Amazon Introduces the Echo

Coming soon from Amazon is the company’s newly unveiled Echo. Combining the likes of a speaker with a Siri-like assistant, the Echo is designed around the user’s voice and utilizes far-field voice recognition in order to hear commands and questions from any direction. Bluetooth-enabled and always on thanks to your Wi-Fi connection, the gadget can answer questions, play music, communicate news, relay the weather, and more — simply say the word “Alexa” and the device will “wake” immediately. It even functions as an expertly-tuned speaker with dual downward-firing speakers that produce 360° of omni-directional audio, connecting to the likes of Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Amazon’s own Music and Prime Music for streaming.

Amazon’s Echo will soon be available in limited initial quantities for $199 USD (just $99 USD for Amazon Prime members) while those interested can request an invitation online to purchase the device.