AMAZON UNVEILS ECHO SHOW 16 SMART DISPLAY

Amazon unveiled the Echo Show 16 on Wednesday as part of a new range of Alexa+ devices available to buy now. The smart display costs $500 and has a 16-inch full high-definition screen, with a choice of standard or glare-reducing nanomatte finishes. Amazon called it its “most advanced, versatile smart display” yet. The launch also includes the Echo Dot, Echo Studio With Home Camera, Echo Time and Alexa Photo Frame.

Amazon says the Echo Show 16 offers 10 per cent more viewing area than the Echo Show 15 in a body nearly 40 per cent thinner. It has an aluminium frame, eight micro woofers and two tweeters. Amazon says it has 20 per cent more computing power than its predecessor. A wide-angle 13-megapixel camera supports Visual ID, which Amazon says can recognise a person from up to 17 feet away, compared with eight feet previously. The display also includes Fire TV and a remote, while Alexa+ can generate interactive content during a conversation.

Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of Devices and Alexa, said a couple of hundred million people now use Alexa+. He said users speak to the updated assistant two to three times more often than before and use it to cook five times more often. Amazon has priced the new Echo Dot at $100, up from its former $50 starting price. The Echo Studio With Home Camera costs $250, while the Echo Time and Alexa Photo Frame each cost $200. Amazon says the new Echo Dot has four microphones, supports Matter and can serve as a Thread border router.