After over a decade in our hands, Alexa has slowly been taking over our homes, bringing ease to our instant questions and needs as a personal AI assistant. Amazon has regularly developed new releases of their famous smart device, and 2025 sees the release of Alexa+. Here’s what you need to know.
An AI device with a personality
It’s no secret that Alexa is a little robotic. In fact, most voice assistants are. The new Alexa+ is said to be a ‘world-class assistant with a personality to match‘. This Alexa talks to you as a friend would, responding with consideration based on your mood. Its emotional intelligence can understand when you express excitement, sarcasm and criticism, even showing a sense of humour along with its usual smartness. Oh how we’ve moved on!
There are a range of voices for you to choose from, as well as a new visual feature called Alexicons. They call them expressive animations, but they’re essentially emojis that come up on the blue light bar as you chat to make your interactions more fun. With 30 different animations, it will choose them to match the tone and topic of your conversation.
Say ‘Alexa’ just once
One thing with all Alexa devices is that you have to say the wake word every time you want to interact with it. Then in order to continue a conversation, you have to reiterate the previous information for Alexa to understand. Well, no longer! With Alexa+, you only need to say ‘Alexa’ once, and as long as you see the blue light bar on your device, you can keep the conversation going. No need to keep repeating yourself.
Greater expanse of knowledge
Alexa’s knowledge is now extensive on virtually any topic. It uses trusted sources to give you timely and accurate information, whether you want the latest news, interesting facts or recommendations. You can also add to its knowledge by sharing documents, emails, photos and messages via the app or email. Alexa can then summarise, remember or act upon them. Essentially, it’s making Alexa your PA.
Personal shopping assistant
Alexa+ allows you to shop smarter. Working proactively on your behalf, it monitors deals 24/7. You can track items and set target prices to ensure you get the best value on items you want. Alexa+ eliminates the need for constant price checking. It can then automatically make purchases on your behalf when the price reaches your target, using your default shipping address and payment method. Even when you’re sleeping!
You can also add extra items to your order through Alexa right up until it leaves the warehouse. Amazon have always strongly focused on creating seamless customer service, and this new feature will help customers get their purchases faster and easier.
Visual and voice ID
One of the most exciting features of the new Alexa+ is the opportunity for personalisation. You can set up both visual and voice ID on compatible Echo Show devices. With visual ID, this can then provide you with tailored content, whilst the voice ID allows Alexa to recognise your voice to give you personalised responses. For example, if you requested Alexa to play music, it would recognise your voice and play songs that are most suited to you.
So there’s a little intro to the new Alexa+. Full features are available with compatible Echo Show devices (Echo Show 5, 8, 10, 15 and 21), and we can’t wait to see what features will come to light over the next year.
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