Amazon has been adding a lot of neat features this year to their Alexa assistant, which has helped to keep Alexa as a top runner for smart speakers. In fact, both Amazon and Google have the winning spot for having a digital assistant that’s worth anything (when you consider smarts + compatibility with other devices).
One of their recent improvements is the integration of Wolfram Alpha, which allows Alexa to respond to more complex questions, including advanced math, statistics and more. Alexa has always been ahead of the game when it comes to smart home and things you can ask it in general, but now they feel this will also help them compete against Google’s Assistant that has Google’s entire engine backing its information.
Amazon has been adding new features left and right to Alexa, including the recent addition of “hunches“, that allows Alexa to predict certain behaviors, like if you forget to lock the door before heading to bed. You also have the new Whisper Mode, that allows you to whisper back and forth with Alexa (which can be quite useful when you have young ones that are sleeping or you don’t want others to hear the question). As well as a host of other features like WiFi Simple Setup, location-based routines, and support for certain security products/systems like ADT and Ring.
They have also added a long list of new items to the Echo collection, including (but definitely not limited to) an Echo Sub. a Wall Clock and Echo Auto (which is still in an invitational test phase). A list that just keeps getting longer as the lineup expands to try to cover you no matter where you are or how and when you need Alexa for something. Eventually Alexa will be with you at all times and as smart and responsive as Jarvis (from Iron Man).
