On the heels of the recently announced Echo Look, which converts the popular digital assistant Alexa into a fashion designer of sorts, Amazon’s latest offering for households everywhere is the Echo Show. It’s essentially an Echo equipped with a camera and a visual interface, allowing users to make video calls and accidentally request video clips of things that sound like “Jason Bourne,” but without Matt Damon’s chiseled physique on display. The new unit, which comes with the main feature of a seven-inch screen, costs $229.99 plus shipping and is scheduled for an official release this summer on June 28th.
As TechCrunch points out, the “main selling point” of the Echo Show is its ability to stream video calls between users over Wi-Fi. Per the new details released by Amazon today, however, it seems this video calling capability will only be possible with “family and friends who have an Echo or the Alexa App.” FaceTime and Skype users on iPhone, Android and other video calling-capable devices will be out of luck — unless of course they install the Alexa app.
“Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. Watch video flash briefings and YouTube, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, and more. All hands-free — just ask,” notes Amazon. What’s more, the Echo Show is equipped “with eight microphones, beam-forming technology, and noise cancellation,” which allows the device to “[hear] you from any direction — even while music is playing.” Because, you know, that’s not creepy at all. (Unless you’re being murdered and need a witness to the crime.)
(Via CNBC and TechCrunch)