Out of the blue, Amazon has today taken the wraps off its latest Alexa-powered smart home device called the Dash Wand. This $20 miniature handheld device makes grocery shopping less of a chore by allowing you to scan barcodes and spew out commands aloud for adding products to your shopping list or asking necessary household questions.
This is not the very first iteration of the Dash hardware device to pack the aforementioned capabilities but it will definitely the first to integrate Alexa’s voice capabilities. This Dash Wand, painted in a contrasting black and white, is no longer than the palm of your hand and includes a button to activate Alexa and order groceries, which connects to your Amazon.com account on its mobile device using Wi-Fi connectivity.
The Dash Wand also comes with a circular hook at the top and a magnetic back, which will enable you to keep this device handy at all time. You can either hang this small smart device along with your ladles or simply stick it to the front of the refrigerator to keep the same at an arm’s length at all times.
This new Amazon device has been officially described as under:
All new Amazon Dash Wand with Alexa helps you find recipes, convert cups to ounces, buy and reorder essentials, find nearby restaurants and more.
Yes, the Dash Wand is not only a robust hardware device but has also bagged an impressive update on the software front, courtesy of the Alexa integration. While the AI voice assistant will collect your orders, which you’ll need to manually confirm and checkout via the Amazon app but it also performs some notable smart speaker functions as well. This means you can also employ the Dash Wand to control your connected home devices — but it does not support playing music — which would’ve been a fun little addition.
Amazon has presently only made the Dash Wand available to its loyal Prime subscribers, that too practically for free. Once you’ve placed an order for this $20 smart device, the e-commerce giant will top up your account with a $20 gift card to give you access to initial credit for your grocery shopping. You’ll also receive a free 90-day trial of its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service. This will definitely become a handy companion for those who frequently order products from the e-commerce website.
