Posted Tue Jun 23, 2015 at 02:45 PM PDT by Steven Cohen
The voice controlled speaker is now available for all customers.
Following a previous invitation only launch, Amazon is now selling its Echo speaker to all shoppers. Echo is a cylindrical speaker system with 360° omni-directional audio and voice-controlled commands, offering instant information and music.
"The customer response to Amazon Echo has been incredibly positive, and we've been working hard to build more as quickly as possible. We are grateful to our early customers for their incredible engagement and for providing us with invaluable feedback to help shape Echo as it evolves—with their help, we've been able to add features like Audible, Pandora, home automation, sports scores, calendar, and more," said Greg Hart, Vice President, Amazon Echo. "We're excited to get Echo into the hands of even more customers and continue to invent new features and experiences."
The speaker is an always-on device that uses Wi-Fi to connect to the cloud through Amazon Web Services. After waking Echo with the wake word "Alexa," the speaker provides similar functionality to Siri or Ok Google on Apple and Android devices, allowing customers to ask for information, music, news, weather, and more. Likewise, thanks to its cloud integration, Echo actually adapts to your speech patterns, vocabulary, and personal preferences over time. The speaker features Far-field voice recognition that uses seven microphones to pick up customer's commands. A 2.5-inch woofer and a 2-inch tweeter are integrated as well, offering 360° omni-directional audio.
The Amazon Echo is now available for pre-order and will begin shipping to customers on July 14 for $180.
Source: Amazon
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