Amazon Echo: Alexa added to huge suite of new products intended to make your house smart
Every speaker got a new design – and there are entirely new speakers, too
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Your support makes all the difference.Amazon has launched a whole raft of Echo devices, with the aim of getting Alexa into and around everyone's houses.
In its biggest event of the year, the company unveiled a huge raft of new products. They included everything from a subwoofer for your Alexa speakers to a smart plug that will allow everything in your house to connect to the internet – as well as completely new kinds of products, like a smart microwave and wall clock.
The new updates are part of Amazon's plan to have its internet-connected voice assistant to everyone's houses, allowing them to listen to music and control their houses.
Chief among the latest products are updates to all of the Echo smart speakers – and plenty of new speakers as well.
The existing Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Show have all been entirely redesigned. In general, they have been given new looks and louder speakers, in line with a new look for Apple's devices.
But it also revealed new kinds of speakers. They included the Echo Sub – which pairs with other Alexa-powered speakers to add better bass and improved sound more generally – and the Echo Input, which is made for plugging into existing stereo systems to make them smart.
In all, Amazon released a new Echo Dot that will cost $49.99 and a new Echo Plus for $149.99. Both received the same kind of upgrade, with new speakers and a new grille.
They were joined by an entirely redesigned Echo Show, which will cost $229.99. It has a vastly bigger display and includes a built-in smart home hub.
But the new speakers and other products were the most surprising of the event.
They included a wall clock and a microwave, both of which attach to existing Echo speakers. They were joined by a smart plug that will cost only $24.99 or the same in pounds, and can make any device smart.
Alongside those devices came a host of new speakers. As well as the Sub, which costs $129.99, and the $34.99 Echo Input, Amazon also revealed the Link and Link Amp, which allow people to control existing high-end setups with Alexa.
Like the Input, those products don't include the microphones or speakers that are built into other Alexa devices. Instead, they can simply be plugged into an existing setup and allow it to be controlled by Alexa-enabled devices that are already in your house.
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