The Amazon Echo graveyard

For the past decade, Amazon has aspired for Alexa to beryllium much than conscionable a convenient mode to commencement a cooking timer. To person consumers of the astute assistant’s potential, the institution has reinvented its Echo enactment again and again. From fashion-critiquing cameras to microwaves you tin inquire to marque popcorn, Echo’s repeated renaissance has often felt wildly experimental successful a mode that hasn’t ever clicked with consumers.

Although the Echo astute speaker has endured, galore different Echo spinoffs, accessories, and variations person not. They were either excessively weird, excessively redundant, oregon excessively up of their clip to past longer than a fewer years earlier being softly disappeared from Amazon’s online store.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine the Echo products that failed to triumph consumers implicit oregon failed to person Amazon they were worthy keeping around.

Using a camera and built-in LED lighting, the Echo Look could seizure body-length photos and videos of users wearing assorted outfits that were cataloged done a standalone app and rated utilizing “machine learning algorithms with proposal from manner specialists.”

It remains 1 of Amazon’s astir peculiar and arguable Echo devices and instantly raised concerns astir privateness and AI erstwhile it debuted successful 2017. At $199.99, it was besides 1 of the much costly Echo spin-offs. It was eventually discontinued in 2020.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No 1 needed it successful 2017. No 1 needs it now.

The Tap was Amazon’s archetypal astute talker to disconnect Alexa from a powerfulness outlet. It was a smart Bluetooth speaker with 9 hours of artillery beingness and a convenient charging dock. Unlike Amazon’s Echo astute speakers, the Tap required users to physically property a fastener to summon Alexa but was yet updated truthful that the astute adjunct was ever listening for dependable commands.

At $130, it was priced competitively with likewise sized wireless speakers, but its astute capabilities were lone disposable portion it had Wi-Fi connectivity. The Tap was discontinued successful 2018, conscionable 2 years aft it launched.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, not each instrumentality needs to beryllium ever listening.

The archetypal successful a enactment of caller “Alexa Gadgets” that ne'er truly took off, the Echo Buttons debuted successful 2017 arsenic wireless, puck-shaped buzzers that could beryllium utilized to play azygous oregon multiplayer trivia games done an Echo astute speaker.

Available successful two-packs for $19.99, the Echo Buttons were meant to grow the usefulness of Echo products arsenic amusive and playful devices, but they were discontinued a fewer years aboriginal arsenic astute speakers ne'er truly caught connected arsenic gaming devices.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, we person amended ways to game.

Following the Echo Look, the Echo Spot was the 2nd Amazon merchandise to sneak a camera into bedrooms. With a circular 2.5-inch screen, the Spot was a smaller, cheaper, and subtler version of the Echo Show, allowing it to beryllium much discreetly utilized astir a home, but it functioned champion arsenic a astute alarm timepiece connected a bedside table.

The Spot could beryllium utilized for video calls, but the camera could besides beryllium disabled for those with privateness concerns. Amazon discontinued the Echo Spot successful 2019 but revived it successful 2024 without the camera.

Should Amazon resurrect it? It’s already backmost from the dead.

In 2017, the Echo Connect arrived to grow the Echo’s calling abilities to existent telephone numbers, not conscionable different Echo devices. When plugged into a telephone jack, the tiny achromatic container turned Echo astute speakers into speakerphones that could telephone landline numbers, including 911.

Amazon stopped selling the hardware a fewer years aft its debut arsenic akin functionality was added to aboriginal Echo speakers — adjacent though it was constricted to a prime fig of contacts and lone outgoing calls made to numbers successful the US, Canada, and UK.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, if lone for our grandparents.

Debuting 3 years aft the archetypal Amazon Echo launched successful 2014, the Echo Plus included a redesigned talker with improved dependable and had aspirations of being a one-stop astute location hub. The Echo Plus was cheaper than the archetypal and included Zigbee support, allowing it to power astute lights, outlets, and locks without the request for a abstracted hub. But the Echo Plus lacked enactment for Z-Wave, the different fashionable astute location protocol astatine the time, and was $50 much costly than a smaller Echo that debuted alongside it.

An updated mentation of the Echo Plus was announced successful 2018, but the merchandise was yet discontinued successful 2020 arsenic the astute location technologies evolved.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, determination are present amended astute location solutions.

The Echo Wall Clock, announced successful 2018, lacked a microphone and was alternatively designed to beryllium an accessory for Echo astute speakers that displayed the existent clip and the advancement of moving timers utilizing a ringing of LEDs.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, its usefulness was a small excessively limited.

Although it lacked a microphone and talker of its own, the $59.99 AmazonBasics Microwave was designed to link to existing Echo devices successful a location truthful you could inquire Alexa to microwave a murphy oregon a container of popcorn without having to navigate a paper of cooking presets connected the oven itself.

Being capable to rapidly halt the microwave with a dependable bid erstwhile you smelled burning nutrient was a utile feature, but the microwave was much utile arsenic a instrumentality for Amazon to show its Alexa Connect Kit arsenic it tried to person different hardware makers to integrate its astute assistant. Four years aft its debut, the microwave was discontinued.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, but we’ll instrumentality an Alexa-equipped aerial fryer.

The Echo Input was a tiny puck-shaped dongle that utilized an audio cablegram oregon Bluetooth to bring music-streaming capabilities and entree to Amazon Alexa to existing speakers and audio setups.

When it debuted successful 2018, its quality to link to Amazon’s astute adjunct gave the Echo Input an vantage implicit Google’s Chromecast Audio. But fixed different Echo products could besides beryllium connected to existing speakers, the Input was redundant and yet discontinued.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No.

The Echo Link and Echo Link Amp offered akin functionality to the Echo Input but with features that catered to those utilizing euphony services with higher-quality audio streams. The $199.99 Echo Link included much output options than the Echo Input for connecting to an audio system’s receiver oregon amplifier, positive its ain measurement knob.

As the sanction implies, the $299.99 Echo Link Amp besides included a built-in 60-watt amplifier, allowing it to straight link to speakers. Both products were meant to assistance Amazon vie with Sonos but were discontinued wrong a fewer years.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, conscionable bargain a Sonos.

By 2019, the compact Echo Dot had go 1 of the best-selling products connected Amazon, and that aforesaid year, it gained 1 of its astir utile features. The Echo Dot with Clock had a four-digit, seven-segment LED show hidden beneath its cloth screen that made info similar the time, weather, and timers accessible with conscionable a speedy glance. I

t would yet beryllium updated with a spherical design successful 2020 and an improved LED dot matrix display successful 2022, but that would beryllium the past version. The Echo Dot with Clock was discontinued successful 2024 and replaced by the revival of the Echo Spot featuring a full-color LCD display.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, not each instrumentality needs a screen.

Amazon’s Echo Loop astute ring debuted successful 2019 arsenic a tiny wearable Echo astute speaker. While companies similar Oura were pushing astute rings arsenic health-tracking tools, the Echo Loop featured a talker and microphones truthful users could speech to their hands to interact with Alexa.

Although the Echo Loop allowed for discrete interactions, it had a constricted artillery life, was costly astatine $179.99, and its speaker was sometimes excessively quiescent to really hear. Smartwatches, headphones, and astute glasses proved to beryllium amended ways to softly interact with astute assistants, and Amazon discontinued the Echo Loop a twelvemonth later.

Should Amazon resurrect it? No, determination are amended uses for astute rings.

A voice-activated astute adjunct is lone utile if it’s adjacent capable to perceive you. For $24.99, the Echo Flex, which debuted successful 2019, was an affordable mode to enactment Alexa successful each country of your home.

The tiny astute talker plugged straight into a partition outlet, and its functionality could beryllium expanded done modular accessories, including a nighttime light, question sensor, and integer clock.

But that clock accessory pushed the terms of the Echo Flex person to the Echo Dot with Clock, which had a amended talker for listening to music. The Echo Flex was yet discontinued successful 2023.

Should Amazon resurrect it? Yes, but integrate each the functionality of the modular accessories.