Amazon Echo Show expanding to the UK and Germany, pre-orders open now

This hasn’t always been one of Amazon’s strong suits.

Amazon’s only Echo product with a screen, the Echo Show, is expanding to the UK and Germany, the company announced at a hardware event today alongside several other Echo-related announcements. Pre-orders are kicking off now, and pricing is set at £199 in the UK and €219 in Germany.

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Image credit: Ry Crist

Amazon is known for being rather slow to bring its products outside of a few key markets, most notably keeping many exclusive to the U.S. at launch, but the UK and Germany have been key European expansion points for the company in the past. The pricing lines up within reason of the $229 price here in the U.S., taking into account added taxes and distribution costs. Amazon is also offering a promotion for £100/€100 off if you buy two at once.

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Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

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Amazon’s new Fire TV 4K supports Alexa, starts at $70

Amazon’s new Fire TV undercuts everyone on the market — by a lot.

Earlier this week, NVIDIA announced that its Shield TV got a price drop — from $200 to $180, as long as you don’t need the included controller. Apple’s new 4K TV also costs $180. Roku’s Premiere+ set-top box starts at $80, and supports 4K and HDR; Google’s Chromecast Ultra dongle is a reasonable $69.

Image credit: Martyn Landi

Now, Amazon has refreshed its Fire TV box with a lower $70 starting point, a new form factor and, of course, Alexa support. The company announced its new offering alongside updated Echo speakers at an event in Seattle today, and the Fire TV looks to be quite an attractive proposition. Like the previous $90 offering, it comes with a remote in the box. It supports 4K and HDR content along with Dolby Atmos audio, and can stream 2K content at 60fps. The remote has a microphone in it that lets you talk to Alexa, while the software is expanding to support many of the same skills that were first shown on the Echo Show earlier this year.

Pre-orders for the box begin today for $69.99 in the U.S., as well as £69.99 in the UK and €79.99 in Germany. Amazon says it’ll ship later this year.

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Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

See at Amazon

New Amazon Echo Plus has ZigBee smart home hub built in, priced at $150

You can easily connect over 100 smart home devices to Amazon’s newly announced Echo plus.

At a surprise press event on Wednesday Amazon unveiled the Echo Plus, the newest and most premium iteration of the company’s famed tabletop smart home device.

The Echo Plus looks a great deal like the original Echo — tall, slender, plastic shell — which is an interesting choice given that it just updated the Echo’s look with interchangeable covers to better match users’ interiors. Internally, however, it’s definitely upgraded: not only does it have all of the improved features of the new Echo (integrated Dolby sound, better voice recognition), it also has a ZigBee smart home hub built into it to better and more easily connect to a wider range of smart home devices.

When you’re ready to connect your Echo Plus to your family of smart home products, all you have to do is say, “Alexa, discover devices.” The Echo Plus is compatible with everything from locks to light bulbs, and won’t need apps or skills in order to function. To really emphasize that point, Amazon is is shipping every Echo Plus with a Philips Hue light bulb so you can really maximize the use of your new device directly out of the box.

Echo products aren’t the only things getting an upgrade. Beginning next month, Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, will have a few new features as well. According to the company, these include:

• Alexa routines: Routines allow users to combine multiple actions under a single voice command. For example, if you say “Alexa, good morning,” Alexa could turn on your lights, start your kettle or coffee maker, and give you your daily news briefing or the weather forecast. This can even be customized so that certain responses to commands happen on certain days, so your “Good morning” command will result in a different series of actions on the weekend than it does on weekdays.
• Improved smart home groups: You now no longer need to remember specific smart home devices in order to control them. You can now place your Echo and whatever devices you desire into smart home groups, so instead of saying “Alexa, turn on the kitchen overhead light” you can just walk into the kitchen and say “Alexa, turn on the lights.”
• Call anyone: Now instead of just being limited to calling others with Amazon Echo devices, you’ll be able to call anyone within the U.S., Canada and Mexico. All you have to do is ask Alexa to call someone in your smartphone contacts list, and it will make the call. You can also speak a number aloud to Alexa, so even individuals or business that aren’t in your contacts list will be reachable. Calls to 911, however, are not supported.

The Echo Plus is available for pre-order starting today. It will be available in white, black and silver and is priced at $149.99, which is a very good deal considering the original Echo was notably more expensive at launch.

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Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

See at Amazon

Amazon’s new Echo Spot is like a smaller, rounder Echo Show

Amazon just revealed a tiny, globular version of the Echo Show. It’s called the Echo Spot!

At a surprise press event on Wednesday Amazon revealed the Echo Spot, a small, globe-shaped smart speaker with a circular display that’s reminiscent of the Echo Show.

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Where the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot are great as smart speakers, the Echo Spot is perfectly designed to serve as your smart alarm clock. The round display can show you the time, remind you of upcoming events, deliver notifications, and more. Just like the larger Echo Show, the Spot can be used to make and receive video calls. Plus, like the Echo Dot, it can connect to external speakers via Bluetooth or the built-in audio jack.

Amazon says the Echo Spot will go on sale for $130 in December but pre-orders start today if you’re in the U.S.!

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Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

See at Amazon

You can now preorder Sony’s Xperia XZ1 Compact for $599

The Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact has a 4.6-inch screen, Snapdragon 835 processor, Android Oreo, and costs $600.

When you think of 2017 flagships, devices like the LG V30, Galaxy Note 8, and iPhone X are likely the first to come to mind. These big, bezel-less beasts are quite intriguing, and are the future. But for those of us that just want to be able to use a phone with one hand again, Sony has the answer in the form of the Xperia XZ1 Compact that just went live for preorders.

Sony announced the Xperia XZ1 Compact back at IFA 2017 alongside the larger XZ1, and while it may look considerably dated compared to other flagships we’ve seen so far this year, the XZ1 Compact certainly differentiates itself with a 4.6-inch screen that’s decidedly tiny by today’s industry standards.

You’re only getting a resolution of 1280 x 720 with that display, but for something this small, the HD resolution should be more than adequate. The main camera on the back is a 19MP sensor with Sony’s new 3D scanning technology, and on the front, you’ll find a 13MP selfie camera that can make use of a display flash for brightening up your shots.

Other specs for the XZ1 Compact include the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, and Android 8.0 Oreo right out of the box. Unfortunately, there’s still no fingerprint sensor on the side in the U.S. — you’ll have to import an international model for one of those.

The XZ1 Compact is compatible for use on all GSM networks in the United States (AT&T, T-Mobile, Straight Talk, etc.), but since no carriers will actually be carrying the phone, you’ll need to pay the full $599.99 asking price outright. The phone is, however, optimized for T-Mobile VoLTE and VoWiFi.

Preorders are available now, with shipments expected to go out starting on October 4.

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Echo, Fire TV, Echo Spot, and more: Everything Amazon announced at its Fall event

That’s a whole bunch of new hardware from Amazon — from new Echoes to a new Fire TV and some crazy little buttons.

Today, Amazon unveiled a boatload of new hardware at a quickie event in Seattle. That’s not to downplay it at all. I’ve been to a lot of hardware events over the years, and this one might well be packed with more new devices than any before.

And, yeah. It can be a bit overwhelming. So let’s round it all up here with some thoughts on each and what we hope to expect.

Here’s the breakdown. Hit a link to jump on down, or scroll through for the whole smash:

• New Amazon Echo, $99, coming Oct. 31
• Amazon Echo Plus, $149, coming Oct. 31
• Echo Spot, $130, coming Dec. 19
• New Fire TV 4K, $69, coming Oct. 25
• Amazon Echo Button, $20 for two
• Amazon Echo Connect, $35, coming Dec. 13

New Amazon Echo — smaller, less expensive at $99

That sort of sums it up, right? The rumors were true, the follow-up to the original Echo — some three years later — is a little smaller, a little more stout, with a lower price tag to go along with it.

It also looks a lot better. The basic models run $99 and come with a fabric cover in charcoal, heather gray or sandstone. If you prefer wood, however — and who doesn’t, right? — add $20 to the total, and choose between oak and walnut. There’s also a metallic silver finish at the higher price.

It’s double the price of the Echo Dot, but this is going to sound so much better.

The new Amazon Echo ships on Oct. 31.

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Amazon Echo Plus — better sound and a smart up at $149

If the original Amazon Echo form factor is more your jam — ya know, tall, plastic, not much to look at — this is what you’ll want. It’s got a larger tweeter than the revamped Echo, so theoretically it should sound a little brighter.

But the bigger difference is that the new Echo Plus also serves as a connected home hub. (If you’ve used Samsung’s SmartThings hub, you’ll know where this is heading.)

That’s a big deal because hubs are the difference between having a bunch of things that are connected but don’t actually work together, and having a bunch of connected things that actually know what each other is doing.

You’ve got three colors from which to choose — black, silver and white. The Echo Plus ships Oct. 31 for $149.

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Echo Spot — an Alexa alarm clock made sexy at $130

This is the one I’m truly excited about. It’s Alexa in a bedside alarm-style sort of thing, with a 2.5-inch color display. That means video, but it really means more information. And that’s key because if Alexa ain’t talking to you, she ain’t giving any information. (And who really wants Alexa going on in the background all the time?)

Put it another way: It looks a lot like that Vobot alarm clock I took a look at recently, only it makes the Vobot look like a dot matrix Alexa versus something you’d expect in 2017.

Very, very cool. We’ll just have to see how good the 2.5-inch speaker sounds. Chances are it’ll be OK, but lacking any real bass.

You can get the Echo Spot on Dec. 19 for $129 in either black or white.

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New Amazon Fire TV 4K with HDR ($69)

It’s all about the dongle these days, and the new Amazon Fire TV follows that trend. It’s more than a puck, but less than a box. And in any event it’ll hang off the back of your TV.

The 4K resolution isn’t new, but doing it at 60 frames per second is. And this one also brings HDR10 support and Dolby Atmos audio, which is what you’d expect from something like this in 2017.

While it’s not a new box, it does have the same internal storage (8GB) and RAM (2GB) as the previous-generation Fire TV, so it should serve you just fine. But … because it’s a box you’ll lose out on an Ethernet port. For that, you’ll need a dongle for the dongle.

Also new on the TV front: If you’ve got a security camera that hooks into Amazon Alexa, you’ll be able to view it on the new (or existing) Fire TV, just like you can on the Echo Show.

The new Amazon Fire TV ships on Oct. 25 for $69.

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Echo Button — colorful fun for $20

Now this is cool. Alexa can play all sorts of games. Now? She’ll be able to set you up with a buzzer to, well, to buzz in with.

Really, though, it’ll be fun to see what developers come up with for these things. Games are the obvious example, but we’ll probably see so much more. For starters, Amazon says to expect the following:

• Trivial Pursuit from Hasbro
• Sounds Fun with Mike Epps
• Buzzer Beater Basketball Trivia with Karl-Anthony Towns
• Fourth Down Football Trivia with Philip Rivers
• Full Count Baseball Trivia with Buster Posey from Ground Control
• Beat the Intro from Musicplode.
  The Echo Button isn’t up for sale yet, but when it is you’ll get a couple of them for $20.

Echo Connect — actual phone calls over Alexa for $35

I’ve previously talked about how Alexa messaging is a big deal, but one thing was missing. That’s the ability to call someone’s actual phone — and it’s something Google beat Amazon to, thanks in no small part to having Google Voice and Project Fi under its belt.

Amazon doesn’t have those things. So instead it’s built a little box that’ll connect to an existing landline (kids, ask your parents what those are) and allow you to place actual phone calls to actual phones.

Yeah, you’ll have to have a landline. Yeah, a lot of us don’t have those anymore.

But a lot of folks still do.

It’ll be available Dec. 13 for $35.

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That’s all, folks … for now

That’s one hell of a haul for Amazon as head head into the holiday shopping season. Three new Echo speakers. A new Fire TV. Echo Buttons. Echo Connect. That’s a ton of hardware — none of which will set you back anymore than $150, which is saying something.

Google’s up next with an event on Oct. 4.

We’ll have to see if they tip the scale back the other direction.

Amazon Echo

• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• All about Alexa Skills
• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

See at Amazon

Get up to $410 back when trading in your Pixel through Google Store

A new trade-in program on the Google Store allows you to get up to $410 back for your soon-to-be outdated Pixel XL

We’re just a few short days away from Google’s official unveiling of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, and in preparation for this, Google quietly launched a trade-in program on the Google Store late last week. The company’s own Pixel and Pixel XL were noticeably absent from the list of eligible phones to trade in, but they have since been added with some pretty nice prices.

You can access the trade-in program by going to the Google Store, clicking on the Pixel, and by going to the purchase page. Below the size, color, and storage options, you’ll see a new Trade-In category. Upon clicking this, you’ll be able to choose the manufacturer of the phone you’re trading in, including Apple, Huawei, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Google.

From here, selecting either the Pixel or Pixel XL will ask you for your device’s storage configuration, if you bought it on Verizon or unlocked, if the phone turns on, and whether or not the screen works properly and doesn’t have any cracks.

Assuming your phone turns on and the screen is working without any issues, you’ll be able to get the following for your trade-in:

• Google Pixel 32GB — $350
• Google Pixel 128GB — $360
• Google Pixel XL 32GB – $400
• Google Pixel XL 128GB — $410

Although you could probably get more for your Pixel or Pixel XL by selling it through a site like eBay or Swappa, those are pretty fair prices considering that the Pixel and Pixel XL are nearing their first birthday.

If you don’t have the Pixel or Pixel XL, the Google Store also allows you to trade in devices like the Galaxy S8/S8+, LG G6, Nexus 6P, iPhone 7/7 Plus, and more. Interestingly enough, the most you can get from a 256GB iPhone 7 Plus is still less than a 128GB Pixel XL at $388.

We expect the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL won’t be cheap, so having this trade-in system on the Google Store should make upgrading to this year’s handset considerably easier.

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Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Amazon’s redesigned Echo features improved sound, Alexa smarts

If you thought Amazon would sit back and let Apple reap the rewards of a smart speaker with decent sound, you’re wrong. The shopping juggernaut just unveiled the new Echo. In addition to an all-cloth covering (with options for wood veneer) sports “all new sound architecture” including a dedicated woofer and tweeter in addition to Dolby-certified audio. More than that, it’s rocking second-gen far field tech for better voice recognition. Speaking of voice, it’ll make free calls to Canada and Mexico using Echo Connect. That’ll launch in the US later this year.

And soon enough, you’ll be able to use it for messaging to Germany and the UK. As for price, the new Echo will run you $100 stateside, £90 and €100 and is available today. Multipacks for multi-room audio are discounted by $50 per unit if you buy three. If you wait a bit though, maybe Amazon will screw up and (temporarily) give them away for free.

Amazon Echo Connect gives you a smart speakerphone for your landline

Now here’s something you weren’t expecting from Amazon’s Alexa-themed event: a device dedicated to those still using landlines. The just-unveiled Echo Connect turns an Echo into a speakerphone that lets you make land-based phone calls using only your voice. It uses your existing phone number and will even let you dial 911 hands-free — important if you’ve injured yourself and can’t reach a handset (yes, Amazon is clearly accounting for the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” scenario).

The Connect is available to pre-order today for $35, and it’ll reach the US in the fourth quarter. Calls from the US to Canada and Mexico will be free, Amazon says. British and German buyers will have to wait until sometime in early 2018. It’s not clear whether you’ll get any free international calling if you live outside of the States, but this could be a helpful tool if you don’t want to depend solely on cell service and still want some modern conveniences.

MIT CSAIL’s origami-bot wears foldable exosuits

Unless alien machines that can turn into cars and trucks come and teach us their secrets, we’ll have to conjure up our own ways to make transforming robots. Researchers from MIT CSAIL have been on it for years, and their latest method relies on a cube robot called “Primer” that changes shape and function by donning different exoskeletons. Primer, which was based on the cube-shaped machines the team developed in 2013, starts the process by moving to the center of the exoskeletons that start as flat sheets. After applying a bit of heat on the sheets, they fold into specific shapes using Primer as a core, turning into a boat, a glider or a wheel.

The shape of the exoskeleton dictates the robot’s means of locomotion — the structure moves by controlling Primer using magnets, but it can fly when it’s a glider, roll when it turns into a wheel-like structure and float on water when it’s a boat. It can also simply dive into a body of water to loosen the exoskeleton’s folds and set Primer free for the next exoskeleton in line.

The goal is to be able to create one machine that can perform numerous tasks. Shuguang Li, a team member and one of the authors of the study the team published, explained: “Imagine future applications for space exploration, where you could send a single robot with a stack of exoskeletons to Mars. The robot could then perform different tasks by wearing different ‘outfits.’” In addition to space exploration, it sounds like the robot would also excel in search and rescue, since it can change its structure based on the environment it has to move in.