Amazon’s new Echo speaker is basically Siri in a can

That right there, is the Echo – Amazon’s answer to, well, we’re not quite sure yet.

It’s a Bluetooth speaker that’s constantly connected to the cloud, with the sole purpose of being your personal information and entertainment butler.

“Beam-forcing technology” and seven microphones apparently lets it pick up your voice from any direction, providing you with weather, travel, news and general information, whenever you ask for it – Google Now and Siri-style.

Naturally, being a speaker, you can use it to play music too, with control possible via an iOS, Fire OS and Android app.

You can use Bluetooth to connect to your devices and blast out your tunes, and it plays nice with Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn Plus and Pandora too.

The Echo appears to be US-only for now, priced at US$200 or US$100 for Amazon Prime members, and you’ll need to apply for an invite if you want to be an early adopter.

We’re watching this with interest from the sidelines from now. Will this go the way of the obscure and quirky Google Nexus Q?

Time will tell.

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[Amazon, via The Verge]

Esat Dedezade Contributor

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.