The Amazon Echo Graveyard – The Verge

For the past decade, amazon has aspired to make Alexa more than just a convenient way to start a kitchen timer. To convince consumers of the potential of the smart assistant, the company has reinvented its Echo line again and again. From fashion-criticizing cameras to microwaves you can order to make popcorn, Echo's repeated revival has often felt wildly experimental in a way that consumers haven't always liked.

Although the Echo smart speaker has endured, many other Echo derivatives, accessories, and variations have not. They were too strange, too redundant, or too ahead of their time to survive more than a few years before quietly disappearing from amazon's online store.

Let's take a look at the Echo products that failed to convince consumers or failed to convince amazon that they were worth keeping.

Using a camera and built-in LED lighting, Echo Look could capture body-length photos and videos of users wearing various outfits that were cataloged through a separate app and rated using “machine learning algorithms with advice from fashion specialists.” .

It remains one of amazon's most unusual and controversial Echo devices and immediately raised concerns about privacy and artificial intelligence when it debuted in 2017. At $199.99, it was also one of the most expensive Echo spin-off products. It was finally discontinued in 2020.

Should amazon resurrect it? Nobody needed it in 2017. Nobody needs it now.

The Tap was amazon's first smart speaker to unplug Alexa from a power outlet. It was a smart Bluetooth speaker with nine hours of battery life and a convenient charging base. Unlike amazon's Echo smart speakers, Tap required users to physically press a button to summon Alexa, but it was eventually updated so that the smart assistant was always listening for voice commands.

At $130, it was competitively priced with similarly sized wireless speakers, but its smart capabilities were only available while you had Wi-Fi connectivity. The Tap was discontinued in 2018, just two years after its release.

Should amazon resurrect it? Yes, not all devices need to always be listening.

Echo Buttons, the first in a line of new “Alexa Gadgets” that never took off, debuted in 2017 as puck-shaped wireless buzzers that could be used to play single-player or multiplayer trivia games through an Echo smart speaker.

Available in packs of two for $19.99, Echo Buttons were intended to expand the usefulness of Echo products as fun, fun devices, but were discontinued a few years later because the smart speakers never caught on as gaming devices.

Should amazon resurrect it? No, we have better ways to play.

After the Echo Look, the Echo Spot was the second amazon product to introduce a camera to bedrooms. With a 2.5-inch circular screen, the Spot was a smaller, cheaper and more subtle version of the Echo Show, allowing it to be used more discreetly around the home, but it worked better as a smart alarm clock on a bedside table. night.

The Spot could be used for video calls, but the camera could also be disabled for those with privacy concerns. amazon discontinued the Echo Spot in 2019, but revived it in 2024 without the camera.

Should amazon resurrect it? He has already returned from the dead.

In 2017, Echo Connect arrived to expand the Echo's calling capabilities to real phone numbers, not just other Echo devices. When plugged into a phone jack, the small black box turned Echo smart speakers into speakerphones that could call landline numbers, including 911.

amazon stopped selling the hardware a few years after its debut when similar functionality was added to later Echo speakers, although it was limited to a select number of contacts and only outgoing calls to numbers in the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Should amazon resurrect it? Yes, if only because of our grandparents.

The Echo Plus, which debuted three years after the original amazon Echo launched in 2014, featured a redesigned speaker with improved sound and aimed to be an all-in-one smart home hub. The Echo Plus was cheaper than the original and included Zigbee support, allowing you to control smart lights, plugs, and locks without the need for a separate hub. But the Echo Plus lacked support for Z-Wave, the other popular smart home protocol at the time, and cost $50 more than a smaller Echo that debuted alongside it.

An updated version of the Echo Plus was announced in 2018, but the product was eventually discontinued in 2020 as smart home technologies evolved.

Should amazon resurrect it? No, there are better smart home solutions now.

The Echo Wall Clock, announced in 2018, lacked a microphone and was instead designed to be an accessory for Echo smart speakers that displayed the current time and timer progress using a ring of LEDs.

amazon later partnered with Disney to create a version of the Mickey Mouse watch, while Citizen introduced alternative designs. The watch's limited functionality and a problematic implementation with many users experiencing connectivity issues contributed to amazon eventually discontinuing the watch.

Should amazon resurrect it? No, its usefulness was too limited.

Although it lacked its own microphone and speaker, the $59.99 AmazonBasics microwave was designed to connect to existing Echo devices in a home, so you could ask Alexa to microwave a potato or a bag of popcorn without having to navigate through a menu of microwave cooking presets. the oven itself.

Being able to quickly stop the microwave with a voice command when you smell burnt food was a useful feature, but the microwave was most useful as a tool for amazon to demonstrate its Alexa Connect Kit while trying to convince other hardware manufacturers to integrate its smart system. assistant. Four years after its debut, the microwave was discontinued.

Should amazon resurrect it? No, but we will bring a fryer equipped with Alexa.

Echo Input was a small, puck-shaped dongle that used an audio or Bluetooth cable to bring music streaming capabilities and amazon Alexa access to existing speakers and audio setups.

When it debuted in 2018, its ability to connect to amazon's smart assistant gave the Echo Input an advantage over Google's Chromecast Audio. But since other Echo products could also connect to existing speakers, the input was redundant and was eventually discontinued.

Should amazon resurrect it? No.

Echo Link and Echo Link amplifier

Echo Link and Echo Link Amp offered similar functionality to Echo Input but with features that catered to those using music services with higher quality audio streams. The $199.99 Echo Link included more output options than the Echo Input for connecting to an audio system's receiver or amplifier, plus its own volume knob.

As its name implies, the $299.99 Echo Link Amp also included a built-in 60-watt amplifier, allowing it to connect directly to speakers. Both products were intended to help amazon compete with Sonos, but were discontinued within a few years.

Should amazon resurrect it? No, just buy a Sonos.

In 2019, the compact Echo Dot had become one of the best-selling products on amazon and that same year it acquired one of its most useful functions. The Echo Dot with Clock had a four-digit, seven-segment LED display hidden beneath its fabric cover that made information like time, weather, and timers accessible with just a quick glance. Yo

It would eventually be updated with a spherical design in 2020 and an improved LED dot-matrix display in 2022, but that would be the last version. The Echo Dot with clock was discontinued in 2024 and replaced by the resurgent Echo Spot with a full-color LCD screen.

Should amazon resurrect it? Yes, not all devices need a screen.

amazon's Echo Loop smart ring debuted in 2019 as a small, portable Echo smart speaker. While companies like Oura pushed smart rings as health tracking tools, the Echo Loop featured a speaker and microphones so users could talk with their hands to interact with Alexa.

Although the Echo Loop allowed for discreet interactions, it had limited battery life, cost $179.99, and its speaker was sometimes too quiet to hear. Smartwatches, headphones, and smart glasses proved to be better ways to silently interact with smart assistants, and amazon discontinued the Echo Loop a year later.

Should amazon resurrect it? No, there are better uses for smart rings.

A voice-activated smart assistant is only useful if it's close enough to hear you. For $24.99, the Echo Flex, which debuted in 2019, was an affordable way to put Alexa in every room of your home.

The small smart speaker plugged directly into a wall outlet, and its functionality could be expanded through modular accessories, such as a night light, motion sensor, and digital clock.

But that watch accessory brought the price of the Echo Flex closer to that of the Echo Dot with Clock, which had a better speaker for listening to music. The Echo Flex was finally discontinued in 2023.

Should amazon resurrect it? Yes, but it integrates all the functionality of modular accessories.