Amazon is working on a premium “Echo-like” speaker powered by the company’s voice assistant Alexa, according to a latest report from Bloomberg. The speaker is expected to come with a 7-inch touchscreen.
Citing sources familiar to the matter, the report said the premium variant of the Echo will undergo a major design overhaul different from its current cylindrical one. The touchscreen will mainly make it easier for users to access content such as weather forecasts, calendar appointments, and news. Giving details about the design, the report added that the new Echo speaker will be larger in size tilt upwards so a user while standing can access the screen. Along with the touchscreen, the new Echo will have much-improved speakers. It will run on a modified version of Fire OS which is the Android-based OS that powers Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets.
A report from WSJ in May said that Amazon is working on a tablet-like device that is code-named as ‘Knight”. Earlier this year, Google released Google Home voice activated personal assitance. A different report from Bloomberg in September claimed tha Apple is working on an Amazon Echo-like smart-home device based on the Siri voice assistant.
The new permium Echo speaker could be announced as early as the first quarter of 2017, added the report. There is no word on the pricing of the speaker but it will cost more than the current Echo that retails at $179.