September 29th news, on Wednesday, local time in the United States, the retail giant Amazon held a new product launch in the fall of 2022, launching a large number of upgrades and new hardware devices.The US media believes that the move marks that Amazon is accelerating its entry into the health care, safety and automotive industries, and is committed to integrating its technology into all aspects of consumers’ lives.
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Amazon releases a lot of new hardware products
Image source: Amazon’s official website
At the event, Amazon unveiled a new bedside device called the Halo Rise, several upgraded Echo smart speakers, and a Kindle e-reader, while its subsidiary Ring also showed off new enhanced security technology.
While Amazon still lags behind the likes of Apple in hardware technology, it is rapidly expanding its reach. The new health products complement Amazon’s accelerated expansion into the health care industry, where the company already has an online pharmacy, a wearable health device and a series of experimental projects that apply data analysis tools to medical science.
Amazon announced plans to acquire One Medical in July in a deal worth about $3.49 billion. One Medical’s parent company, 1Life Healthcare, operates 182 medical clinics in 25 U.S. markets.
Halo Rise is a ring bedside device with a ring light, digital clock face, and it’s a combination sleep tracker, light and alarm clock. Amazon says the device will be available later this year for $140.
Amazon explains that Halo Rise uses low-power radar to analyze the sleep of those closest to it. Unlike many of Amazon’s home electronics, the Halo Rise has neither a speaker nor a microphone, but it can determine the user’s breathing rate and has environmental sensors to determine temperature.
The product also integrates the functions of the Alexa voice assistant and the Echo smart speaker, which can perform commands such as playing music and dimming the lights.
Other key announcements from Amazon’s Wednesday event included:
1) An upgraded version of Echo Studio that supports improved 3D audio (ie spatial audio) capabilities. Amazon says the device also has boosted bass for better overall sound quality. Some of these improvements will come for free via software updates to existing Echo Studios. The new model is priced at $200 and will ship this year.
2) New Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock models, which add improved speakers and twice the bass without increasing the size of the device. The Echo Dot with Clock features an improved screen that displays song information. Both new products also have sensors to determine the temperature of the room. What’s more, the new products have Eero technology built into them, allowing them to act as Wi-Fi router extenders and eliminate dead spots. The Echo Dot is $50, and the Echo Dot with Clock is $60.
3) Echo Dot Kids for Owl and Dragon, both priced at $60. These devices can send greetings, tell jokes, and more through Alexa.
4) An upgraded Echo Auto, $55, is more compact and allows customers to add Alexa support to their cars. The device helps users control music and handle text messages. It also adds new functionality that can be used to request roadside assistance. The original Echo Auto was criticized after its release for bugs, limited functionality, and one of the lowest-rated devices by customers on Amazon’s electronics.
5) Amazon and BMW jointly announced that the latter is developing a new version of the Alexa-based voice control system. Amazon has been working to expand the reach of its voice assistant in recent years by providing other companies with the basic building blocks to create their own custom software.
6) The new Fire TV Cube, which can convert high-definition content to 4K content with the support of a faster processor. The device also features an upgraded microphone array for improved voice input and a cloth-wrapped design. It has dedicated Ethernet and USB ports for connecting other devices and HDMI input control. This allows customers to use voice control over other parts of the TV, such as their cable service.
7) The new version of the Alexa Voice remote adds a “find back” feature so that users can find it at any time. The device will launch in November for $35.
8) The new QLED Fire TV physical displays, starting at $800, are available in 65- and 75-inch sizes.
Amazon doesn’t disclose revenue details for its devices division, but the business is thought to make up a relatively small percentage of the company’s total sales, well below that of e-commerce, third-party seller services and cloud computing services. Still, these products can help increase user loyalty to the company, and buying a device often incentivizes users to buy more Amazon products.
With the new sleep tracker, users can view reports, such as their deep sleep time, through the Echo Show, Amazon’s smart device with a screen. In 2020, Amazon launched the Halo Band, an activity tracker that works with subscription health services.