Amazon launches Alexa and Echo speakers officially for Argentina

03/31/2021 1:37 PM

• Clarín.com

• Technology

Updated 03/31/2021 1:37 PM

Amazon announced this Wednesday that the international version of its

Echo smart speaker and the international version of Echo Dot

are available to arrive in Argentina from the e-commerce site

Amazon.com

.

"In September of last year, we introduced the new generation of Echo and Echo Dot to customers around the world and today the international version of these devices will be available to customers in Argentina from Amazon.com," said Rob Pulciani, Vice President of Alexa International .

With support in Spanish, access to regional / local news and radio stations, improved local knowledge, and multi-room support, the

Alexa

smart assistant

is ready to work with the same services it currently deploys in the United States, but adapted in this case to Argentina.

How are the Amazon Echo

Amazon's devices, which at first glance look like a simple wireless speaker, are designed entirely around voice.

They are always ready to answer questions, they are hands free and fast

.

The international version of the Echo has a spherical design and a fabric finish, which looks great in any space;

With a bright LED light ring at the base of the device, it reflects off surfaces for greater visibility.

It also has high sound quality thanks to a

3.0-inch woofer and Dolby processing

.

These provide stereo sound with clear highs, dynamic mids, and deep lows.

The Amazon Echo smart speaker was officially launched in 2014. (Photo: AP)

Additionally, the Echo comes with a built-in Zigbee smart home hub for even faster and easier smart home setup.

Instead, the Echo Dot is more compact, but includes a powerful 1.6-inch front speaker that reproduces crisp vocals and balanced bass for use from any room in the home.

Both devices

automatically detect the acoustics of your space

and fine-tune the audio playback;

Just by asking to listen to your favorite music, the sound will automatically adapt to your room.

“We are excited to offer the Echo more broadly and are always looking for ways to improve the Alexa experience;

We added new features that customers in Argentina have requested, including support from Spotify, local news providers, and more, "he added.

Alexa, the smart assistant

Inside they are powered by the artificial intelligence of Alexa, which is becoming increasingly intelligent and will answer the user's questions: it will tell the time, report the weather, set timers and alarms, play music, control compatible lights at home, call or you will send messages to friends and family and much more. 

In a similar way to

"Ok Google" or "Hey Siri"

, the smart assistants of Google and iPhone, the Amazon software is activated by pronouncing any of these words: "Alexa", "Echo", "Amazon" or "Computer" , without the need to press any button.

Alexa will automatically update once the Echo speaker is connected to the internet, continually learning and adding new features.

The more the user uses the Echo functions, the better they will adapt

to their speech, vocabulary and Argentine idioms, as well as personal preferences.

The international version of Echo is available exclusively on the official Amazon site.

Likewise, Amazon's intelligent assistant is made up of applications called Skills that, like cell phone applications, help to take advantage of the device.

The

Skills

are updated each week and you can add or remove from your Echo to enable or disable a new skill.

Thanks to these small applications it will be possible to be informed about Argentine soccer, holidays, cultural events, food, history, places, celebrities and more — try asking: "Alexa, what are the next Argentina first division games?" , "Alexa, how much is the dollar?", "Alexa, what does the hand of God mean?"

or "Alexa, how many Argentines won the Nobel Prize?"

"Best of all, since Alexa is built into the cloud, these features are now available on existing devices already in homes," said Rob Pulciani.

Price and availability

At the moment, the international versions of the Echo and Echo Dot are sold in black and customers can purchase them exclusively on the official Amazon site.

Prices start at

$ 49.99 (+ $ 39.41 shipping)

for the Echo Dot version, while the Echo costs

$ 99.99 (+ $ 59.91)

.

In both cases, the "international" option will have to be selected so that they actually arrive in Argentina.

SL

Look also

Everything that is known about Vesta, Amazon's home robot that will help around the house

Smart home devices: what are the risks and the keys to protect yourself