What They Say
Amazon has a new ‘domestic robot’ that has a 10″ touchscreen mounted on a motorised base and fitted with a camera on a telescopic ‘periscope’ that extends 107cm (42″) to allow remote monitoring of items in the home. The device also has an opt-in face identification system and, of course, supports Alexa functions.
It costs $999 now, jumping to $1,499 once the day one limited editions are sold.
As expected, the firm introduced a 15.6″ FullHD Echo Show 14 at $249. The firm also said that Sling TV will come to all Echo Show devices ‘soon’ in the US.
An intriguing new product is the Echo Glow (not to be confused with an older Echo Glow which was a smart lamp for kids) with an 8″ LCD display and a ‘tabletop projector’. The Glow can be used to allow some games, books or puzzles to be played by people at both end of a connection, as children often get bored with video chats and can ‘wander off’. The unit comes with a 22″ white mat that fits the device (and is said to be easy to clean) to act as a 19″ display surface for the unit. It costs $249 now, but $299 later and will be available in the US only, initially.
The image on the pad can be echoed to a remote tablet, so that those at each end of the connection can both interact with the app. Special ‘tangram’ shapes can be used to play. For example, if they are arranged as a shark, it will animate and move around. Other add-ons are planned and Amazon is collaborating with Mattel, Sesame Street and others on apps and, in the case of Disney, animated stories.
The image on the LCD is always of the user at the other end of the call. The system includes a camera to capture objects on the mat that can then be digitised and interacted with.
At the moment two Glow devices cannot connect. For more on this device see the article on The Verge or Amazon’s video.
Amazon also launched a new Halo fitness band with a coloured OLED display. It costs $79.99 and comes with a full year of a Halo subscription membership.
There was a whole slew of other security and doorbell products and
What We Think
The display is used to give the device facial expressions. I liked the idea of it bringing a beer, but, of course, it can’t open the fridge door and put a bottle in the holder. There are clearly situations where this kind of device, but I wasn’t convinced by the use cases shown in the Amazon promotional video, so the fact that it’s not available in the UK won’t be an issue for me.
I know grandparents that would be very happy to spend some time with their family remotely and giving children a more useful activity than just playing a video game. It could have been really useful during the home schooling of the last couple of years.
As the device is only being sold to ‘invited customers’, there doesn’t seem to be a published specification for the device, so we weren’t able to get more details on the projector itself. No doubt details will trickle out. (BR)
The Echo Show 15
The Amazon Glow has an integrated projector
