Amazonian BEAUTIES
FROM INDOOR SECURITY DRONES TO CLOUD GAMING, ESAT DEDEZADE ROUNDS UP AMAZON’S NEW LAUNCHES
Home security drone!
We’ll level with you. One of the coolest announcements from Amazon’s big reveal event last week came from its smart security subsidiary, Ring, which unveiled a rather bizarre home surveillance drone. Yes, you read that correctly. Home. Security. Drone.
Called the Always Home Cam, it’s an adorable little camera-toting drone that patrols your entire house while you’re away, saving you the hassle of placing a camera in every room. It’ll automatically land back in its charging dock when it needs a nap too, assuming it’s not intercepted by a renegade kitty.
Ring also announced its first foray into a new line of security cameras for cars, along with endto-end encryption for video footage, rolling out to users by the end of this year. When hooked up to the Ring app, the new Car Cam, Car Alarm and Car Connect systems integrate into the Ring app to alert owners and provide them with alerts for attempted break-ins.
Amped-up Echos
Smart speaker fans with a penchant for spheres will be pleased to hear that all of Amazon’s new Echo devices have a new futuristic orb-like demeanour and will be launching October 22.
The new flagship Echo (£89.99) packs in Zigbee support for controlling your smart devices, along with Dolbypowered sound, while the smaller Echo Dot (£49.99) and Echo Dot with clock (£59.99, main image above) offer up more affordable Alexa smarts in a more compact size. There’s also a Kids Edition complete with either a cute panda or tiger design, which are absolutely adorable and will no-doubt appeal to big kids too. Sadly, these yet to be confirmed as launching in the UK.
The whole range will also launch with a low power mode, which means that each device will be more efficient while using less power. The good news for those not quite ready to update is that some older Echo devices will also benefit from this mode thanks to a
future software update.
Screens and TVs
Amazon also showed off the new Echo Show 10 (£239.99, release date to be announced), which now has a display attached to a motorised base, which automatically moves to face you as you move around the room, like your own personalised paparazzi. Useful? Probably. Creepy? Definitely. Moving to bigger screens, we have the Fire TV Stick and TV Stick Lite (available now), priced at £39.99 and £29.99 respectively. Packing more power than ever, they offer faster 1080p streaming at 60fps, while the Fire TV Stick also supports Dolby Atmos sound and the ability to control your AV equipment with your voicebox.
Smarter Alexa
If you sometimes find yourself getting frustrated with Alexa’s responses, particularly with older Echo devices, you’ll be pleased to hear that Amazon’s gifted its new range of Echos with a new AZ1 Neural Edge processor. Now Alexa can respond faster to commands and questions that, coupled with new machine-learning tech, means that she can also understand multiple people at once, while only asking clarifying questions if needed. Smart, huh?