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Amazon’s Echo – the speaker that comes with its very own personal assistant, Alexa – has now got a younger sibling, the Echo Dot.
It looks like someone has chopped the top off the original Echo, but Alexa is just as capable in the Dot as in the larger version. The difference lies with the speaker – instead of being a standalone speaker, you can either pair it to another speaker via Bluetooth or by plugging it in directly.
The promotional video certainly makes it look very useful.
Things you can ask Alexa to do range from calling you an Uber, placing another order of your last Dominoes delivery, finding out the weather report to checking your calendar – even controlling any smart products that exist around your house.
Of course, you can also request songs and playlists, and the far-field technology fitted into the device is the same as the Echo, meaning she should be able to hear you from a distance with no trouble.
It all sounds pretty great right? The only issue will be getting your hands on one. The Echo itself isn’t yet available in the UK – through Amazon directly at least – and the Echo Dot is proving hard to buy regardless of your location.
Both the Dot and the original Echo will hopefully be on sale soon in the UK – but, for now at least, you’ll only be able to purchase one if you already have an Echo or Fire TV. That’s because you can’t currently order the device from Amazon’s website, you can only order it directly from Alexa.
I think I’d probably buy an Amazon Echo if they were available in the UK
— Alex Hern (@alexhern) March 3, 2016
Amazon also released the Tap, which is essentially everything described above, but is completely portable.
Please though, Amazon, STOP BEING SO SELFISH and share Alexa with all of us!!
Jennifer Love Hewitt GIF – Find & Share on GIPHY
