Amazon has officially launched its most significant upgrade to its voice assistant in a decade, transforming Alexa into the more capable Alexa+. This AI-powered evolution promises to revolutionize how users interact with their smart home devices, but some tech enthusiasts are noting a curious absence in the announcement lineup.
The New Alexa+ Experience
Alexa+ represents Amazon's ambitious push into the next generation of AI assistants, designed to compete with offerings from Google, OpenAI, and other tech giants. During Amazon's recent Devices and Services event, SVP Panos Panay emphasized that the new assistant would be something that understands you, that can actually take action, capable of working with tens of thousands of services from Amazon partners. This multimodal assistant can now process visual information through device cameras, understand context better, and execute complex chains of commands across various applications.
Multimodal Intelligence and Agentic Capabilities
The upgraded assistant now features impressive multimodal capabilities, allowing it to process and respond to visual information captured by Echo Show cameras. In demonstrations, Alexa+ could describe scenes in natural language with detailed, conversational responses. More impressively, its new agentic abilities enable it to browse the internet via Alexa.com and complete tasks on partner websites. For example, it can book repair services through Thumbtack or build shopping lists with intelligent suggestions that extend beyond Amazon's own retail ecosystem.
Enhanced Conversational Abilities
Alexa+ demonstrates significantly improved conversational abilities, responding more naturally and even incorporating humor into its interactions. The assistant can now maintain context throughout extended conversations, remember specific details about users' preferences, and chain multiple commands together. During demonstrations, Alexa+ successfully recommended local restaurants via Yelp integration and remembered complex personal preferences like dietary restrictions without prompting.
Echo Show Improvements
Amazon has redesigned the Echo Show experience to complement Alexa+'s enhanced capabilities. The new home screen features adaptive displays that change based on the user's proximity to the device, showing personalized content from afar and more detailed information when approached. New widgets surface relevant information about recipes, weather, shopping lists, and connected smart home devices, making better use of the Show's screen real estate.
Advanced Media and Home Integration
Music and media control have received significant upgrades with Alexa+. Users can now make natural language queries about songs or artists they partially remember, and the assistant can intelligently direct audio playback to specific speakers throughout the home. Ring camera integration has also been enhanced, with AI-powered video search allowing Alexa+ to process recordings and answer specific questions about past events captured on camera.
Document Processing and Kid-Friendly Features
One of the most practical new features is Alexa+'s ability to process dense documents of various types. The assistant can now handle legal documents, handwritten notes, school schedules, PDFs, and more, extracting relevant information to answer questions or schedule events. For families, new kid-focused features like Explore and Stories allow Alexa+ to create interactive storytelling experiences complete with AI-generated artwork.
Pricing and Availability
Alexa+ will cost USD$19.99 per month for non-Prime members but will be included free with Amazon Prime memberships. The service will roll out over the next few weeks and subsequently in waves in the coming months, according to Amazon. Most Echo devices will support the new assistant, including the Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, though certain older generation devices like the Echo Dot 1st Gen and Echo Show 1st Gen will remain limited to the original Alexa experience.
Alexa+ Compatibility
- Supported devices: Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, most current Echo devices
- Unsupported devices: Echo Dot 1st Gen, Echo 1st Gen, Echo Plus 1st Gen, Echo Tap, Echo Show 1st Gen, Echo Show 2nd Gen, Echo Spot 1st Gen
- Also available on: Web browsers, Alexa app, compatible Fire TVs and Fire tablets
- Not currently supported: Alexa Built-in devices, Amazon Astro
Alexa+ Pricing
- USD$19.99 per month for non-Prime members
- Free for Amazon Prime members
The Missing Flagship Speaker
Despite the impressive software upgrades, many observers note a conspicuous absence in Amazon's hardware lineup. It has been five years since the release of the Amazon Echo (2020), and many expected a new flagship smart speaker to accompany the Alexa+ announcement. This absence is particularly notable given the assistant's enhanced capabilities, which would benefit from updated hardware. Tech enthusiasts are speculating about potential future Echo hardware that could feature integrated smart displays, expanded color options, ambient lighting features, improved audio quality with Dolby Atmos, and better compatibility with non-Amazon devices.
Desired Features for Next-Gen Echo Speaker
- Integrated smart display
- Expanded color options beyond black, white, blue, and grey
- Ambient lighting capabilities
- Improved audio quality with Dolby Atmos integration
- Better compatibility with non-Fire TV devices
Looking Ahead
As Amazon continues to roll out Alexa+ to compatible devices, the question of when a new flagship Echo speaker might arrive remains open. With competitors constantly updating their smart speaker hardware, the pressure is mounting for Amazon to deliver a device that can fully showcase Alexa+'s impressive new capabilities. For now, users can experience the AI assistant's evolution on existing hardware, with the promise of more to come in Amazon's smart home ecosystem.