and add Alexa functionality. And if you
want a touch screen to see search results
and make video calls, check out the Echo
Show. Amazon just unveiled a slew of
new Echo devices that haven't come out
yet, including the tiny, LCD-equipped
Echo Spot, as well as the Alexa-spouting
Big Mouth Billy Bass (seriously).
Your choice of Alexa
speakers has really
expanded. You can get a
little $49.99 Echo Dot and
pair it with a better speaker.
You can get a $149.99 Echo Plus with a
built-in home-automation hub, or a third-
party Alexa speaker like the higher-end
$199 Sonos One for true multi-room
audio and fantastic sound quality. At
$99.99 (or $83.33 if you buy three at
a time), the Echo is designed to be the
workaday, every-room speaker for those
who can afford a little more than the Dot,
and want a better look and more volume.
Amazon also has the $229.99 Echo
Show, and the new $129.99 Echo Spot,
both of which add screens. The Show
is less of a voice-enabled speaker and
more of a kitchen tablet with powerful
audio, while the Spot looks like a voice-
enabled alarm clock. Those two also
have cameras for video calling and
showing smart home video feeds, and
they function as baby monitors.
If you aren't familiar with Alexa and
the Echo line, they've grown over the
years from devices that let you shop
and listen to music into all-purpose
home assistants. Alexa's big draw is the
thousands of third-party skills it enables,
from controlling pretty much every smart
home brand, to reading out AllRecipes
recipes, to ordering you a Lyft or a pizza.
You can see the incredible range of
Amazon's skill set in PC Magazines article
'Amazon's Highest-Rated Alexa Skills in
Every Category'.
One of the most talked
about automation hubs is
the Wink Hub 2, this hub
works with devices that use
Z-Wave, Zigbee, Lutron Clear
Connect, Kidde, Bluetooth,
and Wi-Fi. It is also for the
future. That includes just
about everything in the
smart home spectrum, from
Philips Hue lighting and
the Netgear Arlo camera, to
Google Home. It is a reliable
and widely supported hub.
Wink
Hub 2
World
of
Echo
