It might seem a retrograde step for Amazon‘s Alexa powered Echo voice assistant but you can now buy an Echo Show – an Alexa device with a screen – in the UK.
So why when you speak to something do you want to go back to a screen? The answer is that there are ton of things you can do where visuals add to the audio experience. Echo Show’s display is designed to add to Alexa’s voice responses with useful, glanceable information you can see from across the room. such as watching video flash briefings and Amazon Video, making video calls, seeing music lyrics, smart home camera feeds, photos, weather forecasts, to-do lists, shopping lists and a whole lot more.
At the most prosaic level, if you for instance set a timer then Amazon Echo will will sound an alarm when the time is up but the Echo Show will display a countdown. You can use it to ‘drop in’ for video chats between different Echo’s in your home, perhaps to see a live camera feed from the nursery or your front door. Echo Show also features Alexa calling and messaging – just ask Alexa to call mum, and you’ll be connected via video to her Echo Show or Alexa app (assuming she has one – but you can buy two and save £100 on the pair compared to the normal £199.00 each).
So far as ecommerce is concerned Alexa just got a lot more interesting. Voice shopping is to be honest a bit of a lottery as unless you’re simply reordering it’s a nightmare to browse – you’re pretty much stuck with the first product offered if you want an easy life. With a screen Amazon can start to display an image and additional product information so that you can more easily confirm it’s what you want to purchase.
