Amazon to Unveil New Echo Speaker With Touchscreen as Soon as Tomorrow

[jonnysods]

With an Apple Watch, iPad, iPhone, MacBook Pro and iMac I can't see where this would fit into my life style. I'm not sure apple needs to operate in this space, just improve the search capabilities and responsiveness and learning ability of Siri on existing devices.

And stop my watch from immediately typing a dictated sentence in one instance, and half a minute later delay for 30 seconds to type out the info I just dictated or hang completely.

 

[Asarien]

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac

'nuff said.

You beat me to it!

 

[Defthand]

I've had a home automation hub long before they were headlines. It wakes me in the morning. It turns the TV or radio to programming it recommends. It reminds me of tasks that need to be done. It answers my questions succinctly. It turns the lights off when I should go to bed.

It's called a wife.

 

[kdarling]

I personally always thought that having a screen would make the device even more useful.

Or if it could cast as a Picture in Picture to the nearest TV or monitor.

It really is a pity that the major players don't use a standard like DLNA.

 

[Larry The L]

Apple needs to get off the pot. They are being left behind.

This is so untrue and absurd that I fell off my chair laughing. People's desire here to bash apple is so strong that they invent fake news and create absurd conjectures at warp speed.

 

[daveeasa]

I got an echo for the wife and actually really like it. I personally think a screen addition makes perfect sense as we bought a galaxy tablet explicitly for recipes but it's a pain to use with wet/messy hands.

In the kitchen, while juggling knives, toddlers and dogs, hands free help is appreciated. The timer function alone is almost worth the purchase price. Visual feedback would help the experience, it's the missing piece, along with communication capabilities (I always thought a doorbell interface would make sense.)

I agree with one poster that Amazon is doing what Apple once did, exploring fearlessly and leading the market in very practical ways without attempting to re-invent everything all at once. It's almost laughable that an echo costs the same as a pair of airpods when you consider the differences in capabilities. I'm still holding out hope that there might be a must-have apple product at some point, but so far the SE is the only apply purchase I've made in the past 5 years because everything else is just overpriced or f'd up in some completely unnecessary way.

 

[murdoc2k]

I don't understand why anyone would want to pay for something that is already built into their phone. Siri is built into our iPhones. Yes! That $1000+ device we PAID for.

Why are we all rushing to go and purchase another $150+ device that does the same thing?

Want a screen? Get the iPhone 7Plus. There, a 5.5" screen with a voice assistant that works with smart home products, plays music on stereo speakers, provides you with weather updates.

Want better sound? Get a pair of nice bluetooth headphones to pair it with your phone.

Hell, even my iPhone 6 can do all of that and I bought it 3 years ago.

 

[Southern Dad]

Apple needs to get off the pot. They are being left behind. Of course M$ is letting off the gas with no Surface Pro 5 Update.

This is the whole reason that I just recently bought into the Echo infrastructure. I wanted to buy Apple but they didn't have an offering. That is also why I bought a Pebble smart watch, because Apple still hadn't introduced theirs at the time. It seems to be a lead from behind strategy.

 

[npmacuser5]

I've had a home automation hub long before they were headlines. It wakes me in the morning. It turns the TV or radio to programming it recommends. It reminds me of tasks that need to be done. It answers my questions succinctly. It turns the lights off when I should go to bed.

It's called a wife.

That is not a personal assistant, that is a Boss!

 

[DVNIEL]

The new echo with touchscreen.....

 

[gijoeinla]

Amazon is swift and hungry. Apple is slow and lazy. These are amazing times to witness.

Oh yes. Apple is so slow at earning the lions share of industry profit -- just by accident I guess -- now the ONLY corporation to EARN its $800 BILLION valuation and it's all been done by lazyness..

1 billion devices later.

Oh ok.

Now -- share with all of us your global accomplishments...

Crickets indeed

 

[npmacuser5]

Oh yes. Apple is so slow at earning the lions share of industry profit -- just by accident I guess -- now the ONLY corporation to EARN its $800 BILLION valuation and it's all been done by lazyness..

1 billion devices later.

Oh ok.

Now -- share with all of us your global accomplishments...

Crickets indeed

Blackberry, RIM, highly valued at one time. Today not so much. Apple needs to pay close attention to the negative aspects of being on top. Many corporations follow the bell curve to the end.

 

[JungeQuex]

Can anyone explain to me what these smart home consoles are useful for? I mean from the perspective of someone who would use them and appreciate their inclusion in their home. I'm having a hard time seeing the advantage.

 

[44267547]

Amazon is swift and hungry. Apple is slow and lazy. These are amazing times to witness.

Yes, Apple is certainly slower to release their version of a product when others have already. But I would rather much have a product that is reliable and works efficiently without having to be first on the market. It's not Apple's goal to be first on the market.

But lazy? I competely disagree. You have no idea what type of research and developement Apple has invested into a smart speaker. They will have their version which will eventually release, but anyone here knows it will sell out when it does release. It's another Apple product which will likely integrate into Apple's ecosystem and have a unique spin of its own.

 

[Art Mark]

Does anyone on here actually own an echo, google home, etc.? Seems like another gimmic to add to anyones tech collection. Also another way for the NSA to monitor you (alright, i'll take my tinfoil hat off now).

I don't find it very useful. I have an echo. I'm a little confused over everyone thinking this is an important gadget. My phone is a billion times more useful and is always with me.

 

[Technarchy]

Can anyone explain to me what these smart home consoles are useful for? I mean from the perspective of someone who would use them and appreciate their inclusion in their home. I'm having a hard time seeing the advantage.

I have an Echo Dot and it controls my lights, music, alarms, reminders, reads my news, encyclopedia, business finder, does Amazon orders, tracks them...

Its definitely a pleasing experience to initiate thess actions with natural speech.

Mind you it goes quite a deeper. There is a pretty extensive Skill list you can add to expand her abilities.

 

[TallManNY]

Sometimes I wonder if Apple realize how fast Amazon is going to move in this space. Two new devices? Yep. Selling a fully functional device in Echo Dot for $40 on sale? Sure. Amazon has such an ability to move fast and sell stuff at cost because they do not care about profitability this year or even this decade. That is so hard to compete against.

 

[44267547]

Sometimes I wonder if Apple realize how fast Amazon is going to move in this space. Two new devices? Yep. Selling a fully functional device in Echo Dot for $40 on sale? Sure. Amazon has such an ability to move fast and sell stuff at cost because they do not care about profitability this year or even this decade. That is so hard to compete against.

And it makes wonder how consistent the home automation market will be in the long run. As of now, Amazon is moving fast as you stated and has expanded to three different products across their smart Speaker line, which choices are good. But completion is better. I expect Apple to be joining sooner than later and see where they set the bar in this era of smart speakers. More so, how is Siri improved and ready for being primary. We all know the hardware part to Apple will be well made.

 

[pdaholic]

Attaching a small screen to these devices seems in opposition to what I perceive they are trying to accomplish. They remind me of sci-fi films where a person, located anywhere in a room, speaks a command aloud and the computer acts on that command. Having a little screen means that when the echo is given a command and output is placed on the screen, the person needs to move from wherever they are in the room and go to view the information on the screen. The device then becomes like any other tablet with "hey Siri" or "go google" (or whatever command is used by google). I think it would be more useful to use a large monitor like a tv screen for those visual responses, so one could continue to be anywhere in the room when making commands. Perhaps an Apple TV with "hey Siri" functionality? Apple might even use handoff to send the information to a local device like an iPhone or iPad, but I can't say that works very well with the Apple Watch. I'll end this with saying that I'm only speculating about the echo screen concept, and I'm not endorsing Siri. Siri, imo, is horrible for anything other than simple tasks.

 

[Defthand]

Amazon has such an ability to move fast and sell stuff at cost because they do not care about profitability this year or even this decade. That is so hard to compete against.

The Dot could be a loss leader. Let's not ignore the fact that Amazon also sells the appliances that the Dot controls.

 

[sputnikv]

that's really bizarre

 

[charlituna]

Apple needs to get off the pot. They are being left behind. Of course M$ is letting off the gas with no Surface Pro 5 Update.

this is classic Apple. They wait for others to release something to see if there's actually a market and then they release their version which often addresses whatever issues folks had with the other company's whatever.

 

[Bacillus]

OK, Apple later to the game with something perfect (=> better not be Siri-based...)
Apple: you lost the game (even with 800 bio stock).
Save your face and open up Siri: so it transparently hooks up guest speech intelligence, seamlessly invoking external Echo/Alexa/.... capabilities

 

[lars666]

I don't understand why anyone would want to pay for something that is already built into their phone. Siri is built into our iPhones. Yes! That $1000+ device we PAID for.

Why are we all rushing to go and purchase another $150+ device that does the same thing?

Want a screen? Get the iPhone 7Plus. There, a 5.5" screen with a voice assistant that works with smart home products, plays music on stereo speakers, provides you with weather updates.

Want better sound? Get a pair of nice bluetooth headphones to pair it with your phone.

Hell, even my iPhone 6 can do all of that and I bought it 3 years ago.

You obviously don't own an Echo. I am a huge Apple fan, but Siri is a pain in the ass comparing to Alexa on a stationary little Echo. I am giving command in normal voice across a huge room, while cooking etc. and it immediately activates and understands me perfectly. With Siri, I have to shout even if my iPhone is lying directly in front of me on my living room desk hoping that it will activate. Let alone that it understands me. Alexa is so much better as a voice assistent even in its first iteration (how old is Siri, around four years?) it's not even funny anymore.

 

[sw1tcher]

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