Amazon Unveils Its New Gadgets and Features — Including a Flying Security Camera!
Amazon Amazon's new products
Amazon sought to wow customers with a new collection of products and features on Thursday.
During its annual fall event, the company unveiled speakers, TV devices, home and car security gadgets and gaming consoles.
Amazon also promised to help fight climate change by co-founding and signing The Climate Pledge, a commitment to have a net-zero carbon footprint across the business by 2040.
In order to achieve this, many of their new products are made with environmentally friendly materials, such as 100 percent post-consumer recycled fabric and 100 percent recycled die-cast aluminum, the company said.
Read on for all the new products and features that Amazon just released.
Amazon Amazon Echo
New Echo and Echo Dot
Designed to fit "beautifully into any room of the home," the all-new Echo is a spherical-shaped speaker with the same fabric finish as old Echo products.
This year, however, customers have the option of choosing between three different colors — Charcoal, Glacier White or Twilight Blue — or the Echo Dot with the digital clock display on the front.
New features on the device include a first-generation AZ1 Neural Edge processer with an all-neural speech recognition model, which ensures that Alexa can process speech faster to be more responsivem, the company said.
The Echo Dot is available for pre-order today at $49.99 and will ship later this year. The Echo Dot with clock option will cost $59.99.
Amazon Amazon Echo with clock
Buy It! Amazon Echo Dot, $49.99; amazon.com; Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, $59.99; amazon.com
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Echo Dot Kids Edition
Like the new Echo Dot, the Kids Edition device is redesigned with the new spherical shape — but also comes with Panda and Tiger designs and animal-themed alarms!
Additionally, each device comes with a one-year Amazon Kids+ subscription, providing families with thousands of hours of kid-friendly Audible books, interactive games and educational skills.
Echo Dot Kids Edition is available for pre-order today at $59.99 and will ship later this year.
Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition
Buy It! Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition, $59.99; amazon.com
Reading Sidekick
After receiving feedback from educators, Amazon designed this new Alexa feature to help children with their reading routines.
The sidekick can take turns with a child, reading from hundreds of books that are available on Amazon Kids+. It can even recognize when the child is doing well or struggling, offering support or encouragement to them in either of those scenarios.
The feature is expected to be available in the coming months.
Alexa Voice Profile
Parents or guardians who wish to have parental controls set on all their devices and not just their Echo Dot Kids Edition can now do so with these new Alexa Voice profiles.
Once enabled by an adult, Alexa will be able to recognize the child's voice on any device in the house and provide kid-friendly responses and content. Those with an AmazonKids+ subscription will also be able to access the content from any device.
The new feature will start being rolled out for Amazon Kids and Amazon Kids+ families in the coming months with parental consent.
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Care Hub
The new feature allows family members to care for elderly loved ones from a distance by creating a connection between two Alexa accounts. If a loved one ever needs help, they can call their family as their emergency contact by saying, "Alexa, call for help."
Families can also access an activity feed, "generalized to maintain the privacy of loved ones while given customers peace of mind." It shows when loved ones have interacted with their home devices and set up an alert if no activity is detected before a certain time.
Ring Car Cam
The security camera protects drivers, passengers and the vehicle while driving or parked by having a sensor that monitors for bumps and attempted break-ins, dual-facing HD cameras inside and around the vehicle from WiFi or LTE and an Emergency Crash Assist that automatically calls 911 if a serious crash is detected.
Perhaps most notable is the new feature called Traffic Stop, which is designed for when a driver is pulled over. The system will automatically begin recording after the driver says "Alexa, I’m being pulled over," footage will be securely stored and there is an option to notify a loved one of the stop.
Ring Car Cam will be available for $199.99.
Ring Always Home Cam
Ensuring even more home security, the Home Cam is a small indoor camera that can fly around your home and provide owners with multiple viewpoints.
To ensure privacy, the camera only records when in flight, is loud enough to hear in motion and sits in a dock with the camera blocked when not in use.
The Ring Always Home Cam will be $249.
Amazon
Ring Car Alarm and Car Connect
Similar to the already-existing home security system, the alarm works with 99 percent of cars, plugs into the car's OBD port, and can monitor for impacts, break-ins, tows and other concerning matters. A notification is sent if anything is detected.
Ring Car Connect — an API for Tesla models 3, X, S and Y only — will also notify customers of detected events, allow them to watch recorded vehicle footage and see important information like whether the car is locked or unlocked.
Ring Car Alarm is available for $59.99 with no monthly subscription and can link with other Ring devices and Alexa, while Ring Car Connect is available for $199.99.
Amazon Ring Car Connect
Guard Plus
In an update to Amazon's already-existing Alexa Guard, Guard Plus provides Alexa with the capability to detect potential emergencies, deter intruders and give customers 24/7 hands-free access to an emergency helpline.
The security system has an Away Mode feature that prompts Alexa to detect sounds of activity in a home and alert the owner. Alexa can even attempt to deter intruders by playing a warning sound from your Echo devices, such as the sound of dogs barking.
Guard Plus will be available in the U.S. beginning this fall for only $4.99 per month or $49 per year. Customers can also try Guard Plus free for one month.
Echo Show 10
The new product has intelligent movement, which allows for the screen to automatically move with you, as well as the camera to digitally pan and zoom to keep people centered in the frame.
Other features on the Echo Show will include Group Calling, Zoom, Amazon Chime, Netflix and a camera shutter.
Amazon Echo Show 10
Buy It! Echo Show 10, $249.99; amazon.com
Video Calling on Fire TV
Along with a new "personalized and customized," and energy-efficient experience on the Fire TV, two-way video calling will be available from the screen later this year with an installed Logitech USB webcam.
Amazon is also releasing the new Fire TV stick and the Fire TV Stick Lite, which will be more powerful and efficient, using 50 percent less power than the previous generation.
Fire TV Stick Lite will start shipping later this month for $29.99, while the Fire Stick will be available for $39.99.
Amazon Amazon Fire Stick
Buy It! Amazon Fire Stick Lite, $29.99; amazon.com; Amazon Fire Stick, $39.99; amazon.com
Luna and Luna+ game channel
Luna is Amazon's all-new cloud gaming service, which makes it easy to stream high-quality, immersive games without any lengthy downloads, updates, expensive hardware or complicated set up.
Of course, no gaming service is complete without a personalized controller, so Amazon will be releasing a Luna Controller for $49.99.
A Luna+ gaming channel with global video game publisher Ubisoft will also be available later this fall, but early access requests will begin today at $5.99 per month.
Amazon Luna Controller
Buy It! Luna+, $5.99 per month; amazon.com
Teachable Artificial Intelligence (AI)
To ensure that Alexa is providing satisfactory responses to customers, Amazon is enabling a capability that allows her to ask questions to fill gaps in her understanding.
This feature not only makes her smarter but also more human-like, as Amazon noted how Alexa "uses similar self-learning to automatically correct her mistakes by learning from customer feedback signals."
