We’ve known since November that Amazon is working on a new Echo device, powered by its Alexa digital assistant, featuring a touchscreen and improved speakers — and now, there’s an image of the device.
In November, details emerged of Amazon’s plans to launch a ‘premium Echo-like speaker’ with an integrated touchscreen. So far, Amazon’s Echo devices, powered by its Alexa digital assistant, have relied on voice controls — much like Google’s Home speaker hub.
Today, AFTVnews published an image that purportedly reveals the design of the new touchscreen-equipped Amazon Echo device.
The image itself is tiny, but stretching it up to a larger size makes it easier to make out some of the features of its design. In addition to the display — which is believed to be around 7 inches in size, and takes up much of the device’s front surface — it also has a large speaker, and there appears to be a camera just above the screen.
AFTVnews said that it discovered the image on Amazon’s servers; significantly, the same site also spotted the device that we now know as the Echo Look on Amazon’s servers over a month before it was officially announced, so there’s good reason to believe that this latest device is indeed the new Echo.
There is still plenty that we don’t yet know about the new device. Bloomberg said in November that Amazon intends to promote the device for use in the kitchen, including features like ‘pinning’ items such as photos and notes to the home screen, in the same way that you might do so on the door of your refrigerator. It will still support voice interactions along with touch controls, and will reportedly have improved speakers compared to the existing Echo, capable of playing «high-quality audio at all volume levels».
Source: AFTVnews via The Verge
