Amazon launches new Echo devices and Fire TV sticks in India
Up for pre-order
Amazon’s 2020 event was hosted last night where the company announced a bunch of new products including the new Echo smart speakers and new Fire TV sticks. Along with that, the company also unveiled its game streaming service dubbed “Luna”.
Among multiple products announced last night, the company is bringing five products to India. Here’s everything you need to know:
- New Amazon drone is a camera that flies around and records your home
- Amazon Luna is a new Google Stadia and GeForce Now rival with some big games
Amazon Echo
The fourth-generation Amazon Echo smart speaker has got a design makeover. It comes in a spherical design that set them apart from most smart speakers. It is available in three colour options - Black, Blue, and White. For a distance, it looks like a mini football. The new Echo is wrapped in a fabric grille and also gets a light ring around the base. The smart speaker is fitted with four microphones.
As with other Amazon smart devices, Alexa will be your voice assistant. For audio, Echo will now deliver premium audio powered by Dolby =. You can stream songs from multiple apps like Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana, Apple Music and Hungama Music. You can use your voice to control your smart appliances like lights, ACs, TVs, geysers and more.
With Alexa, you can ask for music, news, trivia, scores, weather, alarms, kids' rhymes and stories. Alexa supports both English and Hindi languages. For that who are concerned about their privacy, the new Echo comes with the microphone off button. Further, Alexa is now capable of responding to your queries faster thanks to a AZ1 Neural edge processor that Amazon says provides "2x faster voice processing".
Amazon Echo Dot
The All-new Echo Dot is priced similar to the last generation. The Echo Dot also gets the spherical design. It packs in a 1.6-inch built-in front-firing speaker and there is also a 3.5 mm stereo audio output for use with external speakers. The Echo Dot supports dual-band WiFi, Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) support for audio. And of course, there is Alexa that does all the things for you.
Amazon Echo dot with clock
As the name suggests, this is an Echo Dot with a clock. You get an LED display that shows time, outdoor temperature or timers. There is also tap the top to snooze feature in case you are planning to keep it next to the bed. The light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness, day or night. Apart from the clock, everything else is similar to the Echo Dot.
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Fire TV Stick
The third-gen Amazon Fire TV stick(1080p) was also unveiled at the event yesterday. Amazon says the Fire TV Stick 2020 is 50% more power than last-gen Fire TV Stick. It picks up a bunch of new features such as HD streaming, HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, reduced power consumption, and the ability to control your audio-visual equipment using your voice.
The remote also gets mute and power button now. It is also capable of streaming up to Full HD @ 60 fps. For audio, it supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos audio on select titles with compatible home audio systems. As far as the apps are concerned, you get support for all the major OTT platforms like Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV, Discovery Plus and YouTube.
Fire TV Stick Lite
The first Fire TV Stick Lite in the line-up, the Fire TV Stick Lite is basically same as the Fire TV 2020 but comes with a remote that excludes power button. Apart from that, everything else remains the same.
Apart from the above mention new Amazon products, the company also announced a bunch of new products that will not make its way to India as of now. These include the new Amazon drone, Amazon Luna games streaming service, Echo Dot Kids Edition, new Echo Show 10, and more. Have a look at Everything from the Amazon 2020 event here.
Srivatsa is a prolific writer who spearheads the core writing team on tech news, buying guides, reviews, and all gadget articles. He is passionate about technology.