During its annual September event, Amazon unveiled the Echo Hub, an 8-inch touchscreen display designed specifically for smart home control. Serving as a dedicated control panel for Alexa, the Echo Hub comes with a price tag of $180 and is expected to be available later this year.
Equipped with built-in radios such as Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Bluetooth Low Energy, and Amazon Sidewalk, the Echo Hub allows seamless connectivity to a wide range of devices that are compatible with Alexa. With a simple tap or Alexa command, users can easily view and control their smart home devices or access their Alexa routines. While the Echo Hub doesn’t have built-in cameras, it uses infrared sensors to detect the presence of users. When not in use, the device can transform into an ambient display showcasing the time, weather, or favorite family photos.
The new Map View feature for the Alexa app, which highlights the location of your smart home devices on a map of your home that you can create and share with Amazon. The feature will be available on the Echo Hub screens in early 2024.
Notable features of the Echo Hub include the ability to view multiple camera feeds simultaneously on the display and the introduction of the Map View feature, enabling users to visualize the location of their smart home devices within a virtual home. This feature will soon be available on the Alexa app as well as the Echo Hub in early 2024.
Users have the option to mount the Echo Hub on a wall or place it on a table. Additionally, it can be connected to Ethernet as a PoE (Power over Ethernet) device. As the Echo Hub makes its debut in the upcoming months, it remains to be seen whether it can differentiate itself from other smart displays, such as the new Echo Show 8, which offers a camera for videos at a lower price of $150.
Check this out: Amazon Unveils Echo Hub
