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Amazon has unveiled five new Alexa devices, led by the Echo Show 16, a 16-inch smart display that the company is pitching as a household command centre. The devices were announced on 28 October at a small event in New York, and the Show 16 is available to pre-order now.
The Echo Show 16 costs 499.99 dollars, or 569.99 dollars with a Nanomatte anti-glare screen, and a 100-dollar pre-order discount applies to either version. It has a 16-inch display, a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera, eight micro-woofers and two tweeters, and it runs the full Fire TV experience by touch. Amazon says it ships later this year, with no exact date given. The display is nearly 40 percent thinner than its predecessor and comes with a wall mount in the box.
The main software change is Screen Styles, which lets owners choose a home screen that stays on all the time: a family organiser, a smart home dashboard, an Alexa widgets screen or a photo frame. The Show 16 also adds an interactive 3D map view for controlling smart home devices, and a meal planning feature. Amazon confirmed that a screen showing Alexa recommendations can carry full-screen ads, but owners can turn that screen off.
The other devices are a redesigned Echo Dot with a built-in smart home hub, an Echo Studio with a home camera for 250 dollars, the Echo Time bedside clock and the Alexa Photo Frame for 199.99 dollars, which is on sale now. The Photo Frame is a 10-inch touchscreen that doubles as a full Alexa speaker, and it pulls photos from the Alexa Photos app based on faces, time and context.
Amazon swapped its usual big autumn showcase this year for a series of smaller launches through October, and the company also teased more launches to come from Ring and for Echo devices on the move. The Echo Show 16 costs double the 250-dollar Echo Show 11 and 200 dollars more than Apple's HomeView, so Amazon is betting that size and sound will justify the premium.
Source: Tech Worth It
