What Cameras Work With Echo

Amazon today announced a notable new fox for its next-generation Echo device, the Echo Prove (aka the 1 with the screen), which could make it a more compelling purchase: it will be able to display the live streams from a number of smart dwelling house cameras. Already, companies similar Ring, Arlo, Nest, August, EZViz, Vivint, Amcrest, Logitech Circumvolve 2, and IC Realtime have created Alexa Skills that volition employ the new functionality, Amazon says.

In add-on, Amazon is introducing a Smart Habitation Skill API that volition let developers to integrate live video feeds from their smart home cameras with the device.

The Echo Evidence, announced in May, is due to begin shipping next week.

The $230 Wi-Fi enabled device offers the same features found in Amazon's smart speaker Echo – like the ability to talk to Alexa, play music, listen to news and weather, and more than. But because it also includes a seven-inch screen, information technology enables a number of new uses also, like being able to make video calls, come across the lyrics to your songs as they play, watch video flash briefings and YouTube, along with other things that leverage the device's screen.

One of those promised use cases was the ability to watch your smart dwelling house's cameras, Amazon had said.

Several smart abode vendors are today introducing how their particular Alexa Skill will work when the Echo ships. For case, security photographic camera and video doorbell maker Band says its new Skill will permit customers to say, "Alexa, show me the forepart door," in order to see and hear the visitor right on the Echo Prove's screen.

"Traditionally, our user feel involved customers taking out their phones and opening the app to see their video feeds," says Darrell Sommerlatt, Software Engineer at Band. "With Repeat Bear witness, we saw that we could enable customers to connect to their feeds via voice," he says.

What the company liked about building for Alexa is that it didn't need to worry with how to handle natural language processing – Amazon's Smart Domicile Skill API took care of it.

Similarly, smart lock maker August says that Alexa will now exist able to talk to its August Doorbell Cam. By saying, "Alexa, evidence me the forepart door," its customers can quickly run across a live video feed of whatever visitors or motility outside the door, too.

And Arlo past Netgear, which makes a line of wireless, weatherproof smart security cameras, notes that the new integrations can exist used to see inside your house, too. Many of its customers, for example, use its cameras every bit baby monitors. With Echo Show, parents could ask Alexa for a feed of a particular room in their house to see it displayed on the Echo Bear witness.

One statement that all the vendors made when announcing their own integrations today was how much better an experience this was for customers using their products, compared with having to pull out your smartphone. It's true – mobile devices aren't an ideal way to interact with smart home cameras. Unlocking the phone and niggling around with apps merely isn't as simple as speaking out loud. (Plus, there's a bit of sci-fi fun to exist had, given that you tin can accost Alexa as "Computer,…" if you choose.)

Meanwhile, though it's nice that there smart dwelling house device apps that run on smart TVs and streaming media players similar Fire TV, Apple TV and others, those are only convenient if you're not really trying to watch TV at the time of utilize.

A defended vocalism-enabled screen like the Echo Bear witness makes more sense, and – more than importantly for Amazon – information technology presents a practical use case for the device which may otherwise seem similar more of a "nice to have" luxury, just non one that added enough value to be worth the toll.

In improver to working to display video on the Echo Show, the new Smart Home API volition also be able to interact with Amazon's screen-less speakers like the Echo or Echo Dot. In those cases, you lot can listen to audio from the photographic camera feed instead. This support will be added soon, but is not available at launch, Amazon says.