Amazon shows off a robot, a thermostat and more at its big 2021 event

Speaker 1: Amazon just announced a robot. It has cup holders. It has a Periscope camera. It is awesome and cute and terrifying. And we're going to talk about it and everything else that they announced in their huge fall event right now. So yeah, Amazon showed off a robot and a whole bunch of other stuff, just like they normally do at a fall event, we get buckets of new products and this year was no different [00:00:30] for those keeping score. The new hardware includes the Astro, the echo show, 15, the echo glow, a halo smart band with an Aled screen and Amazon smart thermostat ring has some new products, including new blink cams. Amazon has a whole bunch of new software and a new neural processor. And we're gonna talk about all of those things in turn right now. Speaker 1: Let's start on the Astro, cuz of [00:01:00] course we're gonna start on the, it is a robot and it has cute eyes that are expressive and on stage they had it beatbox for some reason, but it will have Amazon's assistant built in for voice controls. More importantly, it should be able to navigate through your home autonomously, avoiding peak people and pets or following them. If you so choose to tell it to do that, it's gonna have a whole bunch [00:01:30] of smarts and make use of a handful of these new software upgrades, including the faster processor to be able to recognize faces and voices and sounds, it will be able to follow you around when you're on a video call, it'll be able to patrol your home when you're not there. It does seem really cool. And on the back it has what sure looks to me like cup holders. Speaker 1: So you put the beverage in and you send it to the significant other who's [00:02:00] watching TV, which is cool. It all also has a Periscope cam, which just kind of juts out the back of its head to go look at your counter or check on something that is above its field of view. Cuz it's kind of a short little guy which helps make it seem less threatening, which is good. Cuz it's an Amazon product that can patrol your home. It's coming out later this year invite only for a thousand bucks. So [00:02:30] it's not gonna be cheap and not readily accessible yet. This is Amazon's experimental wing, which normally gives us stuff like a Bluetooth clock. This time we get a robot complete with a autonomous mapping. It does seem really cool and we'll see if it ever rolls out widely and even short of that. Speaker 1: We're gonna test it as soon as we can get our hands on it. Speaking of things that move around your house, what about something that you attach [00:03:00] to your wall and it never moves again. It's the echo show 15, which is a big upgrade to their echo show 10 and it is still a smart display that you would want to Walmart for some reason. I mean it is nice that this will have a 15.6 inch screen, 10 80 P and they're rolling out a few new features to these smart display, such as widgets that you can customize to pull up a calendar and [00:03:30] smart home features. So you can just pull up a live feed of a camera without going away from the recipe or whatever else is on the screen. You'll be able to switch to a photo mode so that if you are hanging it on a wall, it's not going through all of your info. Speaker 1: It's just showing nice pictures from when you're out Fring in a field or whatever. So it does look cool and it's nice to have a new, bigger version of an echo show. Even if [00:04:00] it's kind of in that weird middle ground, 15 inches, isn't gonna be enough if you really want to sit down and watch TV and it's gonna be obviously much bigger and bulkier than their echo show 10 or their echo show eight. So alongside the echo show, 15, Amazon is rolling out their new a two processor, which is going to be 22 times faster than the AZ one and is going to allow the device to have facial recognition. So when you [00:04:30] walk into the room, it can show you your personalized calendar music. You recently played sticky notes that another family member left for you. So that could be a cool edition. Speaker 1: It is similar to what the nest hub max already does. So it'll be interesting to see how Amazon tries to differentiate the feature here, but new, faster processor. It's a good thing. And 250 bucks, which is the same as the echo show 10. [00:05:00] So at the very, at least they're offering options without raising the price too much or at all on the affordable side of things. Amazon is releasing a smart thermostat for only 60 bucks, which is a really appealing price, especially compared to nests latest thermostat, which is 130. Amazon has partnered with Honeywell here. So it will work with most HVAC systems. And it's slightly strange that Honeywell is partnering with Amazon from their end because [00:05:30] they have their own smart thermostats, which we kind of like, but Amazon's assistant will of course come packaged in. You'll be able to use Amazon hunches so that when your home or way it can change the temperature and it will work with routines. Speaker 1: So you can give a voice command like goodnight and it will adjust the thermostat accordingly 60 bucks. And it's coming out on November 4th next up the Amazon glow, which is a smart display [00:06:00] specifically designed for kids. Now, Andrew, you might say doesn't Amazon already have an echo show, five kids edition, I'd say, yeah, but this one projects, a little interoperable map in front of the display and it's touch sensitive it. So kids will be able to interact with puzzles and games on the surface in front of the display. And they'll be able to be on a video call and see the face of the person on the display itself and better [00:06:30] yet the person on the other end can play a lot using a tablet. They'll also be able to, to interact with whatever puzzle that the kid is working on, which does seem like a cool addition. Speaker 1: So the 19 inch projected space will also work with physical objects. It can sense touch and all that sort of stuff, but your child will be able to scan in their a favorite toy and use it as [00:07:00] a puzzle piece or a sticker or as any number of objects in the space. And it has an 18 inch screen. You'll be able to pre-select contacts. It has a physical shutter and it does seem like a cool way of letting out of town, family members actually part pay in the games with their loved ones. The app for your out of town, family members is going to be free for your tablet for kids. You're probably gonna want that Amazon kids plus subscription. [00:07:30] Fortunately Amazon is upgrading it with new content from Disney Nickelodeon, Mattel and Sesame workshop. So look for thousands of games and interactive puzzles and the like, which should be enough to keep your kid entertained for a little bit. Speaker 1: Especially if that projection area is as responsive as you would hope it would be. And finally, the last piece of hardware that Amazon announced, there's still other stuff from ring [00:08:00] and software upgrades. We gotta talk about too, but hardware, Amazon halo view, which is a fitness band with an ammo led screen, it's going to have seven days of battery life, which is kind of impressive. It's going to have an $80 price. You're gonna be able to swim in it and gonna monitor all the stuff you'd expect from a fitness band. And they're rolling it out with a few new subscription programs, including halo, fitness and halo nutrition. The first [00:08:30] one will give you access to classes. The second one will help you curate recipes and it will all be included in the halo tracking fitness app, which you get a full year of included. If you purchase the halo view again, $80 price coming out later this year. Speaker 1: Okay. Before I talk about all the new Amazon software, there's a lot, let's go over what ring announced. First off that drone security camera from last [00:09:00] year was here. Again, it looks closer to being finished and it is now up for invite only prepurchase. So if you're interested in having a ring security camera fly through your house, complete with various privacy baggage, check out the link. We're gonna have a deep dive into ring in the channel later on, too. So stay tuned for that. But in brief, the other stuff they announced is a ring alarm pro, which they're [00:09:30] combining a security system with a wifi six route they're partnering with hero, which makes sense. They're both Amazon brands. They're going to have custom alerts. So you can train a ring camera to look at your garage and be like, Hey, that garage door is closed. Speaker 1: And then you submit another picture of the garage door being open so that if you leave it open at a time or for a duration, you don't attend. You get an alert. Ring is also going to have people watching [00:10:00] your security cameras. If you want, it's called ring virtual security guard. It's a subscription service. And they're saying mostly the right things that you can really fine tune what you want them looking out for and you can arm and disarm it with the taps so that no one's watching your cameras. If you don't want them to. And it's only for your outside security cameras for now, plus the people watching your cameras, won't actually contact emergency authorities [00:10:30] unless they clearly see a crime in progress. Otherwise, what they'll be doing is using the mics on those cams to warn possible intruders off. It sounds cool if only slightly dystopian finally ring mentioned ring edge, which lets you use SD cards for local processing and local video storage. Speaker 1: They have a ring security system for sites and ring is helping to roll [00:11:00] out a trio of new blink devices, including a video doorbell, an outdoor cam and a solar powered cam. Again, more details on all of that. Check out the upcoming video and deep dive in the CNET YouTube channel. And that's it as far as hardware is concerned, but they also upgraded the software side in quite a few key ways which will help these new hardware pieces feel that much more robust [00:11:30] when they come out. But one of these new software upgrades is mostly just for fun. Amazon partnered with Disney on a new custom assistant called appropriately, Hey Disney, you'll be able to interact with this assistant to talk to some of your favorite characters. Chewbacca was there goofy Nemo, and you'll be able to play games, access Easter eggs. The Hey Disney assistant is going to have even more features. Speaker 1: [00:12:00] If you're at a Disney hotel, Disney is going to be adding echo show fives to a number of its resorts and there, Hey, Disney will be able to order towels for you and check on the next bus to Epcot and even find the nearest place for Italian food. It sounds kind of useful. And when you're at a Disney resort, I'm sure you're gonna wake it up a bunch of times accidentally anyway. So it might as well be useful at home. You're [00:12:30] gonna be able to talk to Disney characters, which is great, I guess, except you're gonna have to pay for the custom skill, which is, sounds like Disney. I guess we've got a video deep dive on this one as well. Stay tuned to the channel. And also note this isn't the first time that Amazon is rolling out a specific custom assistant as Verizon might be doing this on their own upcoming smart display. Speaker 1: So we're seeing a wider variety of Amazon applications [00:13:00] used by big brands to maybe sell their stuff. One of the other cool new software upgrades is that Amazon is gonna be rolling out more local processing for their voice commands. So a in the echo show 10 and the current generation echo speakers, the processor will be able to understand and respond to your command without pinging the cloud, which should help for faster responses. [00:13:30] And it should help keep peace of mind for those who worried about their privacy. The last big software upgrade that Amazon rolled out is called Amazon together. Again, it's the actual name of the system, but Amazon together is an upgrade to their care hub, which would let you use smart displays and smart speakers to keep track of the activity of an elderly relative. What this will do is add [00:14:00] monitoring services on at a subscription level, it's gonna cost kind of an expensive $20 a month, but then hands free. Speaker 1: If your elderly relative takes a tumble, they'll be able to make a call to emergency services and get the help they need right away. Plus you'll be able to set it up so that multiple people can monitor the activity of one of your relatives for a single subscription. So you can add on multiple siblings that you have to [00:14:30] help watch out for mom and dad, or if a neighbor it wants to help, they can join in well. And that is it totally finally completely. I swear, I'm 95% sure. I covered every single thing that Amazon talked about. And it was a lot my goodness. I think they Speaker 2: Enjoy doing this, just like dumping a whole bunch of info on everybody once a year, but there really is some exciting stuff here. I'm kind [00:15:00] of skeptical about the echo show 15, but I'm legitimately excited if nervous about Astro because I love robots and I want a good helper, a robot rolling around with its cute little eyes and beatboxing, for some reason I want to test it out in all these new products and we will, as soon as we get our hands on, 'em complete with all the new software upgrades. So stay tuned to the channel much more to come. Thank you for watching. Check out links below for pre-order [00:15:30] info and articles and all the other stuff you might want to know about this event. And again, thanks for watching hit the thumbs up button. If you enjoyed the video and stay tuned to CNET for more. And of course the light Jesus Christ, I I'm just taking it. That's it.