Amazon is finally shipping its new Echo Hub smart home controller. The company first revealed the new gadget back at its annual September hardware event last fall, and now you can actually buy it.
The whole story for the Echo Hub is that it makes using the smart home devices you already own even easier. It doesn’t necessarily do anything completely new that existing Alexa displays don’t. But that doesn’t mean that anyone in the Alexa and Echo ecosystem won’t appreciate what it does have to offer.
The Echo Hub mounts right onto your wall. It features an 8-inch touchscreen display with all of the usual Alexa technology, as well as one of the most robust suites of smart home connectivity we’ve seen. There’s Matter and Thread, which is nice for connecting to newer devices, as well as the tried and true Zigbee for all of those older and battle-hardened lights or sensors. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are also onboard, too.
That lets it control everything from lights and smart plugs to locks, thermostats, and more.
Amazon is launching the Echo Hub as a way to consolidate all of your different devices into one home. It’s meant to tie all of your existing Echo speakers, smart displays, and compatible smart home accessories into a single interface. The smart home controller can adjust audio playback through your home, or in a room-by-room basis, and also monitors active media streams for devices in your network.
There’s also a dedicated live view for camera feeds and all things Ring. It can automatically pull up feeds when motion is detected, or someone rings your smart doorbell and it also has a view for snapshots of your entire property. It also connects to your security system, too.
Echo Hub is now available for purchase on Amazon. It ships today at $179.99, and is also available in some different bundles. Amazon breaks down some of the other tidbits about the smart home controller, too.
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