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Amazon Echo Dot arrives in the UK as Alexa adds new UK features

31st October 2016 Print
Amazon Echo Dot

Amazon has announced that the all-new Echo Dot is shipping to UK customers for the first time. Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that is powered by Alexa and uses the same far-field voice recognition as Amazon Echo. Connect Echo Dot to external speakers to enable voice control of your home entertainment system, or use it on its own to talk to Alexa. Additionally, Amazon announced new skills for Alexa in the UK, including shopping, ESP (Echo Spatial Perception), expanded sports information, and more.

“The team is innovating at a rapid pace with Echo and Alexa, and they are already adding new skills for UK customers,” said Jorrit Van der Meulen, VP, Amazon Devices EU. “Now you can order your favourite items using just your voice, get additional sports information, and much more. Customers are loving Alexa and Echo, and with shopping, ESP, and more features to come it’s only going to get better.”

All-New Amazon Echo Dot

Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice controlled device, powered by Alexa, and uses the same far-field voice recognition as Echo. Directly connect Echo Dot to speakers with a 3.5mm audio cable or via Bluetooth, and add voice-control to your home stereo system. With its small built-in speaker, you can place Echo Dot in the bedroom and use it as a smart alarm clock; in the kitchen to easily set timers or ask for measurement conversions; or in any room as a voice assistant to control lights and smart home devices.

Amazon Echo Dot has a sleek and compact design, comes in either black or white, and is designed to disappear into any room in a house. With the same array of seven microphones found in Amazon Echo, Echo Dot uses beam-forming technology and enhanced noise cancellation to detect the wake word, Alexa, from across the room, and features a more powerful speech processor to deliver improved far-field speech recognition accuracy.

New—Alexa voice shopping

Prime members using Echo or Echo Dot can now just say “order paper towels,” “order dog food” or “buy some LEGO” and Alexa will find a product that ships with Prime and apply available discounts. Just say “Yes” to buy it. You can complete the entire shopping transaction using just your voice in a conversation with Alexa – there’s no need to open an app, look at a screen, or tap a button. Customers can also check the status of existing orders simply by saying “Alexa, where’s my stuff?”

New—ESP (Echo Spatial Perception): Put an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot in every room

For customers who have multiple Echo devices within hearing distance, Amazon’s new ESP technology intelligently calculates the clarity of the customer’s voice and determines which Echo is closest and should respond to the request—instantly. This feature is smart—performance gets better over time, so ESP will continuously improve as you use Echo. This feature is now available to customers using both Echo and Echo Dot, with a software update pushed to Echo devices already in use.

New—Manage To Do Lists, get Champions League scores and more

Echo and Echo Dot users can also access a selection of new features, with more to come soon. The Alexa Skills Kit recently added a new List Skill API, and now customers can integrate Todoist and Any.do lists with Alexa, with the ability to add items to your Alexa Shopping or To Do List. Set the default list provider in your Alexa app, and then say “Alexa, add laundry detergent to my shopping list” and it’ll integrate directly into your preferred list service, whether that is Todoist, Any.do, or Alexa. More list services are coming soon.

Football fans can also ask Alexa for the latest developments in the UEFA Champions League, with scores for Europe’s premier club competition now available on demand, with more local sports to come soon.

The all-new Echo Dot is available for just £49.99 from amazon.co.uk/echodot.

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Amazon Echo Dot