What is Amazon Echo? Amazon Echo Review, Features

Amazon Echo is a smart speaker released by Amazon on November 6, 2014. Amazon Echo has three versions, namely the entry-level Dot, the standard Echo, and the portable Tap. The appearance of Echo is no different from that of ordinary Bluetooth speakers, and there is no screen. The only way to interact is voice. Alexa is the brain of Echo, and all input and output information is processed by it. With simple voice commands, you can complete many daily chores.

Function

Play music; make to-do lists; listen to the news; place online shopping orders; set alarms; call an Uber; order takeout; music and audiobooks; provide weather, traffic and other real-time information.

Operation Overview

1. In default mode, the device continuously listens for all voices and starts working only when it hears the wake-up word. The default wake-up word is "Alexa", which can be changed by the user to "Amazon", "Echo" or "Computer". The device also comes with a manual and voice-activated remote control that can be used to replace the "wake-up word".

2. The Echo's microphone can be manually disabled by pressing the mute button to turn off the audio processing circuitry.

3. Echo's voice recognition function is based on Amazon Web Services and the voice platform acquired by Amazon from Yap Evi and IVONA.

4. Echo works well over "good" (low-latency) internet connections, minimizing processing time due to minimal communication round trips, streaming responses, and geographically distributed service endpoints.

5. Echo requires a wireless network connection to work. Echo works well over a "good" (low latency) Internet connection, which minimizes processing time due to minimal communication round trips, streaming responses, and geographically distributed service endpoints.

6. Although the app is free, it requires an Amazon account and cannot be installed without an installer.

Voice System

Echo's voice is derived from Speech Unit technology, which achieves high voice accuracy through sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) algorithms built into Echo's text-to-speech (TTS) engine.

Software Updates

Echo features are released regularly as Amazon releases new software. In addition to containing enhancements, most new versions will also fix bugs. New versions are pushed to devices gradually, so it may take anywhere from a few days to a week or more for a specific device to be updated. Because much of the Echo's intelligence is in the cloud, Echo can get significant feature enhancements without having to update the version of software it's running. For example, in April 2015, Echo added the ability to stream live sports games without having to update the version of software running on the device.

hardware

Echo hardware package includes:

1. Texas Instruments DM3725 ARM Cortex-A8 processor;

2. 256MB LPDDR1 RAM;

3. 4GB storage space;

4. Echo provides dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) for voice control of connected mobile devices, supports audio streaming and Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP).

5. Echo also provides a simple control remote control.

6. The action button on the top of the Echo is used to set up the user network in a new location, and the mute button can turn off the microphone. The upper part of the Echo rotates to increase or decrease the speaker volume. Since there is no built-in battery, it must be plugged into an adapter to run.

Amazon Echo and Amazon's Choice

1. Echo will make recommendations based on the customer's previous purchase history (Order History), collection history (Wish List), and search history (Search History).

2. If the customer has previously performed operations on the Amazon platform that meet the above conditions, Amazon will directly recommend products with Amazon's choice.