Amazon wearables launch with Echo Frames smart glasses, Echo Loop ring
Alongside a host of other announcements, Amazon has debuted smart glasses called Echo Frames and a ring named the Echo Loop, all aimed at integrating Alexa further into people's lives.
The Echo Frames are audio-only, with no camera or screen. The eyeglasses weigh 31 grams, and will allow the user to connect to Amazon services including Alexa at a tap.
The glasses use directional microphones and speakers that focus the audio input and output toward the user. The software for the frames will have a "VIP filter" to keep notifications to a bare minimum while you're wearing the glasses.
The Echo Loop finger ring has a titanium frame, with two microphones activated by a press of a button on the bottom. The ring will notify users of a notification with a small motor in the device.
The Echo Loop has a similar invite-only purchase process, and will sell in "limited quantities" for $129.99.
The Echo Frames are audio-only, with no camera or screen. The eyeglasses weigh 31 grams, and will allow the user to connect to Amazon services including Alexa at a tap.
The glasses use directional microphones and speakers that focus the audio input and output toward the user. The software for the frames will have a "VIP filter" to keep notifications to a bare minimum while you're wearing the glasses.
Echo Frames will retail for a $179.99 "special invite price" and will be limited to only those that Amazon allows to purchase at launch. A timetable for release is not yet available.Smart specs! Echo Frames let you use @alexa99 on the go and keep your hands, ears, and eyes free. https://t.co/ugT22XhFIn pic.twitter.com/aku0fCuwbV
-- Amazon News (@amazonnews)
The Echo Loop finger ring has a titanium frame, with two microphones activated by a press of a button on the bottom. The ring will notify users of a notification with a small motor in the device.
The Echo Loop has a similar invite-only purchase process, and will sell in "limited quantities" for $129.99.
Both systems need to be tethered to a smartphone -- iPhone included -- to function.The new Echo Loop ring is enabled with @alexa99 to provide more information at your fingertips - literally. https://t.co/ugT22XhFIn pic.twitter.com/xOr4lgvFtV
-- Amazon News (@amazonnews)
Comments
Complete with invasive spying, and advertisements as we regenerate...
YMMV.
What do they do better than earbuds?
Well, at least Alexa is the Siri knockoff that is taking attention away from Googles crap. Gotta love fragmentation.
One Ring to spy them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to sell them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Amazon where the Shadows lie.
Tint the lenses to a desired degree and you have sunglasses. And there are already a lot of people wearing glasses that would make this a very logical decision.
Yes, you still need your phone, just like you do with Apple non-LTE Watches, and like you do for things LTE Watches can't do. You just don't need your phone in your hand nearly as much.
Who knows, do you? What do you think you know about a product that's not even out yet? My guess is that they don't block your ears when they're not needed, yet unlike earbuds, they don't need to be removed when not in use, and don't interfere with person to person conversation.
So unlike your implications, I'd say that these products are subject to individual preferences.
The Echo Frames look a little bulky to me, and are more Clark Kent Clunk than Cruise Wayfarers. So even with tinted lenses, I'd pass. That and I'm not that big of an Alexa user, and not at all when out of the house. Maybe that could change by the time these are iOS compatible.
The ring is almost a different story. I don't wear them (long time habit of former work-related liability, ripped-off fingers are disconcerting) and the Loop is also a bit bulky. But when a fitness and Siri-aware device, that could change. Wearing watches since the military and for work, they're second nature and I feel naked without one. Still not a ring guy.