Amazon’s New Hardware Include Flying Home Drone Camera, Kids’ Virtual Assistant
Images via Amazon
Amazon announced a whole array of new products at its event on Thursday, including redesigned Echo speakers that now bear a spherical appearance.
Below are some highlights from the launch.
Ring Always Home Cam
Perhaps the most controversial gadget that the tech giant unveiled is its flying home surveillance camera with Ring, seeing as how the CCTV camera company has been flogged by touchy security controversies of late.
The Ring Always Home Cam, priced at US$249, flies to predetermined areas of your living space to capture multiple angles.
Addressing customers’ growing mistrust of Ring, Amazon assured that the home drone security camera is “built with privacy in mind.” When it’s on the move, the camera will make a buzzing noise to inform anyone nearby of its presence.
The camera is “physically blocked” when settled at the dock, so it won’t record anything during rest.
Redesigned Echo
Image via Amazon
The all-new Echo is now in the shape of a sphere to “fit beautifully into any room of the home,” the company said.
Beyond aesthetics, the system runs on Amazon’s first-generation AZ1 Neural Edge processor, allowing for faster speech processing and a more responsive Alexa.
The new series includes a spherical Echo Dot (US$49.99) and a miniature version with a clock (US$59.99). Both are built-in with a powerful 1.6-inch speaker for “crisp vocals and balanced bass for full sound.”
Image via Amazon
Image via Amazon
There’s also an Echo Dots Kids Edition featuring two adorable tiger and panda prints. The speakers arrive with animal-themed alarms, and are designed to be able to distinguish a child’s voice from an adult’s, adjusting their language to be friendlier when responding to kids.
Image via Amazon
The kids’ version, priced at US$59.99, comes with a year’s subscription of Amazon Kids+, offering access to “thousands of hours” of child-friendly Audible books, games, and educational resources, as well as a new feature called ‘Reading Sidekick’ which takes turns with the child to read a supported book.
The new Echo devices are in line with Amazon’s Climate Pledge, which vows to make the entire Amazon business net zero carbon by 2040. They are constructed with materials like 100-percent post-consumer recycled fabric and 100-percent recycled die-cast aluminum.
To find out more about what Amazon announced at its recent event, check out the company’s full blog post, or watch CNET’s 11-minute video below.
[via NBC News and CNET, images via various sources]
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