Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant seems to be everywhere. Since it was first announced in 2014 with the original Amazon Echo speaker, the voice assistant has gained thousands of new “skills” and comes in a variety of form factors – from miniature speakers to ones with a video camera and a touchscreen. Alexa has been integrated into a wide range of devices including cars, fridges, smartwatches, lights, and security cameras.
Apple’s and Amazon’s new smart displays might make smart displays actually useful.
The Echo Time is cute, has great clock faces, and is designed for the bedroom — no cameras allowed. I’m hoping it will fill the Echo Dot-with-clock-shaped hole in my life, and its design is a fun throwback to the 2017 OG spot.
But $200?? Here’s my hands-on video and first impressions:
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And one thing I really don’t like.
Watch my hands-on with Amazon’s newest smart display in this video, and catch my full first impressions here.
The company’s low-key product launch was designed to give each device more attention, according to Panos Panay.
Amazon’s $200 smart alarm clock is angling for a spot on your bedside table.
It’s Amazon’s most ambitious smart display to date, but has it priced itself out of the game?
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The screen is gorgeous, the hardware works, and it finally runs full Android. But there’s too much Amazon in my tablet.
Amazon is determined to turn Alexa Plus into a do-everything AI assistant that can compete with Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and the rest. But after a year of testing, The Verge’s Jen Tuohy has mixed feelings on how it’s all going. And on whether a new tablet is the right way to fix it.
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Amazon’s assistant can’t always remember who I am or where my daughter goes to school — but it can now reliably turn on my lights.
The Alexa line is also Amazon’s first tablet to run full-fledged Android with access to the Play Store.
For better or worse, Amazon Alexa and Google Home’s smart voice assistants have been imbued with new generative AI powers.
The promise is you can use natural language with your smart speaker to adjust your thermostat, lock the doors, and find out what your pets have been up to. The reality is smart home voice assistants are going through an identity crisis. I invited Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel onto his own podcast to compare notes on life with Alexa Plus versus Gemini for Home.
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