We’ve finally seen our first glimpse of Alexa+, Amazon’s new subscription-based, AI-bolstered voice assistant, and it has me eating my hat.
No, not because of its new, exciting features, nor because of Alexa’s new, more personable nature, but because just a few days ago, I was dunking on the Echo Show 15.
I can separate my personal feelings from my ability to review a piece of tech, which is why the Echo Show 15 scored a respectable four out of five stars in my review. Still, as I noted then, I couldn’t fathom why Amazon decided it needed a refresh when so little had changed from the original Echo Show 15.
Now, I understand entirely, and it’s all to do with Alexa+.
A display-first Alexa
At the demo we attended in New York City this week, pretty much all of the demonstrations for Alexa+ were run on an Echo Show 21, which immediately struck my colleague Jake Krol as an interesting indicator for the future of Echo Show devices. Not a single one of Amazon’s best smart speakers were on display, and we’ve got little to no idea how Alexa+ may interface as a voice-only smart assistant.
However, for me personally, it served as another reminder that sometimes, these big brands have more in store for their devices than we can imagine.
While testing the second-generation Echo Show 15, I was pleased with many of the upgrades but couldn’t quite fathom why Amazon felt the need to update a device so minimally. The audio has been improved, the now-13MP camera has a wider field, but generally speaking, it’s a very iterative update.
For a long time, Echo Show devices have been slightly more on the periphery for Amazon’s Echo smart speaker and display devices, especially in the larger 15 inch screen variation. Following my review process, my overwhelming feeling was that Amazon still didn’t know what to do with the Echo Show 15; it supports the Fire TV interface and now comes with an included Fire TV remote, but the audio chops and display mean the device can’t replace the best small TVs.
Add to that the fact that you can’t swap out the standard Echo Show user interface for the snazzy new smart-home first interface introduced on the Echo Hub, and I felt pretty justified in my criticisms of the fence-sitting feature set – how wrong I was.
A smarter Show future
From what we’ve seen so far, Alexa+ isn’t just an AI-based improvement upon the original smart home voice assistant; it’s actually a complete rethink of how we interact with Amazon’s voice assistant.
In addition to a litany of new features and improved smarts, Alexa+ relies heavily on touch-based interactions with the display to respond to Alexa’s suggestions and interact with different widgets on the home screen. You can use Alexa+ for improved media searching, pull up important home documentation and feeds from compatible home security devices, and even use Alexa for booking reservations, cabs, and tickets through third-party services. All around, Alexa takes a more agentic role in the home now, which is more easily delivered through a screen than voice alone.
Add to that the fact that Amazon will be rolling out Alexa+ to users who have an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21 in their home (but it will be compatible with a wider range of products), and you begin to build a picture of why Amazon might be moving to more priority on its smart displays than smart speakers. That, and the fact that the brand hasn’t quite been able to monetize the fundamental interactions between customers and their smart speakers, to the tune of $25 billion between 2017 and 2021.
I can admit when I’m wrong (but I still think I’m right)
All this is to say that I underestimated the new second-generation Echo Show 15 and the all-new Echo Show 21; with Alexa+, these devices can work well both as media centers and smart displays… if you have Alexa+
However, a lot of my criticism still stands, and I’m never best pleased by standalone devices where added subscription costs dictate value. Alexa+ costs $19.99 or comes for free as part of an Amazon Prime membership – at least, for now, but the Echo Show 15 and 21 aren’t cheap devices at $299 / £299 and £399 / $399, respectively.
As standalone devices without an Alexa+ description, these bigger Show displays still feel a little out on a limb compared to the well-rounded, smaller smart displays we’ve seen from Amazon and some of its competition.
That leaves me thinking that, really, the target audience Amazon is trying to carve out for its larger displays is those who are most interested in Alexa+, which is a slightly frustrating predicament when we’ve got little to no insight or control over the long-term pricing strategy. If Amazon rolls out a similar approach to its Ring subscription plan, which has seen several controversial rounds of iterations in recent years, Alexa+ enthusiasts who do invest in a larger Echo Show device might find themselves frustrated when they no longer afford or use Alexa+ and the device isn’t quite as useful as it once was.
However, I’d be quite surprised if we see any major changes to the value proposition of Alexa+ or, indeed, Amazon’s larger Echo Shows for a good few years, so it might pay to be an early adopter.
Time will tell; perhaps when we get our hands on Alexa+, we can just ask it for answers.