丰富多彩的亚马逊Echo系列产品：：五款新品让Alexa如影随形

在不久前亚马逊Alexa活动的伊始，亚马逊设备与服务部门高级副总裁大卫·林普宣布对大受欢迎的亚马逊Echo Dot音箱进行升级。在亚马逊总部Spheres（由多个种满了绿植的玻璃穹顶温室组成），林普向听众们介绍了大获成功的Echo Dot的自然进化历程，新Echo Dot拥有更响亮、更清晰的声音以及更赏心悦目的织物构造外壳。

在经历了一个小时的发布会之后——期间发布了十几款新产品，人们可以明显地感受到，亚马逊各类设备的核心——语音助手技术Alexa——自面世以来经历了飞速的增长，在过去四年中似乎已经进入了人们生活的方方面面。好吧，至少这是亚马逊的愿望。

借助Echo系列的五款新品，这位电商巨头希望Alexa能够成为人们如影随形的伴侣。

At the beginning of Amazon’s Alexa event recently, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services Dave Limp announced an update to the massively popular Amazon Echo Dot. Addressing a crowd in the Spheres, the collection of glass-domed, plant-filled conservatories at Amazon’s headquarters, Limp described how with louder, crisper sound and a more pleasant fabric housing, the new Echo Dot was a natural evolution of a wildly successful product.

But more than an hour—and over a dozen new product reveals—later, it became clear that Alexa, the voice-enabled assistant technology underlying Amazon’s devices, has been growing so fast in the four years since its launch that it’s approaching ubiquity. Or at least that’s what Amazon hopes.

These five new Amazon Echo products reveal how the e-commerce giant hopes to put Alexa everywhere you are.

Amazon Echo Dot

林普称，尽管Echo Dot被公司称之为有史以来最畅销的音箱，但亚马逊从零开始对Echo Dot进行了重新设计。Dot的新织物构造工业设计有助于其提供更大的音量（而且这也得益于Dot内置了一个更大尺寸的喇叭单元）。与老款一样，新Echo Dot可通过蓝牙或音频接口进行连接。其价格依然如旧，49美元，下个月开始发售。

According to Limp, Amazon went back to the drawing board with its redesign of the Amazon Echo Dot, which the company is calling the best-selling speaker, ever. The Dot’s new fabric-based industrial design helps it to deliver more powerful sound (and the fact that they’ve crammed a larger driver in the device helps). As previously, the Echo Dot can be used to connect to other devices via Bluetooth or audio input. It also keeps the same price, $49 starting next month.

Amazon Echo Clock

在这类发布会上，新产品通常都会被小心隐藏，但整个上午，亚马逊的Echo Wall Clock在出场之前都一直在以真面目示人。实际上，它是一款内置麦克的模拟钟表，并配备了Alexa技术，颇为适合用于定时，而这也是该平台最常用的功能之一。然而，Echo Clock与Echo Dot这类扬声器的真正区别在于，其发光的刻度显示的是定时器的剩余时间。它还有一项附加功能，由于与互联网相连，这款29美元的钟表可自动调整为夏令时，或至少它会在今年晚些时候发货时配备这一功能。

Though products are typically kept under wraps at events like these, the Amazon Echo Wall Clock stared attendees in the face all morning long—until it was beckoned. Basically, an analog clock with an embedded microphone, this Alexa-enabled timepiece is great for setting timers—one of the platform’s most-used skills. But where the Echo Clock sets itself apart from speakers like the Echo Dot, its dial lights up to show how much time remains on the timer. And as a bonus, because its connected to the internet, the $29 clock will set itself come Daylight Savings time, or at least it will when it ships later this year.

Amazon Echo Auto

Echo Auto设备是亚马逊近期宣布的最有抱负的产品之一。林普在介绍这款产品时指出，“别被这款设备的尺寸给欺骗了。”虽然它的尺寸只有一盒扑克牌大，但却拥有一个八麦克阵列，能够与汤罐大小的Echo Plus相媲美。在充斥着道路噪音、澎湃的音乐声以及加热器或空调风噪的车中，这些额外的耳朵还是十分必要的。

安全、快速的系统启动同样重要，而且这一系统在车辆启动时（或启动后不久）便会处于待命状态。它能够通过蓝牙和辅助耳机插口与现有的汽车系统相连，也可以与手机相连。Echo Auto的设计初衷在于让Alexa融入驾驶环境操作系统，去你想去的地方，而且能够辨识地点。这款产品听起来似乎十分复杂，而这也是为什么当前仅对受邀人士开放的原因。这款产品的价格目前尚未公布。

One of Amazon’s most ambitious products announced recently was its Echo Auto device. “Do not let the size of this device fool you,” said Limp of the product, which is about the size of a deck of cards and beasts an eight-mic array that rivals the big soup can-sized Amazon Echo Plus. And with road noise, music blaring, and the heater or air conditioner blowing, those extra ears are necessary.

But also necessary was a secure, fast-booting system that is ready to go when the car starts (or shortly thereafter). Connecting to existing autos’ systems via Bluetooth, auxiliary audio jacks, and to phones (for mobile data), the idea behind Echo Auto is to make Alexa into an ambient operating system that goes where you do—and is location aware. If it sounds challenging, it is—and that’s why its currently invitation-only with no listed price as of this time.

Amazon Basics Microwave

从表面上看，将Alexa融入微波炉似乎是一件很容易的事情，但事实上并非如此。微波炉的工作波段是2.4Ghz，它会让无线网络失灵，而且微波炉的用户界面依然在沿用上个世纪70年代的设计。新亚马逊Basics Microwave在控制台面上增添了语音控制，因此人们可以像戈登·拉姆齐那样对着微波炉发号施令。

例如，只需将土豆放进微波炉（这是亚马逊用过的案例），然后说“一个土豆”（不是“两个土豆、三个土豆或四个”），然后这款智能大厨便会设定最佳的烹饪时间（6分24秒，如果你就是想刨根问底的话）。如果想多烹饪一会，只需说“Alexa，让微波炉多烹饪30秒。”

如今，你可能认为自己并不需要带语音控制的微波炉，这一点倒是无可厚非。但亚马逊会给你一个购买它的充分理由：“它在今年晚些时候的发售价为59美元。”

Slipping Alexa smarts into a microwave might seem easy on the face of it, but it’s really not. Microwaves work on the 2.4Ghz spectrum, which drives Wi-Fi bonkers, and they have a user interface that was conceived of in the 1970s. The new Amazon Basics Microwave adds voice control to the countertop oven, so you can bark orders at your appliances like you’re Gordon Ramsey.

For example, simply pop a potato into the microwave (that was the example Amazon used) and say “one potato” (not “two potatoes, three potatoes, four”) and the smart cooker will reply by firing up with the ideal cooking time (6:24, if you must know). Want to add time, simply say “Alexa, add 30 seconds to the microwave.”

Now, you may think you don’t need a voice-enabled microwave, and you’re probably right. But Amazon has one good reason why you do: It will cost $59 when it launches later this year.

Amazon Smart Plug

智能插座如今似乎是一抓一大把，考虑到这些插座繁琐的安装程序，它们倒也值那个钱。然而，亚马逊的24.99美元的新插座并不仅仅是开关那么简单。事实上，就亚马逊新启动的简易安装动议而言，亚马逊Smart Plug智能插座可谓是真正的先行者。基本上在亚马逊看来，任何智能设备的安装都应该采用即插即用模式。

林普亲自演示了这个流程，如果这款插座真能像其所宣传的那样，那么亚马逊可能会通过这一模式赢得大众的芳心。林普将电灯插入亚马逊智能插座，然后将其插入墙上的插座板。亚马逊Echo Plus在不到30秒的时间检测到了“智能插座1”，并询问林普是否需要对其重新命名。他告诉Alexa将其命名为“卧室灯”。不一会，林普说：“Alexa，关掉卧室灯。”然后，电灯便顺从地熄灭了。

亚马逊希望未来一切产品都应该采取这种运行模式。但林普认为，新推出的简易安装难以在全球各地立即推而广之。他不止一次地说道：“需要一定的时间。”这没什么好大惊小怪的，通常这类事情无法一蹴而就。（财富中文网）

译者：冯丰

审稿：夏林

Smart plugs may seem like a dime a dozen—and for how frustrating they can be, they ought to cost that much. But Amazon’s new $24.99 wonder packs more than just on-and-off capabilities. In fact, the Amazon Smart Plug is really a front for the company’s new frustration-free installation initiative. Basically, the company thinks that installing any smart device should be as easy as plugging it in.

Limp walked through the process himself, and if it works at advertised, Amazon might win over the masses with this approach. He plugged a light into the Amazon Smart Plug and plugged it into the wall. Less than 30 seconds later, his Amazon Echo Plus recognized the “Smart Plug 1” and asked him if he wanted to rename it. He told Alexa to rename it as “bedroom light.” Then, a moment later, he said “Alexa, turn off bedroom light,” and, brilliantly, it went dark.

Amazon hopes everything will work this way in the future, but Limp admitted that the new frustration-free installation won’t be everywhere, immediately. “It will take us a while.,” he said more than once. That’s not a surprise—usually these things take time.