They finally arrive on the Italian market: let’s talk about the new Echo series from Amazon. The devices created by Jeff Bezos engineers who have renewed themselves completely proposing itself with a new design but also new technical features and Alexa, “ virtual assistant ” even more intelligent. The Italian market is one of the most important for Amazon and the company continues to “Italianise” Alexa proposing more and more devices for the home.

Amazon ECHO 2020: here they are ALL! The review[/HWUVIDEO]

The world of smart homes and speaker homes is now a market segment strongly established technology. All the major tech producers have thrown themselves into this world of artificial intelligence that goes hand in hand with home automation, i.e. the ability to command the house by voice without having to interact completely with it manually.

Amazon in this was one of the first to believe in this world above all giving great importance to Italy which responded positively. And after more than a year here is that Jeff Bezos’ company decided that it was that the time had come to revolutionize its Echos by presenting the new generation that changes on an aesthetic level and also changes on a hardware level with news concerning the beating heart of intelligent smart speakers that in fact they become more powerful and even more intelligent.

On the one hand, Amazon Echo that takes the scene of the family being considered as a way of middle between Echo Plus and second generation Echo. Here it completely changes its aesthetic form : it becomes spherical while maintaining the fabric with which Amazon made it famous in the first and second generation. Certainly beautiful to look at and a lot of furniture for the home. Along the lines of Echo, Amazon also offers Echo Dot in double version , however similar to the new third generation Echo aesthetic: on the one hand a classic version and on the other a version with LED display that allows users to always have the timetable and other information.

Amazon ECHO, ECHO DOT and ECHO DOT with LED: prices and availability

• Amazon ECHO available at the price of 99, 99 ??
• Amazon ECHO + Philips Hue Bulb available at the price of 99, 99?? (instead of 119, 94 ??)

• Amazon ECHO DOT available at the price of 22, 99 ??
• Amazon ECHO DOT with LED available at the price of 69, 99 ??

UNBOXING and DESIGN

Let’s start with the new Amazon Echo which is undoubtedly the most important of the series . Let’s start from the fact that in the box we find the device but also the wall power supply as well as some information for the first configuration. For the record also for the others Echo Dot and Echo Dot with LED display we will find the same things inside the sales box.

Aesthetically the step forward of Echo of the third generation on an aesthetic level in our opinion it is interesting. In this case, have a device with a spherical shape not only makes it easier to place at home but is also more appreciable on a technical level with a diffusion of music or speech at 360 degrees . The dimensions are important but not exaggerated because we are talking about a height of 133 millimeters with a width of 144 millimeters. Moreover the lower part is made of non-slip material to allow Echo to be placed anywhere even on slippery surfaces such as glass.

The fabric, of a different color according to the choice made, almost rotates to 360 degrees on all Echo of third generation. Only the rear part sees the presence of a polycarbonate band in the same color as the fabric. Here are located the 3.5mm audio inputs and outputs but also the power port . Nothing else but the buttons that are found on the top of the Echo. They are the usual ones, that is the double button for the volume characterized by the value ” + ” and ” – ” that allow you to increase or decrease the percentage of the volume. Then the action button to call Alexa and finally the button to turn the microphone on or off. Beautiful to look at but above all in relief allowing you to find them easily even without looking.

Particular then the luminous ring which actually takes up what Amazon had placed on second generation Echo but which this time it is placed in the lower part of the device proposing itself in a much more scenic way than before. The lighting is LED by reflecting on the surfaces for greater visibility at the time of use.

Clearly Echo Dot and Echo Dot with LED light differ aesthetically only in size and the presence of a time light. In this case both have a height of 89 millimeters for a width of 100 millimeters. Also for them there is the fabric a 360 degrees on the whole sphere with the exception of the rear part where a polycarbonate panel with power port and 3.5 mm audio output is placed. Present the light ring that rotates around Echo Dot and in the case of the version with LED light, here is the time indicator and other information. A plus we had seen with the Echo Dot in the previous generation and which is now also proposed here and that certainly can only please those who liked it maybe as Echo to be placed on the bedside table or on the desk.

HARDWARE and OPERATION

At the hardware level it is clear that Amazon has seen fit to change the cards in board and to significantly improve the technical specifications of the new Echo. The largest, namely the third generation Amazon Echo, now has a new internal structure, also considering the new dimensional configuration. In this case, the new Echo sees the positioning of a 3 ” neodymium woofer that is 59. 2 mm to which Two 0.8 ” tweeters are flanked at the bottom, i.e. from 20 millimeters.

The sound is definitely more important than second generation Echoes. More full-bodied but above all capable of being effective at 360 degrees along the lines of what Echo Studio can do today, albeit much bigger. Clear highs are perceived with music but also deep bass and dynamic mids allowing you to arrive at a sound that adapts to any environment of the house thanks also to Dolby processing.

The new Echo automatically detects the room acoustics optimizing the audio reproduction, automatically adapting it to the environment. Of course the audio enhancement must also be attributed to the spherical shape of the new Echo which offers more flexibility with speaker placement and sound projection, which maximizes stereo and spatial audio quality within a single device. A sphere also has the lowest possible surface-to-volume ratio and this provides greater rear volume for fuller, deeper bass.

There is clearly the dual band Wi-Fi but also and above all the presence of the ZigBee smart home hub which integrated here will allow users to activate light bulbs, locks, sensors, sockets and wall switches if supported with this technology directly with voice from the Echo. ZigBee technology was only present in Echo Plus while this year Amazon has decided to integrate it here in Echo too, aiming to expand the clientele that now increasingly sees the presence of smart home accessories of this type.

Echo Dot and Echo Dot with LED light instead do not have ZigBee even if they still see the presence of the Dual Band Wi-Fi but above all a 1.6 ” speaker i.e. from 41 mm c which represents an evolution compared to before. And this can be heard in everyday use because compared to the third generation Echo the sound is more powerful but above all richer in details which was not always perceived before. Note for Amazon Echo Dot with LED light the fact that there is still a environmental sensor on the device that allows you to raise or lower the intensity of the light based precisely on the presence of more or less brightness in the room where the Echo Dot is located. For the rest, the data sheet shows the presence of a Bluetooth connectivity which is compatible with Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (AD2P) which allows the streaming of audio content from the smartphone to Echo and Echo Dot.

At the functional level Amazon Echo changes. Not so much in the ‘use of the device which is practically the same as before: with the voice you can ask Alexa everything you want from information about curiosities, weather, recipes, famous people, history and more. However, it changes at the hardware level also here because Amazon now implements the new AZ1 Neural Edge processor in the “ brain ” of the Echoes of the first generation. It is a brand new chipset created specifically to accelerate machine learning applications. With AZ1 the voice recognition models are speeded up that become completely neural by processing requests faster and making Alexa even more responsive. In this case, the fully neural voice recognition model will be available by the end of the year but it is clear that the device moves in its response or in its interaction with the user faster.

The real heart of Amazon Echo continues to be clearly the skills as well as the application that the company has changed in recent months making it more and more effective in daily use. We know the skills and allow you to customize the experience with Alexa now also with the possibility of creating them to your liking as well as choosing them from the Amazon store. There are now thousands available developed by third parties just for Echo devices and among these there are those for recipes that allow you to follow every type of recipe step by step. Those for the news or those for listening to the radio and much more. Alexa has found an excellent market in Italy according to Amazon and the developers do nothing but make themselves useful in exploiting the Alexa platform to create skills capable of making people interact with voice commands.

To underline an aspect on which Amazon has worked a lot and that concerns the simplicity in deleting voice recordings on all Alexa-enabled devices. In this case, in fact, for some time now just ask “Alexa, delete what I just said” and the recordings are automatically deleted. Alexa and Echo devices are built with multiple layers of security and privacy controls. We have seen the electronic disconnection of microphones but also the ability to view and delete voice recordings as well as control over the entire experience with Alexa.

CONCLUSIONS and PRICES

Amazon decides to strongly renew the entire Echo line. On an aesthetic level, the change is really important with now a spherical aspect which certainly makes the devices more furnishing especially with the luminous ring at the bottom ready to reflect on the surfaces with a scenic effect.

10 degrees of music, thanks also to the spherical design, with the detection of the surrounding environment. Then with the introduction of a new chipset created ad hoc by Amazon which guarantees and will guarantee shares of