Echo of the Amazon Cemetery – The Verge

Over the past decade, Amazon has strived for Alexa to become more than just a convenient way to start a cooking timer. To convince consumers of the potential of a smart assistant, the company has reinvented the Echo line again and again. From fashion-critic cameras to microwaves you can ask to make popcorn, the Echo’s rebirth has often felt extremely experimental, which hasn’t always gone down well with consumers.

While the Echo smart speaker has survived, many other Echo add-on products, accessories, and variations have not. They were either too weird, too over the top, or too ahead of their time to last more than a few years before quietly disappearing from Amazon’s online store.

Let’s look at the Echo products that failed to attract consumers or failed to convince Amazon that they were worth keeping.

Using a camera and built-in LED lighting, the Echo Look was able to capture full-length photos and videos of users wearing a variety of outfits, which were cataloged through a separate app and rated using “machine learning algorithms with advice from fashion experts.”

It remains one of Amazon’s most unusual and controversial Echo devices, and immediately raised concerns about privacy and artificial intelligence when it debuted in 2017. At $199.99, it was also one of the most expensive Echo add-ons. It was ultimately discontinued in 2020.

Should Amazon resurrect it? In 2017, no one needed this. Nobody needs it now.

The Tap was Amazon’s first smart speaker to unplug Alexa. It was a smart Bluetooth speaker with nine hours of battery life and a convenient charging dock. Unlike Amazon’s Echo smart speakers, the Tap required users to physically press a button to summon Alexa, but was eventually updated to ensure the smart assistant always listened to voice commands.

At $130, it was price competitive with similarly sized wireless speakers, but its smart capabilities were only available with a Wi-Fi connection. Tap was discontinued in 2018, just two years after its launch.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, not every device needs to be tapped all the time.

The first in a line of new “Alexa gadgets” that never gained widespread adoption, Echo Buttons debuted in 2017 as puck-shaped wireless buzzers that could be used for a single-player or multi-player quiz through an Echo smart speaker.

Available in two packs for $19.99, Echo Buttons were intended to expand the capabilities of Echo products as fun and playful devices, but they were discontinued after a few years as smart speakers never caught on as gaming devices.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, we have better ways to play.

After the Echo Look, the Echo Spot is the second Amazon product to bring a camera into the bedroom. The Spot, with a circular 2.5-inch screen, was a smaller, cheaper, and more sophisticated version of the Echo Show, allowing for more discreet use in the home, but it functioned best as a smart alarm clock on your bedside table.

Spot can be used for video calls, but the camera can also be turned off for those concerned about privacy. Amazon discontinued the Echo Spot in 2019 but revived it in 2024 without a camera.

Should Amazon resurrect it? It has already risen from the dead.

Echo Connect was introduced in 2017 to extend Echo calling to real phone numbers, not just other Echo devices. When plugged into a telephone jack, the small black box turned Echo smart speakers into hands-free devices that could call landline numbers, including 911.

Amazon stopped selling the hardware several years after its debut as similar functionality was added to later Echo speakers, although it was limited to a certain number of contacts and only made outgoing calls to numbers in the US, Canada and the UK.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, if only for our grandparents.

Debuting three years after the original Amazon Echo launched in 2014, the Echo Plus included an updated speaker with improved sound and aimed to be an all-in-one smart home hub. The Echo Plus was cheaper than the original and included Zigbee support, allowing it to control smart lights, outlets and locks without the need for a separate hub. But the Echo Plus didn’t have support for Z-Wave, another popular smart home protocol at the time, and it was $50 more expensive than the smaller Echo that debuted alongside it.

An updated version of the Echo Plus was announced in 2018, but the product was discontinued in 2020 as smart home technology evolved.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, now there are better smart home solutions.

The Echo wall clock, announced in 2018, did not have a microphone and was instead designed as an accessory for Echo smart speakers that displayed the current time and progress of timers using a ring of LEDs.

Amazon later partnered with Disney to create a Mickey Mouse version of the watch, and Citizen introduced alternative designs. The watch’s limited functionality and a troubled rollout, with many users experiencing connectivity issues, contributed to Amazon eventually discontinuing the watch.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, its usefulness was too limited.

Although it doesn’t have its own microphone or speaker, the $59.99 AmazonBasics Microwave was designed to connect to your home’s existing Echo devices so you can ask Alexa to microwave a potato or a bag of popcorn without having to navigate through a menu of cooking presets on your computer. the oven itself.

The ability to quickly stop the microwave with a voice command when you smell burning food was a useful feature, but the microwave was more useful as a tool for Amazon to show off its Alexa Connect Kit as it tried to convince other equipment makers to integrate its smarts. system. assistant. Four years after its debut, the microwave oven was discontinued.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, but we’ll take an air fryer with Alexa.

The Echo Input was a small puck-shaped adapter that used an audio cable or Bluetooth to provide music streaming capabilities and Amazon Alexa access to existing speakers and audio setups.

When it debuted in 2018, its ability to connect to Amazon’s smart assistant gave the Echo Input an edge over Google’s Chromecast Audio. But since other Echo products could be connected to the existing speakers, the input became unnecessary and was eventually discontinued.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No.

Echo Link and Echo Link Booster

Echo Link and Echo Link Amp offered similar functionality to Echo Input, but with features aimed at those using music services with higher quality audio streams. The $199.99 Echo Link included more output options than the Echo Input for connecting to a receiver or audio amplifier, as well as its own volume control.

As the name suggests, the $299.99 Echo Link amplifier also included a built-in 60-watt amplifier that allows you to connect directly to your speakers. Both products were intended to help Amazon compete with Sonos, but were discontinued after a few years.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, just buy Sonos.

By 2019, the compact Echo Dot became one of the best-selling products on Amazon and gained one of the most useful features that same year. The Echo Dot with Clock featured a four-digit, seven-segment LED display hidden under a fabric cover that made information like time, weather, and timers available at a glance. I

It will eventually be updated with a spherical design in 2020 and an improved LED matrix display in 2022, but this will be the last version. The Echo Dot with Clock was discontinued in 2024 and replaced by the revived Echo Spot model with a full-color LCD display.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, not every device needs a screen.

Amazon’s Echo Loop debuted in 2019 as the tiny Echo wearable smart speaker. While companies like Oura were promoting smart rings as health tracking tools, the Echo Loop had a speaker and microphones so users could talk to their hands and interact with Alexa.

Although the Echo Loop allowed discrete interactions, it had limited battery life, was expensive ($179.99), and its speaker was sometimes too quiet to hear. Smartwatches, headphones, and smart glasses proved to be the best ways to seamlessly interact with smart assistants, and Amazon discontinued the Echo Loop a year later.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, smart rings can be put to better use.

A voice-activated smart assistant is only useful if it’s close enough to hear you. The $24.99 Echo Flex, which debuted in 2019, was an affordable way to put Alexa in every room of your home.

The tiny smart speaker plugs directly into a wall outlet, and its functionality can be expanded with modular accessories including a night light, motion sensor and digital clock.

But this watch accessory brought the Echo Flex’s price closer to that of the Echo Dot with Clock, which had a better speaker for listening to music. The Echo Flex was discontinued in 2023.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, but integrate all the functionality of modular accessories.