Gadgetory

amazon has a brand-new echo device that you're going to really want but amazon made it nearly impossible to buy it I'm Bridget Carey this is your CNET update the Amazon echo smart speaker is one of the coolest and most versatile smart home products out today hands down this voice controlled speaker is taking us closer to that Star Trek computer future where you can ask you to do all sorts of tasks by calling its name Alexa and now the speaker comes in two new forms the normal echo is $180 but for just half the cost amazon sliced off the top and calls this the echo dot it does everything the main echo does but you'll need to plug it into an existing speaker to hear anything or use bluetooth if you want a wireless connection so this sounds great it's half the cost you just use your own speakers and you get all the cool features right but here's where amazon will annoy you you cannot buy this on Amazon's website the only way to preorder the dot is if you have another device with Alexa voice controls and you need to be a prime subscriber so that means you need to already own the original echo or use the amazon firetv voice controls to buy one of these yeah Amazon will not say when it'll open up sales to everyone but the first pre-ordered units will arrive at the end of March so I guess everyone else just has to hang on tight in the meantime there is another echo speaker that anyone can preorder this is the tap and the big feature here is portability the original echo always had to be plugged in but the tap is battery-powered to take it anywhere and to not drain the battery it will not be always listening for you to call out the name Alexa to give it commands instead you have to hit a button to ask something hence the name tap you can buy a colorful bumper case for it but it does come with a charging dock and the battery lasts nine hours of continuous use the tap is a hundred and thirty dollars so you see about 50 bucks compared to their original but they can do the same tricks and speaking of tricks all echo products are gaining the ability to also control more smart thermostats by the end of the month a voice command can change the temperature on a Nest Learning Thermostat right now the echo works with the eco b3 thermostat but other companies like Honeywell and Insteon are also jumping in so you can just say things like Alexa set the heat to 70 degrees that's it for this tech news update you can head to cnet.com for more from our studios in new york I'm Bridget Carey