Amazon Echo Speakers Gain New Alexa features, Cloud Cam Gets Smarter
Welcome to our weekly roundup of news about the best smart house devices and home automation gadgets you might have missed this week. Amazon added a new Follow-up Mode to their Echo speakers, making them easier to use .
Meanwhile, the Amazon Cloud Cam got upgraded with a brand new set of features bringing it on par with other devices on the market. Neato has launched their powerful smart robot vacuum cleaner, the Botvac D7. Here are the top smart house technology stories of the week!
Stories:
- Alexa’s new Follow-up Mode lets you make chained commands
- Amazon Cloud Cam now allows web streaming upgrades Alexa support
- Assistant powered Botvac D7 launched by Neato
Alexa’s new Follow-up Mode lets you make chained commands
Users of Amazon’s Echo devices are familiar with the company’s habit of adding support for new features every week or so. Amazon’s latest Echo update enables functionality for a new capability that makes using the device a lot easier.
The update changes how you use your Echo speaker when using two commands or more. Echo devices will now remain active for a few seconds after recognizing your command. This means you provide your Echo with additional commands without using the wake word again.
Honestly, this is something that a smart speaker should come with right out of the box. There’s no reason users should have to keep using the wake word each time they want to ask their device something. This is especially true when playing music with voice commands.
This new functionality only works for ‘US English’ right now, so it only applies for those of us using Echo devices in the country. The feature doesn’t work when it detects music playing in the background, though.
You can activate this functionality by heading to the settings screen on your Alexa app. Then look for ‘Follow-up Mode’ and switch it on. Once you finish giving out your commands, you can send the Echo back into its slumber with “stop”, “cancel”, “thanks”, etc.
Amazon Cloud Cam now allows web streaming upgrades Alexa support
We’ve covered Amazon’s Cloud Cam before, an affordable smart security camera that we recommend to users who want to get started with smart monitoring. The device is even more capable when paired with the Amazon Key smart door lock.
The company has realized that the device isn’t at par with all of the other devices in the market when it comes to features. In an attempt to add new functionality to the device, the company has updated the device with new features.
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The Cloud Cam now supports two-way audio when you connect it to your Echo Show or Echo Spot. The update adds a mic icon to the corner of your screen that you can push to talk. This basically upgrades your device with walkie-talkie like functionality, which is neat.
Alerts are always handy, especially when the device in question is a smart security camera. Amazon has really refined the quality of the device notifications. They pop up on the Echo Spot or Echo Show almost instantaneously. If you have an Echo Dot or an Echo Plus, you’ll see the ring light up green.
You can also pull the notifications up by asking “Alexa, play my notifications” or “Alexa, what are my notifications?”. Meanwhile, the app for your Cloud Cam will also let you choose how often you get these notifications.
A feature that should have been a part of the device out of the box has finally been added. You can now watch a live view of the Cloud Cam from your computer. This is a great alternative to using your phone which could be inaccessible for various reasons. Head over to cloudcam.amazon.com to get access to your live feed.
Assistant powered Botvac D7 launched by Neato
Smart robot vacuums have been a reality for years now, we’ve found them to be very capable device for the modern smart house. Devices like the Roomba already offer great value, so let’s take a look at what Neato has to offer.
Neato says the Botvac D7 will map your home after it makes a couple of rounds. It can earmark certain parts of your home as “No-Go Zones”. These are areas that the vacuum can’t access easily, based on the inbuilt FloorPlanner technology. This is similar to the Roomba update that added similar functionality last year.
The company is touting their patented LaserSmart™ technology that allows the Botvac D7 to accurately navigate all the turns and bumps around your home. It can easily avoid falls and skirt around corners. Thanks to the ‘No-Go’ Lines functionality, the device can also remember these areas so it doesn’t have to figure everything out the next time.
If you want to control the smart vacuum cleaner, you can use the Neato app — it even supports wearable platforms like Google Watch OS! The device supports Google Assistant out of the box but it also boasts a couple of powerful integrations.
You can use IFTTT, Alexa, and the Facebook bot for Neato to control the smart vacuum cleaner. According to the company, the robust suction on Botvac D7 features a turbo mode and an improved brush system. The SpinFlow™ technology is supposed to be one of a kind and extremely efficient at cleaning any area.
The Neato Botvac is priced around the same range as its competitors. It should set you back by $800, which is a large amount to pay. But to be honest, it beats hiring household help, especially when you only want your house cleaned.
Our Take
With the launch of the new Follow-up Mode, it appears that Amazon has finally decided to refine the little kinks in their smart speakers. Ironing out tiny annoyances like having to use the wake word for each command is a good move and is ahead of the competition as usual. Google Assistant does not currently have this functionality yet and the company has not revealed if they plan to add it in the near future.
Web streaming was probably the biggest feature missing on the Amazon Cloud Cam, not everyone has access to their phones at all times. The addition of this functionality as well as the voice control with Alexa is a very welcome change. The motion detection alerts are incredibly useful and it is recommended to try them with an Echo Show instead of an Echo or Echo Dot.
Neato’s Google Assistant powered Botvac D7 promises to be a revolutionary cleaner that does everything you would want a assistive robots vacuum cleaner to do. But there are device from 2016 and 2017 that come with the same feature set, some of them at a lower price. The company will have to prove their device is worth the extra cash if they have to succeed in what is already a tough market.
Stay tuned for more smart house news with our next round-up on Monday. And if you spot any other smart house or connected home technology news we might have missed — let us know on Twitter @homesmartlife or on Facebook!
