With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, we’ve seen big product launch events from the likes of Apple, Samsung, and many others. Amazon announced a slew of products covering a wide range of product categories across the home. Unlike the others, Amazon did not open this event to the public, but we were invited to watch the announcement and see the details of all the new products.
Amazon released a few brand new devices, starting with a long-requested Kindle that you can type on! The Kindle Scribe is a huge reading tablet that also includes a pen for taking notes. The Halo family of health-conscious gadgets got a night watch, the Halo Rise. The affordable Amazon Fire TV TV brand took a step up with a set that uses QLED quantum dot technology.
Several existing Amazon products were updated annually, including the new Echo Dots, with some new kid-friendly characters, as well as a new Echo Auto gadget. There’s an updated Fire TV Cube that includes a new Amazon Alexa remote. Ring and Blink home security teams also brought in new kits.
Finally, some of Amazon’s existing products can do new things. The Amazon Astro robot, with its massive waiting list of buyers, can now detect pets and other objects around the house. The Echo Studio speaker sounds better with a new update, and the Echo Show 15 can display new content.
What’s new?
- Kindle Scribe
- Hello Rise
- Fire TV Omni QLED
What is a new version?
- Echo Dot (5th generation)
- Echo Auto (2nd Gen)
- Fire TV Cube (3rd generation) and Alexa Voice Remote Pro
- Spotlight Cam Pro ring and alarm panic button
What do new things do?
- Astro can detect pets and call the police
- Echo devices extend your Wi-Fi network
- Echo Show 15 gets Fire TV
(Image credit: Amazon)
Kindle Scribe: Finally a pen for our Kindle
Finally, Amazon has given us a Kindle that you can write on. The Kindle Scribe it comes with its own stylus and lets you draw and take notes right on the screen. You can annotate books directly or write freestyle journal entries. The Scribe will also let you write on PDF documents, and Amazon says it will add support for Microsoft Word in the future.
Like the S Pen used on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (and older Galaxy Note phones), the Kindle Scribe doesn’t need to charge its stylus. The stylus is included with the device, but an advanced stylus with eraser and highlight features will be available separately.
The Kindle Scribe is a large e-reader, with a 10.2-inch screen, making it by far the largest Kindle you can buy and the closest thing to an iPad. It will use a 300 dpi e-ink screen, which will make it as sharp as other Kindle readers.
The Scribe will be expensive, starting at £339.99 / $339.99 for a 16GB model and going up for 32GB or 64GB of storage. This price gets you four months of Kindle Unlimited books.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Halo Rise: Watch your body while you sleep
In the realm of sleep tracking, we’ve seen some recent advances, but nothing like this Hello Rise, part of Amazon’s Halo family of fitness devices. The Halo Rise uses sensors that detect your body position while you sleep to monitor your breathing and breathing movements.
The main feature of the device is a large light that will help you wake up at whatever time Halo deems most appropriate, based on your sleep patterns. There is a digital clock in the center of the LEDs, as well as a small alarm speaker.
Halo Rise will be mostly automated. It will detect when you lie down so you don’t have to tell it you’ve started to sleep. It can detect when you get up and start a series of Alexa-based routines to help you start your day.
The new clock and nightlight will cost $139.99 (regional prices TBA) and will include six months of Amazon’s Halo health and fitness services. Presumably the light will still work if you don’t continue to pay for the service.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Fire TV Omni QLED: One step closer to the cutting edge
Amazon Fire TVs have never been known for cutting-edge technology and picture quality. They’ve been a bargain TV with full access to Amazon’s Prime suite of services and Alexa. Focused on Quantum Dot technology, the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED The series gives you the color sharpness of QLED with other advanced features like full-array local dimming.
Amazon’s new TVs also support Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, which, along with local dimming, should improve black levels and contrast on set, curing one of our biggest complaints about previous ones. Amazon Fire TV Omni sets
The Omni Fire TV QLED series comes in two sizes. You can pre-order the 65-inch for $799 or the 75-inch for $1099 today (regional pricing and availability TBA).
(Image credit: Amazon)
Echo Dot with a watch: Don’t skip the purple dinosaur
Amazon has improved the sound quality in its latest fifth generation Echo Dot, which the company says will distort 50% less (whatever that means) and deliver twice the bass (we’re talking now). There’s a simple Dot flavor and the new Echo Dot with Clock uses a dot-matrix display that can side-scroll information, including track information about whatever music you’re listening to.
The biggest one is the new Echo Dot 5th Gen Kids Edition speakers, which feature a purple dragon character or a slightly adorable owl. If you’d rather your kids talk to cartoons than Alexa, Amazon’s got you covered, as well as your Echo Dots.
(Image credit: Amazon)
In addition to the Echo Dot, Echo Studio owners will find their devices sound a little better thanks to updates Amazon has made to the speaker’s spatial audio processing. Amazon says everything will sound “closer to the listener,” with improved sound quality across the board.
The Echo Dot will cost $49.99 / £54.99, while the Echo Dot with Watch or Echo Dot Kids will cost $59.99 / £64.99.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Echo Auto: Alexa your ride
The Echo Auto device will get an update with an all-new look and a new adhesive mount so you can stick it wherever you want Alexa to live in your car. The Echo Auto has five microphones to eliminate all the ambient noise that a car ride creates.
You can set up Echo Auto to control your music and make calls, and you can call for roadside assistance if you need it. Amazon will send someone to change a tire or fill your car with gas if you get stuck, among other services.
We’re not sure when the new device will be available, but the updated Echo Auto 2 will cost $55 when it launches. Roadside assistance does not require a subscription, you just pay for services as you request them.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Fire TV Cube and Alexa Voice Remote Pro: Talk to things and they’ll talk back
The Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen) is serious about performance, especially if you’re playing content at the highest possible resolution. It adds Wi-Fi 6E support and an Ethernet port so you can connect to faster home networks, giving you the bandwidth you need.
There’s also a new HDMI input, and when you connect a device to the Fire TV Cube, it’ll let you use Alexa voice commands to control whatever you’ve connected. You can control a cable box or video game console this way.
The new Alexa Voice Remote Pro comes with a built-in speaker, and you can locate it by saying “Alexa, find my remote” or using the Fire TV app. The remote speaker will sound so you can find it.
The Fire TV Cube and Alexa Voice Remote Pro are available for pre-order today. The Cube is $139.99 and the Remote Pro is $34.99.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Ring Spotlight Cam and Ring Alarm Panic Button – Radar for the home
Ring has expanded its light-enhanced security camera offerings with a new Ring Spotlight Cam Pro and a mid-range Spotlight Cam Plus. The new Pro model adds RADAR capabilities to the home security lineup in addition to the standard motion sensor and super loud siren. Using radar tracking, Spotlight Cam Pro can work with other Ring devices to trace an intruder’s path through your property.
The Ring Spotlight Cam Plus doesn’t upgrade the feature set of the original Spotlight Cam, but it packs everything into a much nicer package. The sleek new light still includes two-way talk, color night vision, and other Ring Spotlight features.
Both the Spotlight Cam Plus and Cam Pro are available with a variety of power options, including a solar kit. The Spotlight Cam Pro costs $229.99 / £199.99 for the battery or plug-in version and $249.99 (UK price to follow) for the solar kit. The Spotlight Cam Plus will start at $199.99 / £179.99 for the battery or plug.
If you want to activate all the alarms in your home, the Doorbell Alarm Panic Button (2nd Generation) will show intruders how many security devices you have. For $29.99 / £29.99, you can install a panic button that will also call your emergency contacts and even request emergency assistance from first responders.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Astro: Understanding your home and its inhabitants
It might be hard to get your hands on an Amazon Astro robot, but Amazon is pushing ahead with updates that make the little thing more useful as a security device and home companion. The robot can now recognize doors and windows and can check if they are open or closed. For businesses, you can investigate an incident while a professional monitors your camera and then call the authorities if necessary.
At home, Astro can now recognize pets. It won’t take your dog for a walk or shoot a laser pointer to chase it, but it will take short videos of your pets and send them to you. If it’s beautiful, you can’t do anything, but if it’s destructive you can call the authorities, if necessary.
Amazon is constantly updating Astro and it’s learning to recognize your furniture and also check the level of your pet’s food. The Astro Robot costs $999.99, although Amazon will eventually raise the price to $1499.99. Astro is…