UPDATE: The Amazon Show is coming to the UK later this year, priced at £199. This was announced at an exclusive event in Seattle.
The Amazon Echo Show's release date was Wednesday, June 28, and it's already seeing a $100 off deal if you buy two. To accompany the device's release, Amazon posted four videos that give us a look at how the Echo Show's UI will work and use its screen to respond to user inquiries and display information.
Each of the videos concentrates on a different Show ability but what's very noticeable is how the device's screen is positioned largely as an information display rather than an input device. Despite the fact that the Echo Show will be touchscreen enabled, the video encourages the use of voice control only.
The first video shows music function. The user asks Alexa to display albums by Sia on the Show's screen, from where they can then ask the device to play album number 3 on the list. When the music plays, the lyrics from each song is displayed on the screen in-time with the music, making a living room karaoke scenario much more possible.
The second video shows how the Show can be used to display movie information. When asked "What movies are playing nearby?" the Show is able to display the posters and names of movies playing nearby. Once a poster grabs your attention you can take a closer look at it, ask Alexa to play a trailer or display the showtimes at your nearest cinema.
Another feature shown is shopping lists. If you have a shopping list saved (or you want to set one up) simply ask Alexa to display it on the Show and you can scroll through it or add and remove items completely hands free.
The final video focuses on alarms and shows features such as starting Do Not Disturb mode, setting a morning alarm and turning out the house lights all through voice alone.
One feature that didn't get its own video but is still worth mentioning is the Echo's ability to be used as an intercom system in a home – it's called drop-in.
So here's a scenario: instead of shouting upstairs to call your kids for dinner, you can use any Echo device in your home to call a second Echo device, presumably upstairs in the bedroom where your kids are.
Once you name each room in the house, all you'll need to do is say "Alexa, drop in on the upstairs bedroom" to see what the kids are doing.
Now, these aren't the only features the Show will be capable of, but they provide a very good idea of what you can expect from Amazon's new smart speaker.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? A video screen version of Amazon's voice-activated smart speaker
- How much will it cost? $230 / £199 in the UK (AU price tba)
- When is it out? On sale now at Amazon US and available for pre-order on Amazon UK, no official AU release date yet announced
Amazon Echo Show release date
Amazon is currently available in the US, with full availability on Amazon.
The Amazon Echo Show is also heading to the UK, it was announced at an event on September 27. Pre-orders are open now, and the Echo Show will officially release in the UK on November 16.
Since Australia is still yet to receive the Amazon Echo, we're not holding our collective breath for the Echo Show to make its way there anytime soon.
Amazon Echo Show features
As well as the Alexa voice assistant, which we've become familiar with thanks to its inclusion in existing Amazon Echo speakers and Amazon Fire TV devices, the Amazon Echo Show is equipped with both a screen and a webcam, which will allow it to both show you, as well as tell you, information.
The screen is seven inches in size, and is touchscreen-enabled. It's capable of showing notifications, playing internet video, and showing lyrics on Amazon Music, among other things, and it can also facilitate conversations between different devices in the same house.
It'll be interesting to see whether this functionality is expanded in the future to enable the Show to make voice calls outside of the home, as a pre-announcement leak from the WSJ suggested.
The screen can also be configured to show a live video feed from elsewhere in the house through compatible third-party security cameras.
In addition to the screen, the Amazon Echo Show is also equipped with a camera, as is the recently announced Amazon Echo Look. Amazon is pitching the Look as a style accessory, which will, for example, analyse your clothes in order to offer outfit suggestions.
This functionality will presumably also be making its way to the new Amazon Echo Show, although this is yet to be confirmed.
The Show is available in black or white color options.
As well as this new screen and camera functionality, the Show is compatible with Amazon's existing library of skills, which range from ordering cabs with Uber to controlling smart lightbulbs and thermostats, although existing skills will be audio-only until they're made Show-compatible.
The Show is equipped with eight microphones, which is one more than the existing Amazon Echo speaker. Given that the existing Echo is already pretty good at picking up our voice we're unsure why an extra microphone is needed, but it's a nice inclusion all the same.
Finally, the new device is equipped with Bluetooth, so even if your music app of choice isn't supported natively (such as Apple Music), you can still stream it to the Echo Show.
UI videos
Ahead of its US launch, Amazon posted four videos that give us a look at how the Echo Show's UI will work and use its screen to respond to user inquiries and display information.
Each of the videos concentrates on a different Show ability but what's very noticeable is how the device's screen is positioned largely as an information display rather than an input device. Despite the fact that the Echo Show will be touchscreen enabled, the video encourages the use of voice control only.
The first video shows music function. The user asks Alexa to display albums by Sia on the Show's screen, from where they can then ask the device to play album number 3 on the list. When the music plays, the lyrics from each song is displayed on the screen in-time with the music, making a living room karaoke scenario much more possible.
The second video shows how the Show can be used to display movie information. When asked "What movies are playing nearby?" the Show is able to display the posters and names of movies playing nearby. Once a poster grabs your attention you can take a closer look at it, ask Alexa to play a trailer or display the showtimes at your nearest cinema.
Another feature shown is shopping lists. If you have a shopping list saved (or you want to set one up) simply ask Alexa to display it on the Show and you can scroll through it or add and remove items completely hands free.
The final video focuses on alarms and shows features such as starting Do Not Disturb mode, setting a morning alarm and turning out the house lights all through voice alone.
- Check out our existing reviews of the Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot.
from TechRadar - All the latest technology news http://www.techradar.com/news/amazon-echo-show
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