or just have a smart display come to you.
Astro does not yet do any work that goes beyond this. “Astro will become smarter and more powerful over time,” promises Amazon hardware boss David Limp. The robot is said to cost $ 1,000. Interested parties can apply for an invitation. Amazon uses this method to bring products to market in doses and to collect user reactions. The robot should be sent to the first users this year.
Another device will initially only be available for the US market and only by invitation. With Amazon Glow, the group presented a combination of video phone and projector that was developed primarily for families with children. Children can communicate with their parents or grandparents via video and at the same time have a 19-inch image (48 centimeters) with interactive content – for example games – projected onto the table. The projector recognizes the gestures of the users so that children can put digital puzzles or paint pictures. Amazon Glow is said to cost $ 250 in the US, and interested parties can apply for an invitation immediately.
Amazon Glow projects a 19-inch image onto the table
What: Amazon
Last year, the group presented an autonomously flying mini drone as a security camera that flies a predetermined route through the apartment and can transmit a live video. With immediate effect, Amazon is also accepting applications for invitations for this Always Home Camera of its smart home brand Ring in the USA.
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