Amazon Announces Several Exciting New Products!

Each year in the fall Amazon announces their new lineup of products. Here is the article we published last year. This year, Amazon just announced many new smart home products. These include new versions of the popular Echo (including one for kids, and even a special kitchen model), Echo Buds (an earbud collaboration with Bose), new Ring Cameras, and a whole lot more—there’s even a smart oven coming (though we’re not sure if that one will make it to Canada). Read on for full details on a massive selection of new Amazon Products, and keep an eye out at Best Buy for which ones will arrive and when you can buy or preorder them!

The Echo Show 8 — An Echo for Your Kitchen

Amazon’s all new Echo Show 8 is a smart display with an 8 inch high definition display screen, crisp and clear audio, and (of course) the mighty Alexa voice assistant. It also offers integration with the scrumptious Food Network, allowing you to watch your favourite celebrity chefs (like Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis) as they whip up amazing dishes on their popular cooking shows. If you happen to see something you’d like to try yourself, Alexa can save the recipe for you to peruse on your own time—all you have to do is ask.

You can even (provided you’re a Food Network Kitchen subscriber) take live cooking lessons (on demand) from your favourite Food Network chefs where you’ll enjoy step-by-step instructions for cooking thousands of your favourite pro chef recipes. Note: These amazing cooking features will also be available on other Echo Show models.

The Echo Dot (3rd Gen) Has a Clock!

Amazon’s new version of the popular Echo Dot  smart speaker comes with a new built-in feature that many are sure to find useful—a clock. This clock, which is displayed on the front of the speaker, is illuminated by LED lights and even has the ability to function as an alarm clock (complete with a handy snooze feature that’ll give you 9 extra minutes of sleep). Plus, if you wanted to know, it can even tell you the outdoor temperature.

The Amazon Echo Studio Offers BIG Sound!

If music is your thing, prepare to rock out with the new Amazon Echo Studio (with Alexa). This oversized smart speaker (which is actually 5 speakers in one) offers deep, immersive sound (thanks to its Dolby Atmos technology for super clarity and depth) as well as the ever-helpful Alexa to control all your music (and, indeed, virtually everything else in your smart home!).

You’ll enjoy crisp highs, a dynamic mid-range, and deep bass as you blast your favourite tunes, and, when it’s time to control all your Zigbee-compatible smart home devices, Alexa has you covered there as well. For that matter, Alexa has you covered for a whole lot more than just that, meaning all the useful things that any smart assistant worth its salt can do. One of my favourite Alexa capabilities, though, is using all of your different Alexa devices as a home intercom network, allowing you to address any family member from anywhere in the house with features like Drop In and Announcements—very cool!

New Ring Cameras and Alexa Doorbell Integration

Also announced today was a new Ring Indoor Cam (an updated version of their popular Stick Up Cam). One of the cool new features here is Alexa integration with smart doorbells and cameras that allows your smart assistant to act almost as a security guard for your home, verbally engaging (and grilling, if necessary) all of your guests and visitors.

For instance, Alexa might inform a package delivery person of where to place a delivery via your front doorbell. There’s also a new feature called Alexa Home Mode that disables recording of audio and video by the camera whenever you’re at home, helping to ensure you’ll get all the privacy you need when using the Ring Indoor Cam.

Echo Flex with Third-Party Add-On Capabilities 

Another announcement today had to do with the Amazon Echo Flex—a small Alexa-enabled speaker that plugs into any standard electrical outlet and allows you to have Alexa in more parts of your home while hardly taking up any space. With all of the standard Alexa capabilities, including voice control of your other smart home devices, the Echo Flex is designed to make your life easier while maintaining a low profile.

Turn your smart lights on and off, lock and unlock doors, check the day’s weather forecast, make hands-free phone calls, adjust the temperature on your smart thermostat, and do so much more with this tiny smart speaker. It even has multiple privacy controls, such as the off button for its microphone, allowing you to control when it is and isn’t listening for your next verbal command. Finally, with its built-in USB port, you’ll be able to charge small devices (like smart phones and Mp3 players), and even take advantage of third-party add-on accessories such as a nightlight or motion sensor.

Additional Products that May Not Reach Canada Soon

Echo Buds: An Echo for Your Ears!

One of the most exciting new products to come out of Amazon’s big announcement (at least in my opinion) is the new Echo Buds—a wireless earbud collaboration with Bose (for their noise suppression capabilities) providing users with a hands-free way to access Alexa at any time while on the go. These buds come with a variety of tips that make them perfect for use under all manner of conditions, including exercise. What’s more, you may also choose to use these buds with Siri or the Google Assistant if you prefer those smart assistants over Alexa, and Amazon is even boasting an up to five hour battery life (when listening to music—phone calls will reduce that to four) on every single charge.

Amazon Echo Glow Multicolour Smart Lamp for Kids

One of the more fun products announced by Amazon today is the new Echo Glow Multicolour Smart Lamp for Kids. This simple and user-friendly lamp is capable of pairing with any Alexa device for voice based control of its colour and brightness level. It can also be programmed with fun lighting cues that allow for colourful countdowns to events such as dinner or bedtime. Additionally, kids can change the lamp’s colour through touch, and they can even activate a special campfire mode with soft lighting that’s just as they’d enjoy from a campfire.

Amazon has also launched a new Alexa Communications for Kids feature that allows parents to set up kids’ contacts and control who they interact with over the family’s various Echo devices. This feature is sure to provide parents of young children with considerable peace of mind, knowing that their kids are only communicating online with close friends and family members.

There are a few other new Amazon products that may or may not eventually come to Canada, but they’re cool enough that we still thought you should know about them. For instance, there are the new Echo Frames (smart glasses frames that bring the power of Alexa directly to your face), the Loop Ring (an incredible new titanium smart ring for your finger), the Echo Auto (a compact voice assistant for use in your car), and even the Echo Oven (an Alexa-enabled oven that’s feature rich and promises to bring kitchens into the modern age).

It should be fun to see if and when these amazing new products will come to Canada. As always, stay tuned right here (to the Best Buy Canada Blog) for all our future updates and announcements regarding these and other smart products.

For all your Smart Home wishes and needs, visit Best Buy Canada today!