Other Alexa (or Alexa) speakers
- The Amazon Echo Pop for $ 40: The Echo pop (7/10, wired recommended) is a perfectly great little speaker, and the cut is one in the Amazon lineup. Does it have a great sound? No. This is good enough for background tones or if you are limited to a dorm room, but you will get a better sound for a similar size from the Echo DOT (but you will pay a little more, and you won't get cute colors!)
- Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) for $ 90: This smart display is another just-fine option, but it is very small to be a good display, and the included camera makes it not for a bed table; Better to go with the upper echo spot or an echo dot.
- Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) for $ 250: This wise display has a big sound, but its win -shape wins makes it difficult for the seamless fit to your home. It's cool that it can follow you around as you talk to it, but it's a bit strange too. It's great if you have a big kitchen island you always move, but not many more.
- Amazon Echo Show 15 (2nd Gen) for $ 300: This smart display is a great display, but clearly wants to double as a TV and it's not that great here. I hope we see better TV -related performance in the future to make it worth adding to a kitchen or office. It does a great job on widgets, though, thanks to the massive 15.6-inch screen. There is also a larger Echo Show 21 ($ 400)which is essentially the same but larger.
- Bang & olufsen beosound a1 (2nd gene) for $ 227: The Beosound A1 is a strong, beautiful, and well -sounded sound with listening, and this second -generation version has Alexa's integration to make it an Alexa speaker no matter where you go. It's a great speaker, but it's more expensive than Sonos Roam.
Other devices with Alexa inside
Why did Alexa just ask for help while you were home? These accessories allow you to pick up your favorite voice assistant everywhere.
- Echo Frames (3rd Gen) ($ 330): Wired review editor Adrienne so fully ready to hate with combo glass and headphones, but she really liked them. They look pretty, surprisingly comfortable, and the sound is ok – even a little tinny, because the speakers are just putting next to your ears. You can answer calls while running and going for walks, and the microphone is good enough that he sounds like he's still on the phone. But the charging base is annoying. The arms of the glass do not fully fit the stance, and you need to be careful to balance the frames at two points.
- Echo Buds (2021 Exit) ($ 120): We liked the original echo buds, but we were bigger fans of the 2021 version (8/10, Wired recommended). Amazon's earbuds have wireless charging, noise-canceling tech, and a surprising ergonomic fit. Better microphones mean that Alexa's voice controls work even in strong environments. The general experience of using headphones felt like a future we saw in sci-fi films. Need to set a timer, check the weather, or see what happened to your favorite sports team? Just ask these earbuds. Amazon also has an 2023 version ($ 50) That's cheaper, ugly, and no ANC.
What is Alexa+?
Amazon will start rolling The new and improved Alexa soon, named Alexa+. This second generation of Alexa Voice Assistant should be more communicated, able to perform complex tasks and learn new information, and be more personalized. That's because of the generative AI that runs it.
This is available for $ 20 a month, or free if you have an Amazon Prime member. While you probably have a member if you add an Alexa device to your home, this is a huge jump from the former free assistant. Amazon said early accessing will begin to roll over next month in the US, starting with Echo show wise showsspecifically Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21.
How to remove spam from your Echo Show screen
If you are using an ECHO show device, you have probably noticed that there is a ton of default content that the device will show you. Sports marks! Local news! A recipe you may be interested in! This makes the device tired and annoying.
Here's how you can control what you see:
- Swipe from the top of your Echo show to pull the menu and select the settings.
- In the Settings menu, select Home Content.
- There are up to 40 options that you can —toggle and off in this menu, and you should remove as many as you can use. I usually removed all but weather forecasts and recently played audio.
While you are able to turn off interest-based ads from third-party skills (this is under Alexa's privacy in the settings menu), it will not stop all ads. The only setting without ad-free is the choice of photo display mode, which can use either included library of Amazon photos or yourself. The only downside is that it turns into a digital picture frame, so you won't even see a clock or features like widgets.
