Earlier this year, Amazon announced that Amazon Sidewalk—a program that uses Ring cameras and Echo devices to transmit wireless signals that other smart home devices can use—would open to all hardware developers. Anyone who wants to make a smart home gadget, like a speaker or lawnmower, can now make it Sidewalk-enabled to help it and other compatible devices stay online.
Of course, to make this work, you need a smart home populated by Echo and Ring devices. According to Amazon, sales of Alexa-enabled devices have surpassed half a billion, and the use of its voice assistant increased 35 percent last year. To help keep the momentum going, the company announced four new Echo devices: the next-generation Echo Show 5 with an upgraded speaker system, a redesigned Echo Show 5 Kids, all-new Echo Buds, and a new speaker called the Echo Pop.
Below, we’ve rounded up all the details on the latest additions to the Echo line. All of the new devices are available for preorder through Amazon. The Echo Show and Echo Pop will begin shipping on May 31, and the Echo Buds will ship June 7.
Echo Pop
Photograph: Amazon
The round, softball-sized Echo Dot is one of the cutest smart home speakers around. But the new, Echo Pop is even cuter, and it’s more affordable. It’s also slightly smaller than the Dot, making it a great option for surfaces where room is scarce, like shelves, windowsills, and bedside tables. And it comes in fun color options like Lavender Bloom and Midnight Tea, in addition to Charcoal and Glacier White.
On the front is a custom-designed directional speaker designed to provide full sound, while under the hood is an Amazon AZ2 Neural Edge processor for machine intelligence-based speech models. It comes with Eero built-in; if you own an Eero Wi-Fi network, you can use the Echo Pop to add up to 1,000 square feet of coverage.
And, as with other Echo devices, you can use Alexa to control your smart home, read audiobooks, and ask questions. It comes with support for the Matter standard, which means you can pair it with smart home gadgets made by companies that aren’t Amazon. The Echo Pop is $40.
New Echo Buds
Photograph: Amazon
If you’re in love with Alexa, Amazon’s Echo Buds (8/10, WIRED Recommends) are one of the best ways to keep it with you always. And the new Echo Buds are now half the price of the previous model. The new headphones don’t come with high-end features like noise cancellation, but you’ll get a variety of other worthy capabilities, including customizable tap controls and multipoint pairing (allowing you to pair and switch between two devices at the same time), and yes, hands-free access to your favorite voice assistant.
