Amazon's Alexa+ Arrives in the UK, Free During Early Access

[MacRumors]

Amazon's Alexa+ AI assistant is rolling out to all Amazon customers in the United Kingdom beginning today as part of an early access program. The U.K. is the first European country to get the upgraded assistant, which is already available in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Amazon has been testing Alexa+ since February 2025, and says it offers a smarter, more personalized, and more proactive assistant experience. The company says Alexa+ is much more capable than the prior version of Alexa, thanks to its updated architecture that uses large language models from Amazon Nova and Anthropic.

Alexa+ can do things like order takeaway, make restaurant reservations, book rides, and schedule home repairs. It can also control smart home products and answer questions similar to other chatbots. It works with Amazon services, and can integrate with hardware like Ring cameras. U.K. launch partners include OpenTable, with JustEat and Treatwell coming soon.

Amazon says the update should feel "genuinely British." For example, it knows what a "cuppa" is, will understand what you mean when you say you are "knackered," and knows that "it's nippy" means it's chilly outside. It may even drop "you're taking the mickey" or "Bob's your uncle" into conversation, says Amazon. Local teams including engineers, linguists, and speech scientists at Amazon's tech hub in Cambridge are said to have worked on the British localization.

Customers who purchase a new eligible Echo device in the U.K. will be granted Early Access, while customers who already have a compatible device can register to receive an invite. Alexa+ works on the majority of Echo devices, compatible Fire TV devices, and the Alexa app, with web browser support coming soon.

The service is available at no additional cost during the early access period, though Amazon hasn't said how long it will last. Whenever it does end, Alexa+ will cost £19.99 per month, or come free with an Amazon Prime membership.

Article Link: Amazon's Alexa+ Arrives in the UK, Free During Early Access

 

[kiranmk2]

Sounds good - I've been eager to try this since it was announced. Our Alexa devices have been reduced to being used for timers, light switches, TV on/off switches & shopping lists, so it will be interesting to see whether this makes it any kind of conversationalist.

Only downside is that my main speakers are a Sonos One and Sonos Arc Ultra, which don't seem to be compatible. I do have a 4th gen Echo though which I can start to make more use of.

 

[yellowbunny]

£19.99 per month LOL

 

[krspkbl]

my alexa thing is a glorified radio. it's been having a lot of issues lately so probably gonna bin it.

 

[CharlesShaw]

The casual realness that image was attempting ignores the existence of kitchen counter power cords.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

The training data Amazon used for the 'British Localization'

 

[stocklen]

£19.99 per month LOL

I doubt anyone actually pays that.

If you are in the ecosystem chances are youll already have a Prime subscription.

 

[ELman]

I find it worse than the old Alexa. The response times are much slower. Sometimes I don't even know if it heard my request the delays are so long.

 

[HowEver]

>It may even drop "you're taking the mickey"

Nope.

 

[mw360]

The casual realness that image was attempting ignores the existence of kitchen counter power cords.

But its nice to see the Mac Pro making a comeback.

 

[bluecoast]

The training data Amazon used for the 'British Localization'

Exactly. And guy Ritchie films.

No one says ‘cuppa’ etc in the uk anymore.

They last did in 1965.

 

[bluecoast]

>It may even drop "you're taking the mickey"

Nope.

Gor blimey guv !

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I know lots of people with smart speakers, including our house. Not a single person does anything with them except set timers and play music.

Edit: Not entirely true; I occasionally ask for unit conversions when cooking or baking.

 

[Arran]

Always listening. Who exactly is this AI assistant assisting?

 

[Pezimak]

I've heard Alexa Plus is a nightmare and not working very well, then again at least it isn't Siri and doesn't offer websites as an answer....

 

[Ja50n]

Alexa+ couldn’t tell me the correct number of cups in a gallon. Free is still too expensive.

 

[BeatsByTim]

Amazon says the update should feel "genuinely British."

hide yo kids

 

[SBlue1]

I know lots of people with smart speakers, including our house. Not a single person does anything with them except set timers and play music.

Edit: Not entirely true; I occasionally ask for unit conversions when cooking or baking.

Hey don't forget you can ask for the weather as well.

 

[northernmunky]

Amazon's £19.99 Advert Dispensing Machine Arrives in the UK​

- corrected the title​

 

[Radeon85]

I know lots of people with smart speakers, including our house. Not a single person does anything with them except set timers and play music.

Edit: Not entirely true; I occasionally ask for unit conversions when cooking or baking.

I love my HomePod mini’s in each room as I use them for voice control of my lights mainly, turning devices like the TV on and off, or changing the radiator temperature, so no matter where I am in the property it just works. Plus, considering how small they are, they are pretty decent speakers for music.

As for Amazon, after having lots of ads shoved in my face on my Echo Show 15 last year due to Amazon being significantly more aggressive with advertising, that was pretty much add free for years with all the possible annoyances turned off. I will never be buying an Echo device of any kind ever again. I removed it and got rid of it, and replaced it with a simple 15” digital photo frame instead.

My walls are not a bloody billboard, especially when I paid full price for it and not a subsidised price with ads attached for the privilege.

 

[JulianL]

...
Only downside is that my main speakers are a Sonos One and Sonos Arc Ultra, which don't seem to be compatible. I do have a 4th gen Echo though which I can start to make more use of.

Out of interest how do you find Alexa on your Sonos One? I have a few Sonos Ones and a Sonos Move. I love them for listening to music but I hate them as smart speakers.

When I got my first Sonos One (actually a stereo pair for my office) I thought great - I can have decent speakers for a better music listening experience and also get rid of the Echo device on my bookshelf since one device (the Sonos One) can do both. I also thought that since Sonos speakers are reasonably premium-priced devices the microphone arrays might also be a nice step up from the ones in my $50 (or whatever) Echo Dot. The reality turned out to be very different and I have found the microphones in my Sonos Ones and Sonos Move to be horrible at least when used with Alexa. I ended up reintroducing Echo devices alongside my Sonos speakers to answer queries, do light control etc. In one room I'm still using a third generation Echo Dot and that hears me way better than my Sonos Ones do (or did - I've disabled the smart assistants on those now).

I'm really hoping that Apple can get its act together with next generation Siri and also releases new HomePods in both mini and full sized because if Apple delivers on the hardware and software front I'd happily sell all my Sonos and Amazon stuff and move everything to Apple Homepods.

An updated HomePod Mini (HPM) has been rumoured for what feels like forever and I'm assuming that it will eventually come out but I am am concerned that we haven't heard anything about an updated full-sized HomePod. I know that was updated more recently than the HPM but if Apple does put a more powerful S-Series chip in an updated HPM, and maybe an N1 chip for more reliable networking, it would be nice to also get those enhancements in the full-sized HomePods as well. Apple's totally unexpected (at least by me) announcement of the updated AirPods Max on Monday does give me at least a bit more hope that if/when the HPM does get updated then just maybe the full-sized model won't be overlooked.

 

[DoctorMesmer]

Amazon's £19.99 Advert Dispensing Machine Arrives in the UK​

- corrected the title​

Indeed. I’d settle for unsolicted ads that I never agreed to stop from appearing on my Echo Show every minute or two. There’s not even an option to disable them for a fee! My advice: avoid Amazon devices.

 

[usmaak]

1. Alexa+ should have been named Alexa-. It's slow and half the time it doesn't work.
2. The Echo Show screen devices exist only to serve ads into your home. When you buy one, you are literally paying Amazon to push non-stop ads to you. At least in the US.

Yes, there are people out there who claim that they have never had ads on their screens. I have had several screens and they have all had ads on them. I bought them at a time when there weren't ads. For a while there was a workaround involving changing the language to Canadian English and that worked for a couple of years but Amazon figured that out. All of my Echo Show devices have been decommissioned and stuck into the e-cycle waste pile.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I’m amazed people pay for these data harvesters in their home.

People should be getting paid by Amazon for what they are getting out of folks.

 

[Jensend]

I find it worse than the old Alexa. The response times are much slower. Sometimes I don't even know if it heard my request the delays are so long.

Yeah, the older version will start its reply in under a second, while Alexa+ takes about 3 seconds.