Alexa Gets Friends. Amazon Adds Dot And Tap To The Echo Family

Our “dumb” homes are being overrun with smart devices to make us more productive.  It’s only been about a year since Amazon rolled out the Echo.  For those unaware, Echo is a device that sits on your desk (or in your kitchen, living room, bedroom) that serves as an audible assistant.  Her name is Alexa, as in, “Alexa, schedule a meeting with Tim for 1pm.”

She plays music as well, but I’m more interested in getting her to do tasks while I’m busy typing.  They continue to roll out features like the ability order an Uber.  Or a pizza.  And now, they’re rolling out new toys.

First, there’s the Echo Dot:

Think of it as an extension of Amazon Echo.  It appears to be a much more functional device than the remote Amazon sells now to control your Echo from another room.  It’s essentially a much smaller version of the Echo in that it appears to perform all the smart features the full-sized version does.  I’m assuming the speaker isn’t nearly as powerful as the full tower, but I didn’t buy Echo for the music.

The Echo Dot appears to need a constant supply of power.  I get that, but it might reduce the usefulness of being able to position the Dot in various rooms if you don’t have an outlet readily available.

The other toy they’re announcing today is the Tap.

It’s a wireless bluetooth speaker that also has the power of Alexa.

That’s actually pretty appealing to turn a single-use device like a portable speaker into a multi-function tool. It doesn’t come with a cell signal, so it’s reliant on your phone or other Wi-Fi to make the Alexa service work.  But, the price point isn’t bad if it’s a good speaker, and the added benefits of Alexa would have me choose this over something with a similar sound quality.

For me, I’m still a fan of the sound the Bose SoundLink series offers at a similar price point.  And, I’m especially happy with how Bose stands behind their products.

The Last Two Pennies

Color me curious on both the Dot and Tap.  I’m not placing orders for either today, but I’ll be interested to see how the initial reviews are.

The post Alexa Gets Friends.  Amazon Adds Dot And Tap To The Echo Family was published first on Pizza in Motion.