Everything Amazon Announced at Its Hardware EventSo Far
September has been a hectic month for new hardware. Following Apple and Microsoft, Amazon is taking the (virtual) stage to unveil new additions to its Echo and Ring lineups (last week, it announced new Kindles too). However, unlike its peers, Amazon isn't offering a public livestream for its hardware eventâ€"it's invite-only. Don’t worry, WIRED has you covered. We'll be updating this story as Amazon reveals new products, so make sure to hit refresh throughout the hour.
Here’s everything Amazon has announced so far.
A Cheap Thermostat
Photograph: AmazonIt’s almost surprising that Amazon hasn’t come out with a smart thermostat until now. The company has partnered with the appliance manufacturer Honeywell to debut a simple-looking smart thermostat for an astonishingly low price of $59, well below the price of the average smart home thermostat (as Amazon well knows, seeing as how they sell tons of them).
It works with most existing HVAC systems and accomplishes the standard thermostat tasks, like setting routines in your home on when to lower or increase the temperature. Amazon notes that potential energy savings will help customers meet sustainability goals. At this price, it will also help Amazon edge companies like Nest and Ecobee out of the market.
Echo Show 15
Photograph: AmazonThe Echo Show 15 is designed to be mounted to a wall in portrait or landscape mode, like a modern-day family bulletin board. With a 15.6-inch Full HD display, it's Amazon's largest Echo with a screen to date. The home screen has been redesigned to include widgets for calendars, to-do lists, and shopping lists, among others, as well as support for picture-in-picture mode. It can be used as a TV to stream Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu, with support for Sling TV coming soon. When you're not using it, it can display art (or family photos).
You can train Alexa to recognize specific sounds with the Echo Show 15â€"like the sound your fridge makes when it's accidentally left open for too long or your doorbell ringing. The device will send a notification to your phone whenever it picks up on that specific noise.
Courtesy of AmazonIt's all powered by Amazon's latest AZ2 Neural Edge processor, which runs machine learning-based speech models faster than its predecessor. It has a built-in 5-megapixel camera and mics for video calls, both of which can be turned off when not in use. It also comes with Visual ID, an optional facial recognition feature that can recognize the person in front of the display to show reminders, notes from other household members, and upcoming events specific to them.
The Echo Show 15 starts at $250. Additional accessories like countertop stands and under-cabinet mounts will cost extra.
A Videophone for Kids
Photograph: AmazonOver the past pandemic year, one of the biggest struggles was engaging smaller children remotely. Anything was preferable to pinning them down on a couch whilst staring silently at Nana on a screen. Amazon’s Glow looks like one of the most promising devices yet to help with this.
The 14-inch-tall freestanding tower has a built-in 8-inch display. On one end, an adult downloads the Glow app on either an iOS or Android tablet. On the other end, the Glow projects an interactive puzzle, story, or drawing activity on a 19-inch mat in front of the child. In addition to the mat, the tower comes with optional Glow Bits packages the child can manipulate by hand, like tangrams. The adult reads or plays along, and each gets to see the other's face. (There's a physical shutter to prevent anyone from snooping when the device is not in use.)
The Glow is a sort of lovechild between two of our favorite kid devices over the past few years, the Osmo tablets and the Facebook Portal. Amazon says it collaborated with some of the biggest kid entertainment companies, like Disney, Sesame Street, and Nickelodeon, to create all-new original content for the Glow. It'll retail at the introductory price of $249 and an eventual MSRP of $299. Hopefully, it'll ship well before the start of the winter holidays.
New Updates to Halo
Photograph: AmazonLast year, Amazon debuted its new fitness tracker, the Halo, whichâ€"rather than count your steps or track your workoutsâ€"measures your body fat with a picture and also taught you to be nicer. This year, Amazon is rolling out a whole host of updates to make the Halo a much more comprehensive fitness tracker with features like Halo Fitness, a studio workout service, and Halo Nutrition, which has partners like Whole Foods and Weight Watchers and pulls from a menu of 500 recipes to help you eat better. All services will be included in the Halo membership.
The Halo, well, it looks pretty familiar to anyone who has seen a Fitbit in the past 10 years. It has a color display that will let you swipe through your metrics, a swim-proof design and three sport band colors, plus a variety of swappable wristbands. And … dun dun dun … it will ship before the holidays and sell for a possible Fitbit-killing price of $80, as long as you like stripping for your fitness band.
New Ring Security SystemsRing Always Home Cam
Photograph: AmazonDuring last year’s hardware launch from Amazon, one product, in particular, stole the virtual show: the Always Home Camera. It's literally a drone designed to fly around inside your home. Why put multiple static cameras around the home, when you can have a single one that intelligently picks up on movement around the house, reasoned some product managers at Amazon (truly). The thing never shipped.
Until now. Today, Ring says the Always Home Camera will be available soonâ€"but by invitation only (Ring didn't confirm pricing). The idea behind the cam is that uses active sensors and a “dedicated neural processing unit†to pick up on noise or activity within the home, and then automatically flies out of its docking stationâ€"a receptacle that also blocks the camera when the drone is restingâ€"to record whatever movement is happening in the home. Ring’s president, Leila Rouhi, said in an interview before the event that certain design considerations had to be made before the drone could be released. The camera has to be able to identify where windows are located, differentiate between a pet skulking around the house versus an intruder, and avoid chandeliers, she said.
This may all be true, but strong reactions to the reveal of the in-home drone last year may have also led to Amazon hitting pause on the project for a while. “Do not, under any circumstances, put an Amazon surveillance drone in your house,†advocacy group Fight for the Future tweeted at the time. Well, now some lucky customers will be able to do just that.
Ring Alarm Pro
Photograph: AmazonAmazon hopes you haven’t given up on Ring, its smart-home brand that came under fire in 2019 for its controversial data-sharing agreements with law enforcement and a spate of hacks. Ring's newest hardware is the Ring Alarm Pro, a security monitoring system that doubles as a router.
For $250, you get a base station with Eero’s Wi-Fi 6 router built-in (Amazon bought Eero in 2019). High-speed LTE backup keeps it running even if your internet goes down. For $50 more, you’ll get a range extender, an alarm keypad, a motion detector, and four sensors for windows and doors. The alarm has the ability to store videos locally with Ring Edge, which is nice for anyone who doesn’t want their data on a cloud. It’s available for Ring Alarm Pro and Ring Protector subscribers and comes with a 64-GB MicroSD card, which stores about 47 hours of video, according to the company.
There’s also a new Pro subscription in the Ring Protect plans, which costs $200 a year or $20 a month. You’ll get professional monitoring, backup internet on all Ring devices, access to the Alexa Guard Plus helpline, and more robust online security using Eero Secure.
Virtual Security Guard
Photograph: AmazonIf you’re a small business owner or you have multiple houses or rental properties, Ring's new Virtual Security Guard might sound appealing. A third-party serviceâ€"Rapid Response, though Ring says other security monitoring companies will join laterâ€"can monitor outdoor cameras anytime they’re in armed mode. These agents will be able to view motion alerts and respond accordingly, like triggering an alarm and alerting police if an intruder is spotted. Ring says the agents can only view live feeds when motion is detected, and never when the camera is disarmed. You’ll have to apply for early access.
New Alerts for Ring's Doorbells and CamerasThere are also two new alert types you can use with Ring’s existing doorbells and cameras: Package Alerts and Custom Event Alerts. With Package Alerts, available on the Video Doorbell 2 Pro and Video Dooorbell (2020), you’ll receive a notification whenever packages are delivered in a specific zone. Custom Event Alerts work with the Ring Cam Battery to recognize when an object is in a certain conditionâ€"like when a garage door is left open or a car is in the driveway. You can customize the exact areas and objects you want to monitor and the Ring app will send any necessary alerts to your phone.
Protecting Job Sites
Photograph: AmazonWorking with The Home Depot, Ring's new JobSite Security bundle aims to make it easier to monitor job sites. There are several bundles to customize to your liking, but it includes the Ring Alarm Pro and a Ring Protect Pro subscription service. You’ll be able to purchase and connect it to additional accessories like Ring Power Packs, smart cameras, and smart lighting. It’s available exclusively at The Home Depot and bundles will start at $400.
Blink Video Doorbell
Photograph: AmazonIf you're not into Ring, there's always Blink, another smart-home company Amazon acquired. It just announced its very first Video Doorbell, complete with 1080p HD video for day and night, alerts sent to your phone, two-way audio, and up to two years of battery life (unless you choose to wire it). It's compatible with Echo and Fire devices, which you can use to monitor the camera and control it via Alexa voice commands. It starts at $50.
Blink also announced two additional products: a battery-powered LED Floodlight Camera mount, which is compatible with Blink's outdoor camera, plus a Solar Panel Mount. The solar panel can recharge the outdoor camera. All three of Blink's new devices are currently available for pre-order.
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