Amazon introduced a Prime Early Access Sale earlier this week (aka Prime Day 2.0), however right this moment, the corporate took the wraps off of some new {hardware} it has been cooking up over the previous 12 months. That contains new Echo speakers, as regular, however there are some surprises too, such because the Kindle Scribe—the primary Kindle you possibly can scribble on—and a bedside sleep tracker referred to as the Halo Rise.
Here’s the whole lot Amazon introduced right this moment. The majority of those new gadgets will ship in 100% recyclable packaging within the US.
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A Kindle You Can Doodle On
One of the options we like greatest about the Kindle is that as an ebook reader, it’s a comparatively reasonably priced, single-use gadget. However, as Amazon provides new fashions, the price has crept up. Today, Amazon debuted the primary Kindle you possibly can write on. The Kindle Scribe has a ten.2-inch display, which is decidedly bigger than any present Kindle. The front-lit show is in any other case just like the Paperwhite, with 300 pixels per inch (PPI) and adjustable heat gentle, but it surely additionally comes with a battery-free pen. Now you possibly can annotate books, write in your journal, and mark up PDFs proper out of your Kindle. Next 12 months, you’ll be capable of ship marked-up paperwork instantly from Microsoft Word.
It will probably be out there earlier than the vacations and prices $340 with the pen included, a step up from the expensive Kindle Oasis however just like different E Ink note-taking tablets just like the ReMarkable 2. You get 4 months of Kindle Unlimited and free cloud storage too. —Adrienne So
New Echo Speakers
You’re in luck should you desire Alexa over Google Assistant—Amazon has up to date 5 of its Echo devices. The Echo Dot ($50) and Echo Dot With Clock ($60) every get a brand new customized full-range driver for better-sounding music (with double the bass!). There’s additionally a neat new sensor that provides Alexa the power to carry out a activity based mostly on the room’s temperature, so your good fan can mechanically kick on when it will get too heat. These two fashions add gesture controls too, so you possibly can faucet the highest of the Dot to dismiss a timer or management music. The Echo Dot Kids ($60) will get new owl and dragon designs, and in addition will get a few of the identical enhancements because the fifth-generation Dots.
We already thought the earlier Echo Studio had the best sound quality of the bunch, however the new upgrade ($200) provides spatial audio processing and “frequency range extension” that ought to higher fill your area with sound. Already personal the older Studio? A software program replace will add these audio upgrades without cost mechanically. Then there’s the brand new Echo Auto ($55), which places Alexa in your automotive in a a lot smaller physique than the final model. The new mannequin contains 5 microphones, so that you don’t must belt “Alexa” when the heater is blasting. It additionally comes with a brand new adhesive mount. —Medea Giordano
A Bedside Sleep Tracker
Want to trace your sleep however hate carrying a smartwatch or health tracker to mattress? Say howdy to the Halo Rise—Amazon’s contactless sleep tracker. It’s hardly a brand new concept—Google’s second-gen Nest Hub has a Sleep Sensing feature to trace your sleep by way of low-energy radar, and Withings has a pad that goes under your mattress. The Halo Rise makes use of ambient radar know-how and machine studying—sans microphones or cameras. Instead, it makes use of a sleep algorithm that’s been skilled to trace respiratory patterns based mostly on a scientific information set.
