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Igor Bonifacic
Before it began slowly trickling out Alexa+ to users at the start of February, Amazon promised a smarter, more conversational assistant. It turned out the reality was more complicated, and, more than anything, Alexa+ in its current state is a showcase of the limitations of generative AI. Of course, that's not stopping from iterating on the digital assistant. During its "Devices and Services" event on Tuesday, Amazon announced a host of Alexa+ updates, with many of them enabling new integrations alongside the company's brand new devices.
One of those new features is Alexa+ Greetings, which will roll out to Ring's new 2K and 4K devices this December. With the help of Ring's image recognition technology, Alexa+ will be able to make decisions about how to handle different visitors to your home. If it sees one of your friends or family members, it will know to greet them. When it comes to strangers, the digital assistant will ask questions of them to determine the purpose of their visit. It can also manage deliveries by providing instructions to couriers about where to leave a package.
Amazon
Alexa+ is also built directly into Vega, Amazon's new smart TV operating system. The integration will translate into more personalized recommendations, and the ability for Alexa+ to show you content related to your questions. For example, you can use the assistant to find a specific scene in a movie. In the demo Amazon showed, Vice President of Fire TV Aidan Marcuss instructed Alexa to "find the scene where Hatteburg hits a home run," and the assistant pulled up the appropriate spot in the film Moneyball. This functionality is available while watching live sports too, meaning you can ask the assistant for updates on your favorite teams and more.
Over on the Kindle side of things, you'll be able to send notes and documents you have stored on your Kindle Colorsoft or Scribe 3 to Alexa+. This feature will allow you to have a conversation about the contents of those files with the digital assistant, with the integration slated to arrive sometime early next year.
Amazon
Of course, the place you're most likely to interact with Alexa+ is when using an Echo device. Amazon is billing the refreshed 2025 Echo line — made up of Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 — as "designed for Alexa+". To that end, the company has equipped all of the new devices with two new chips, the AZ3 and AZ3 Pro. The new silicon is faster and offers better voice processing. At the same time, there are new third-party integrations, with some notable partners including Oura, Sonos and Samsung. All of the new Echo devices Amazon announced today will ship with Alexa+ out of the box.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at Alexa+ at Amazon's 2025 event: Home Greetings, Fire TV recommendations and more
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One of those new features is Alexa+ Greetings, which will roll out to Ring's new 2K and 4K devices this December. With the help of Ring's image recognition technology, Alexa+ will be able to make decisions about how to handle different visitors to your home. If it sees one of your friends or family members, it will know to greet them. When it comes to strangers, the digital assistant will ask questions of them to determine the purpose of their visit. It can also manage deliveries by providing instructions to couriers about where to leave a package.
Amazon
Alexa+ is also built directly into Vega, Amazon's new smart TV operating system. The integration will translate into more personalized recommendations, and the ability for Alexa+ to show you content related to your questions. For example, you can use the assistant to find a specific scene in a movie. In the demo Amazon showed, Vice President of Fire TV Aidan Marcuss instructed Alexa to "find the scene where Hatteburg hits a home run," and the assistant pulled up the appropriate spot in the film Moneyball. This functionality is available while watching live sports too, meaning you can ask the assistant for updates on your favorite teams and more.
Over on the Kindle side of things, you'll be able to send notes and documents you have stored on your Kindle Colorsoft or Scribe 3 to Alexa+. This feature will allow you to have a conversation about the contents of those files with the digital assistant, with the integration slated to arrive sometime early next year.
Amazon
Of course, the place you're most likely to interact with Alexa+ is when using an Echo device. Amazon is billing the refreshed 2025 Echo line — made up of Echo Dot Max, Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 — as "designed for Alexa+". To that end, the company has equipped all of the new devices with two new chips, the AZ3 and AZ3 Pro. The new silicon is faster and offers better voice processing. At the same time, there are new third-party integrations, with some notable partners including Oura, Sonos and Samsung. All of the new Echo devices Amazon announced today will ship with Alexa+ out of the box.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at Alexa+ at Amazon's 2025 event: Home Greetings, Fire TV recommendations and more
Continue reading...