No pre-launch invites, no teasers, and no big launch shenanigans. That’s Amazon for you. And following its reputed style of surprise launches, the $1 Trillion market cap ecommerce giant has today launched two new fresh pieces of hardware : a smart wall clock and a smart microwave. Oh yeah!
Looking at how rapidly IoT devices have been coming off lately from several large OEMs, it was only a matter of time that the smart appliances segment saw some major expansion. And who else to bring in that disruption than Amazon!
Well, here it is : the much talked about, Alexa Microwave — with a built-in popcorn dash button
A host of big ticket announcements have poured in from the Amazon event, and the same holds true for this particular one. The microwave for instance, will work via Wifi and can be connected to a nearby Echo. What does that do you ask ? Well, you now get to cook food by your voice.
Want some more suprising stuff ? Well, this smart microwave will retail at a mere $60!
And guess what? The coolest of the features is this dash button on the Alexa microwave. You can simply press the button and order popcorn, right from the device!
The Echo Wall Clock
If it wasn’t clear with the Amazon Echo line and Google’s Home line-up of smart speakers that these companies want in on everything you call private, some new gadget wizardry from Amazon will confirm it further.
Amazon has now debuted a new “Echo Wall clock”.
That means you can ask Alexa to do things like set alarms and timers – and the lines on the clock will illuminate as the time progresses. The device launch did make a lot of sense though, since alarms and timers are two of the most used Echo features. However, will there be a listening ear to this wall clock too?!?!?
The overall interface is pretty decent, and almost anyone can become friendly with it at the first go. Amazon has also put forth a logic, that with a smart clock like this, people wouldn’t have to worry about daylight savings time.
Stay tuned for more updates from Amazon’s hardware launch event!
