Earlier this month Amazon surprised us with the news that it was expanding its Amazon Echo line with the Amazon Tap and Amazon Dot. The Amazon Echo is an intelligent, internet connected, and voice controlled speaker that is one of Amazon’s most successful homegrown tech products to date. As of right now, the $179.99 Echo is backordered until April 6th, and has been on sale since last year.
On Thursday, March 31st, Amazon is releasing its second voice enabled speaker to the masses – the Amazon Tap. Priced at $129.99, the Tap differentiates itself from the Echo by offering portability. The Echo needs to be plugged into an electrical socket due to the multiple microphones that are always listening for voice commands which continually drain power. The Tap on the other hand comes with a built-in battery, with up to nine hours of music playback. Instead of always listening, you “tap” the voice control button on the Amazon Tap to access the wide variety of commands. A short list of things the the Tap can do:
- Create a to-do or shopping list in an iOS or Android Alexa App
- Ask Domino’s to deliver pizza
- Stream music
- Provide weather reports
- Ask for the latest news
The Amazon Tap also offers Dolby digital sound with 360 degree sound output. The Amazon Echo was one of the best tech items from 2015 and is something you most likely cannot appreciate until you try it in person. I have been using my Echo since early 2015 and is one item I will not give up. My Amazon Tap is set to be delivered on March 31st, and I highly recommend you get your order in now if you haven’t already.
Amazon Tap at Amazon.com
I’m puzzled. What need or demand does this fill? If it is a new gadget just for the sake of having a new toy then say so.
People really enjoy the existing Amazon Echo for its “always present butler” capabilities. Ask it a general question, about the weather, tell it to play a song, etc… If you have home automation, you can ask it to turn on and off lights.
The Amazon Tap is a portable version of this. Let’s say you want to decide to sit out on the porch and don’t have an outlet outside. The Amazon Tap can come with you, whereas the Amazon Echo cannot.
The Echo Dot is for those with existing entertainment systems with quality speakers. Although the Amazon Echo has a decent speaker arrangement (for playing music), some audiophiles may have a better system already in place. When they ask the device to play music, they’ll want it to be played through their existing setup. So, the Echo Dot is just like the Amazon Echo, but without the fancy built-in speakers. Instead, the Echo Dot would plug into your existing speaker setup and play music through those.
This guy….he gets it.
I love Amazon Tap , Amazing portable bluetooth speaker
thank for information