Amazon Unveils New Echo, Echo Plus, and Echo Spot: What’s the Difference?

For the first time in almost three years, Amazon updated its smart Echo speaker.

Thanks to Alexa, you can use your Fire TV to control your connected home gadgets, play music on your TV, view camera feeds, and a lot more-all with your voice.

AMZN stock got a small bump today as word spread of the big event.

Amazon Echo Plus is for those who loved the original Echo with taller design. It also includes Dolby Atmos support for enhanced sound. A next-generation far-field microphone should improve Alexa voice interactions. It more than doubled down on Wednesday with five various Echo hardware products, showing the increasing importance the product has for Amazon, and its attempt to get Echos in as many households and rooms as possible.

The new Echo costs US$99. And for those looking for a full home experience, the company will also be selling them in 3 packs at a $50 discount.

The Connect starts pre-orders today and will launch in Q4 in the USA and early 2018 in the United Kingdom and Germany. Imagine a trivia game, for instance, where every family member has a dedicated wireless button to “buzz in”. The Echo Connect is easy to set u, all you need to connect it to your home Wi-Fi network and home phone jack or VoIP adapter, and use the Alexa app on your mobile phone to set up the speaker.

The Echo Spot might looks like a cross between a Nest home thermostat and a bedside clock but it’s so much more. They are among the pioneers when it comes to smart speakers and have been introducing innovative devices for years now. The Echo Plus will cost $149, and comes bundled with one Philips Hue smart bulb. The new Echo appears to be a more formidable rival to Apple’s HomePod, which the iPhone maker touted for its audio quality when it unveiled the device in June. The Amazon Connect is a $35 device that does just one thing -make those free voice calls (including support for 911). It costs £69.99 and will go on sale on October 25. It is also available now for pre-order as a 3-pack for $249 United States dollars.

Oh, and in case you didn’t think there were enough new Echo devices, Amazon also announced the new $US129 Echo Spot, which is basically an improved Echo Dot with a circular 8cm screen. And it costs USA $ 130.