Amazon’s wireless speaker with voice assistance, Echo, is set to go on sale for general customers starting 14 July for $179.99.
The 9.25-inch cylindrical device was launched in November last year, and was available exclusively to selected Amazon Prime members for $99.
Echo is equipped with seven microphones and has beam-forming technology, which allows the device to receive voice commands from any part of the room and listen to commands even while playing music.
Amazon Echo also connects to cloud-based voice service Alexa to answer user’s queries, a function which is similar to that of Google Now and Apple’s Siri.
The wireless device is capable of on-device keyword spotting which helps it to detect a wake word, and after detection of the word Echo streams audio to the cloud.
Alexia voice service then decodes the query and responds to the users request with relevant information.
It can also play music from streaming services like Amazon music and Pandora.
The device is also capable of controlling WeMo-enabled smart switches and Philips Hue lights, and apart from enabling users to turn on and off the light, Echo will also let users to tweak the brightness of Philips Hue lights.
Echo can be connected to user’s home network with a simple setup, guided by the free companion app on Android, iOS, Fire OS, and desktop browsers.
Amazon Echo vice president Greg Hart said: "The customer response to Amazon Echo has been incredibly positive, and we’ve been working hard to build more as quickly as possible.
"We are grateful to our early customers for their incredible engagement and for providing us with invaluable feedback to help shape Echo as it evolves — with their help, we’ve been able to add features like Audible, Pandora, home automation, sports scores, calendar, and more."
