Amazon has unveiled the Amazon Tap and Echo Dot, two new additions to the Alexa-enabled device family. The previous is a $130 portable version of the Amazon Echo and a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker, while the latter is a $90 compact voice-controlled device that can easily connect to your speaker. Both can be pre-ordered today, however, there’s a catch: While the Amazon Tap is available on Amazon.com, the Echo Dot can only be purchased through an Alexa device (e.g. “Hey Alexa, order an Echo Dot.”)
In addition, the company also released a new developer API to enable its devices to integrate with smart thermostats like those belonging to Nest and Honeywell. Lastly, an Alexa SDK is now available to enable any device to react to voice commands.
Above: From left to right: Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Tap
Image Credit: Ken Yeung/VentureBeat
Amazon Tap: A portable Echo device
“Our original vision [with Amazon Echo] was to build a computer in the cloud that’s controlled by your voice,” said Amazon senior vice president of devices David Limp. “We believe the next big platform is voice.” And while customers have left more than 20,000 five-star ratings and reviews for the inaugural device expressing their love, there were customers that had feedback around what could be better.
One of the those things include conveniently being able to take the Echo device wherever they wanted, thus the reason why the Amazon Tap came into being. Reports of this portable voice assistant device surfaced in January and is certainly reminds you of the Jawbone Jambox or Apple Beats Pill speaker. Weighing 16.6 ounces, Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled device with dual stereo speakers, 360-degree omni-directional audio, and also the same voice command features you get through Alexa.
Above: Amazon Tap: A smaller Echo device that’s portable and Alexa-enabled.
Image Credit: Ken Yeung/VentureBeat
To use the device, turn it on by pressing the Echo Go button, connect to the Internet with Amazon’s Alexa App, and that’s it.
It's a battery life of 9 hours with continuous playtime and 3 weeks if left on standby. Amazon Tap comes with a cradle that makes it convenient for customers to charge while on the go.
Amazon will begin shipping the Amazon Tap out to customers at the end of this month.
Echo Dot: Echo’s much smaller sibling
With the Echo Dot, Amazon likely wants you to have as several Alexa-powered devices in your home without breaking the bank. At $90, it’s certainly cheaper than its older sibling Echo, however, has inherited its features as well, such as its far-field array, which can understand voice commands from 20 to 25 feet away in noisy environments, a light ring to show when it’s listening, and more.
Amazon believes that this miniature (1.5-inches x 3.27-inches x 3.27-inches) device will be ideal in several instances, particular for those who would like to use their own speakers — the Echo Dot has a line out connector that lets you plug in an external audio output device. It can also pair with Bluetooth-enabled speakers and plays music from Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. Limp said that this was one of the biggest use cases Amazon saw because people believed that their own speakers produced better quality sound than what the Echo could offer. In a way there’s some similarities to the Chromecast Audio.
Above: Amazon Echo Dot
Image Credit: Ken Yeung
Others can opt to have the device be an alarm clock, or help control lights, thermostats, and other connected objects.
With the Amazon Echo, it’s pretty much stationary in one part of your home, perhaps the kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, or even the living room. To disconnect it and move it to other areas just to get the voice commands is impractical, however, if you’re looking to have multiple Alexa devices, spending $200 each time can be quite expensive. The Echo Dot could be thought of as a more affordable option for those that are cost-conscious.
The device weighs 8.64 ounces and comes with dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi, supports 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks. It doesn’t work with ad-hoc or peer-to-peer networks. There’s no limit on how several Echo Dots you can have in your home.
While pre-orders begin today, you can only get an Echo Dot through one of the other Alexa-enabled devices like the Echo, Amazon Tap, and FireTV. Limp also said that in the short term, each Amazon account will be restricted to just two Echo Dot devices due to limited quantities. There’s no indication on when it’ll open up more widely. The company will begin shipping it afterwards this month.
Doubling down on voice
Amazon’s first attempt at building a voice-controlled device came in 2014 with the launch of Echo. Since then, improvements have been made to ensure that not only did it work, however, that the responses were right. This is something that the company measures — it’s not about whether it knows the answers, however, rather does it know what it’s supposed to do? “This is the bar that people expect in the home,” Limp explained.
He spoke about all the different challenges the company had to overcome just to make sure that customers are delighted. One of which centered around privacy, especially when people think that Echo may be constantly listening, and Limp said his team was sensitive to the fact that there was now a “microphone in the home.” To that, Amazon engineered the device so that when the mute button was pressed, it was electrically disconnected. The light ring at the top of not only the Echo, however, also the Echo Dot is an indicator of when Alexa is listening. Since it wasn’t always listening, Amazon’s devices needed some way to recognize when you’re talking to it, hence the use of a “wake word” which is customized by each customer.
The company also dealt with understanding voice commands in various situations, such as in noisy environments. Limp demonstrated how difficult it would be for Alexa to pull vocal instructions from a fan or music in the background. This resulted in the addition of technology to isolate what a person is saying. And even processing those commands can be tricky because computers have a hard time understanding context of a statement.
Lastly, turning text into speech and making it sound natural instead of mechanical was an effort Amazon worked on. All in real-time, Alexa takes a sentence as it’s read out, and turn it into little chunks before stitching them together with audio clips so the rhythm sounds more normal to the human ear.
Above: A chart detailing the growing number of skills being added to Alexa since launch to March 2016.
Image Credit: Ken Yeung/VentureBeat
At launch, Alexa was limited to 13 skills in what it could do, such as setting timers, playing Amazon Music, and tell you the weather. However, it quickly grew thanks to third-party developers: “If we’re truly going to believe our vision and that Alexa will be a platform, it's to be open,” Limp said. The company quickly saw momentum in development on Alexa and this month there are 303 third-party skills.
New developer tools
That leads us to the final piece of Amazon’s announcement today: The addition of two tools aimed at accelerating development further. The company said that in the feedback it received, developers were looking for better APIs around specific skills with one of the focuses being on the smart home. This resulted the creation of a Lights API to control lightbulbs such as Hue and WeMo, as well as a flash briefing skills API that reads through personalized list of briefing notes from The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio (NPR), Huffington Post, and others.
The next skills-based API supported by Alexa deals with thermostats. When included, developers can control the temperature in the homes using their voice. The Thermostat API currently supports Insteon, Nest, and Honeywell.
“We know that the kitchen isn’t going to be a homogenous environment,” Limp remarked. “Everything in it is built by different companies. In this world, you can’t rely on someone like Amazon to build all those devices and control it by a single platform.” So if you want any device or appliance to be Alexa-enabled, you may want to look at the company’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS). It’s an SDK that connects hardware to the cloud to receive all the power of the platform. Limp claimed it’s free, simple, easy to do, and self-service.
“We’re lowering the friction for developers to use Alexa. Over time, our hope is that, like Amazon Web Services (AWS), we can offer the best low-cost friction-free service, and developers will use it.”
Both of these tools are available today.
It’s apparent that Amazon will continue to work on improving Alexa to not only add more skills and see it expand into other devices beyond its own, however, also to better understand how people are using it. The debut of Amazon Tap and Echo Dot are efforts the company is making to do more research into use cases, while also gaining the benefits of customers ordering things through these devices.
If you ask the company about the progress of Alexa and Echo, it’ll likely say it’s pleasantly surprised. Limp said that when you invent a first generation product, often you can’t invent it using customer feedback because they don’t have a front-row seat to the upcoming tech. What Amazon does is reverse engineer everything, meaning it starts with a press release, teams debate it, refine it, and then tackle the technical challenges in order to get to the finished product. While it took a bit longer than expected, he’s not shy about where the marketplace is going: “We’re optimistic about what’s happening right now.”
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