Amazon Echo 2017 Updated Device

The new $100 Echo highlights the original’s great features and improves its flaws.

The original Amazon Echo was  a interesting device to say the least. Did anyone really want a speaker with an always-on assistant waiting for your next command (I guess)? As it turns out, people did—so much so that now there are more speakers, lamps, baby monitors, refrigerators, and (soon) cars that have Amazon's Alexa built in.

But even though Amazon opened up Alexa to other companies to integrate into their products, Amazon hasn't stopped improving the original Echo. The second-generation Echo just came out, and while the most obvious differences lie in the device's design and its reduced price tag, Alexa has gone through a number of changes and improvements as well.

The new Echo comes in various fabric and wood veneer options, upping the device's style game. The Google Home was the first major device in this category to come out with a partially fabric exterior, which gives the device a friendlier, softer aesthetic while making it look less like a piece of smart home technology. Amazon also offers decorative fabric and wood shells for the new Echo starting at $19 each, so you're not married to the material on the Echo that you buy.

Amazon improved the internals of the new Echo as well. It has a new speaker with a 0.6-inch upward-firing tweeter, a 2.5-inch downward-firing subwoofer, Dolby audio processing, and a new group of seven far-field microphones. The new Echo sounds better than the original, getting loud enough to fill most one-bedroom apartment with clear sound.

When the original Echo debuted with Alexa, skills seemed like gimmicky pseudo-features, and only a few of them were useful. Now, the Alexa skills library has grown to more than 25,000-strong, and many developers have made skills that range from egg timers to immersive, voice-first games. Before you can use a skill, you must enable it from the Skills section in the Alexa app. This section is almost like an app store, but made exclusively for Alexa skills, and you don't have to pay to enable any skill you want to use.

Want to know more?

The Skills page is ripe with weird and off-beat categories, and I was strangely intrigued by a number of ambient sound skills made by Invoked Apps LLC. There are more than 30 sound skills to choose from that include nearly every kind of background noise you'd want to hear: thunderstorm, rain, white noise, fan, ocean, fireplace, clothes dryer, and more. Many of these popped up in various carousels on the Skills page in the Alexa app, be it a "recommended for me" or "popular" carousel. I downloaded a few, and, while they aren't the most complicated skills, they work as promised. Ambient Fireplace Sounds turns the Echo into the crackling fire I wish I had on chilly days, while Ambient Wind Chimes transported my living room outdoors and mimicked the ambiance of a front porch.

Every Ambient Sound app made by Invoked Apps LLC lets you loop the sound if you want the skill to run for more than one hour. With looping turned on, you can ask Alexa to "stop in three hours" or whenever you wish the sounds to stop. I've never needed sound in the background to fall asleep or relax, but I enjoyed using these skills so much that I like having that ambient noise in the background whenever I'm working and don't want to listen to music.

Invoked Apps LLC isn't the only developer making ambient sound skills, and there's currently no way to search for skills by developer in the Alexa app. Hopefully, this feature comes to the Alexa app in the future, because there will undoubtedly be companies that excel making thoughtful Alexa skills, and users may want to see what other skills the company has to offer after using just one.

Alexa app

The updated Alexa app puts a menu bar at the bottom of the screen with quick-access icons to your home screen, conversations, and audio playback. The home screen shows your history of interaction with Alexa, including apps and skills you've used and questions you've asked. Depending on the type of request, more information might be shown here as well. If you ask Alexa to read you sports scores for your favorite baseball team, the home screen shows series wins and when and where the last game was played. Asking about your favorite player on that sports team will prompt Alexa to read you the first few lines on the team's Wikipedia page, but the home screen links to that Wikipedia page so you can learn more on your own.

• Alexa home and conversation pages.
• Music page and main menu.
• Content setup page, where you can link music, book, and TV accounts.
• Shopping lists and reminders.
• Alarm management.
• Smart home page with Hue light controls.
• Alexa can dim the lights as well as turn them on or off, and it controls a bunch of devices as a group.
• Lights have "scene" options, which change the ambience in the room.
• Skills homepage.
• Enabling skills just takes one tap.
• Skills range from smart home to productivity to new to music and audio.
• New category-based skills search.
• Account settings.
• Echo device settings.
• Flash Briefing and Calendar settings.

Drop In

Amazon Echo devices also have a new feature called Drop In, which is similar to calling with Alexa but only for those with Echo devices. By giving Drop In permission to yourself, your household, or a contact with an Echo device, those users can "drop in" on your Echo device for a voice or video chat. Essentially, you're making a voice or video call to another approved user that has a connected Echo device.

@toysNtec #alexa #Toysntech #echo # Homeautomation ToysNTech.net