Roger Fingas
Amazon is reportedly preparing a higher-end Echo to compete with the audio quality of smartspeakers like the Apple HomePod, Sonos One, and Google Home Max.
The product will have at least four tweeters and ship by 2020, Bloomberg sources said. Prototypes are claimed to be cylindrical like current Echos, but wider to accommodate extra components.
Amazon has so far only tip-toed into the high-end audio space with products like the Echo Sub and Echo Link Amp. Instead the focus has been on making its Alexa voice assistant ubiquitous in the home, available in many different formats and compatible with everything from TVs and thermostats to security systems.
The rest of the Echo lineup will reportedly receive a minor refresh this fall. Work is meanwhile continuing on an Alexa-controlled robot, nicknamed "Vesta," which was originally expected to be announced this year but which sources say isn't ready for mass production. Amazon is allegedly diverting engineers from other projects to help.
Vesta prototypes are waist-high, moving around using wheels and an assortment of navigation cameras. The purpose of the robot is unclear, but sources speculated that it could be a mobile Alexa, following people into rooms where there aren't any Echo speakers.
The HomePod remains Apple's one and only smartspeaker, sold primarily on audio quality. The company has in fact had to lower its price to $299 and expand Siri functionality to compete, yet it still controls a marginal portion of the global smartspeaker market, dwarfed by both Amazon and Google.
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Malcolm Owen
13 Comments
Too late. It will be hard to compete with Sonos on sound and features. Since you can have either Alexa or Google on Sonos and a vast array of other music sources, why buy anything else?
Here is what I find impressive with the Homepod. We all know if you have two Homepod they will work in conjunction with one another and produce true stereo sound. In my family room I have surround sound system and have my ATV 4 connected to it. Recent I selected to play music onboth the Homepod and the ATV 4 and I was amazed that the Homepod was working in conjunction with the surround sound system. You could not tell there were two sources of the music, Homepod stayed in phase with the surround sound system.
As we know Apple was late to the party but show everyone how it should be done.
Let see if Amazon can get this right as long as you are interested in having Amazon collecting your audio and someone listening to what you say at a later date. Can not wait for the Police to subpoena Amazon to turn over any recording they have for a specific person or house. Or maybe they will get court order to have the devices turned into a listening device for the police.
Despite the eavesdropping potential of any Google or Amazon product, competition is good.
There are people who are and won't be concerned about Amazon and Google's data collection practices. Their devices are and probably will be priced the same or cheaper than the HomePod. Alexa is quite superior to Siri in many ways, at least for the time being.
I only have one HomePod at the moment, but plan on getting another one. I like that they will 'pair up' for true stereo. An ATV is yet to grace my room, but it's on the list. Good to know the HP will play nice with it.
I was reading last night, with room lights low and not a sound in the house, when the HP lit up and a got a couple of seconds of swirling light. The HP has done this from time to time, sometimes probably triggered by something it 'heard' on the TV resembling the trigger.
This is the second time it's been dead quiet and Siri has woken up and taken a quick listen. I'm curious as to why and if anybody else has that experience.