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Alexa: The Latest Addition to Amazon's Gadget Family
Other | Monday 10th November 2014 | Izaradz
You may remember the monstrous, all-knowing, multi-functioning computer V.I.K.I from Alex Proyas’ film, I, Robot. Amazon’s latest Echo Speaker is essentially a more compact and manageable reflection of just that, aside from the fact that it probably won’t use the information it develops to recruit an army of robots to take over the world.
The 9-inch tall cylindrical smart speaker is the child of Siri and Google, whereby it can answer questions regarding the weather, the news and random facts, organise your schedule, set alarms and play music. All you need to do is begin your command or question by addressing “Alexa”, Echo’s more personable name.
The device contains 7 microphones for maximum efficiency and ‘beam forming technology’, which means it can ‘hear’ you from any direction. Alexa also has advanced noise cancellation, so that it can respond to commands even when it is playing music. Furthermore, not only can Alexa ‘hear’ and ‘listen’ to your voice, but it will slowly get accustomed to your vocabulary, common commands and method of speaking.
Music can be streamed from Amazon Music, Prime Music, iHeart Radio and Tune In via a wifi connection, and from Spotify, iTunes and Pandora via Bluetooth. However, as one speculator rightly mentioned, we will have to wait to hear Alexa’s sound quality before we can really give this speaker a comparison rating.
The Echo Speaker is not available for purchase just yet and the release date has still not been officially confirmed. Once available, it will cost £125 to a regular Amazon customer and £62 to Prime members. It may not be the ideal product if your own name is Alexa, but we eagerly anticipate whether this latest gadget will be a welcome addition to the family, or just another dust collecting Christmas present.
By Izy Radwanska Zhang
