While our home has hosted a pair of Amazon Echo ($99-199) connected-speakers-with-benefits for several weeks, I’ve yet to write much. As my thoughts continue to coalesce, Amazon just hit me with news of an update. Joining the existing I Heart Radio and Amazon Prime voice-controlled apps are Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes. However, whereas I Heart Radio and and Prime Music are native apps that live solely within Echo and the cloud, these newcomers stream to Echo via a Bluetooth-connected iPhone or Android. The addition of voice for transport controls is surely nice-to-have, but it’s not in the same league by requiring another device in the mix and without being able to verbally summon a specific artist or playlist as I do with Prime Heart.
View Comments
Very exciting. cannot wait for some home automation features.
If only this thing had a Zigbee chip inside... it'd make perfect sense to serve double duty as a home automation hub. Of course, it still could handle many of those tasks via other means. Works with Nest anyone?
Ah, so maybe this isn't quite as cool as I thought. The apps are paired via Bluetooth, it's only the addition of voice for transport controls. Better than a sharp stick in the eye. But I want more native apps that don't require a phone in the mix.
https://twitter.com/jfinkelstein/status/561306474316431360
I've tweaked the article after receiving Jeff's tweet and testing Pandora.