Amazon held a special event today, announcing its upcoming products coming soon. The virtual event unveiled numerous products and devices, with only the Echo Show 15 making its way to Canada soon. Every fall, Amazon unveils a tonne of new updates, and it can be hard to follow all of them, so here we are.
The company’s smart home devices continue to grow, with customers connecting over 200 million to Alexa and “millions of new devices each month.” Over 17 million customers use Ring to protect their homes.
According to an Amazon Canada spokesperson, only the Echo Show 15 and some upcoming Alexa updates will be coming here at this time. All other products seen below are heading to the U.S. only. Here’s a quick recap of what was announced…
Part of the company’s Day 1 Editions program, Astro costs $999 USD and is invite-only. Astro is ” is designed to bring our most ambitious ideas to life,” says Amazon. Astro is powered by Alexa and can be used for applications such as home monitoring, leveraging computer vision, AI and hardware and software into one.
Astro looks to be the infant version of the T-1000. Watch out John Connor.
Alexa Together costs $19.99 USD per month or $199 USD per year and is a service helped to care for aging family members.
New from Blink is the Floodlight Camera for $139.98 USD and Solar Power Mount + Camera for $129.98 USD.
The new Blink Video Doorbell costs $49.99 USD and can be installed wired or wire-free. HD video, night vision, motion detection, two-way audio, and alerts integrated with Alexa.
Amazon says in 2021, they sold “three times more Blink devices than we did in 2019.”
This new subscription service allows a third party security company monitor your Ring cameras. First partner is Rapid Response in the U.S., starting at $99 USD per month.
With a Ring Protect Plan, the new Ring Jobsite Security monitors your construction site over a cellular connection, with cameras powered by battery or solar. Available from Home Depot for $399.99 USD.
Ring Alarm Pro costs $249.99 USD and “is packed with computing power, which allowed us to build Ring Edge. With Ring Edge, Protect Plan subscribers can insert a microSD card into the Alarm Pro and have all of their Ring cameras process and store videos locally.” Ring Alarm Pro has a built-in eero Wi-Fi 6 router and includes alarm and motion detectors.
The Always Home Cam was unveiled in 2020, but now pricing has been revealed at $249.99 USD, with invite lists open today for the cool autonomous flying security camera.
Halo Nutrition is coming in early 2022, part of a Halo membership, to allow customers to eat better and build healthy habits. Halo Fitness offers studio-quality workouts with real-time metrics. Coming later in 2021 for Halo members (sounds like Apple’s Fitness+).
Halo View fitness band comes with an AMOLED colour display and is priced at $79.99 USD and seven days of battery life.
Amazon Glow is an interactive tabletop device with 8” LCD display and can project a 19-inch touch-sensitive area. Glow essentially is a learning tool that can scan objects, priced at $249.99 USD by invitation only.
Includes 1-year subscription to Kids+. SDK coming for developers in first half of 2022.
The new Amazon Smart Thermostat is Energy Star-certified and costs $59.99 USD. Works with most 24V HVAC systems. Can be cheaper after utility-provider rebates, down to $10 USD or free.
While it’s not impossible to buy these U.S.-only Amazon products if you have an ‘Amerifriend’, it may be a year or longer until some of these new items make their way to Canada, if they ever do.
