Amazon Debuts Voice-Assisted Echo Speakers in India From Rs 4,499

Hello Alexa! The voice-assisted speakers Echo from Amazon is finally here.

Amazon comes to India with three variants of Echo speakers. 

(Photo: Courtesy: Amazon India)

Your wait is over. Amazon finally brings its Echo range of voice-assisted speakers to India. The range offers three different-sized speakers, with prices starting from Rs 4,499, which will be available only to a select few buyers from 31 October onwards.

The launch of Echo also marks the entry of Amazon’s Siri rival, Alexa, in the Indian market. In addition, select Echo buyers get an exclusive preview subscription to Amazon Prime Music.

Types of Amazon Echo:

• Echo Dot: Rs 4,499
• Amazon Echo: Rs 9,999
• Echo Plus: Rs 14,999

What is Echo and How does it Work?

Echo is a wireless speaker along as well as a voice command device from Amazon. These guys have given us Kindle, and now, they want to satisfy our entertainment needs with this wireless gadget.

Also Read: Voice-Assisted Speakers Are the Future, but Are We Ready for Them?

It’s basically a cylindrical speaker that is 9.25-inches tall, and just like your iPhone responds to ‘Siri’, Amazon Echo responds to ‘Alexa’.

The Echo hardware includes ARM Cortex-A8 processor that’s backed by 256MB of LPDDR1 RAM and 4GB of storage space. The connectivity is via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

What Echo Dot looks like.  (Photo: Courtesy: Amazon India)

Amazon claims that the high speech accuracy is achieved through sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) algorithms built into the Echo’s text-to-speech (TTS) engine. And the best part is that even if it’s playing music, it can still hear you speak.

Also Read: What’s the Big Deal About Amazon Echo and Is It Coming to India?

How to set up Echo at your home.  (Photo: Courtesy: Amazon India)

The speaker is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather and traffic updates, as well as other real-time information. It can also control several smart devices.

In India, Amazon has customised the use of Alexa, adding localised features, and partnering with Indian apps like Times of India, Zomato, Syska and Savvn for music among others.

Alexa delivers a customised Indian experience, including an all-new English voice with local pronunciations and intonation; support for music titles, names, and places in additional non-English languages; local knowledge; and local skills from Indian developers.

Amazon India

Post the invite-only period, the Echo range speakers will head over to offline stores like Croma and Reliance Digital.