Today
Amazon unveiled the battery-powered Echo Input Portable Smart Speaker Edition
(yes, that’s the official name). It’s designed specifically for India, though
it will expand to other markets eventually. What
sets it apart from almost every other Echo speaker is that it packs a 4,800mAh
battery, which allows it to play 10 hours of music without being plugged into
the wall. This lets you move it around the house, even to places where there
isn’t a convenient power plug.
Unlike
the ill-fated Echo Tap from 2016, the Input Portable can be controlled with the
usual “Alexa” hot word (the Tap originally required the press of a button). The
Echo can last 11 hours of standby on battery (but to extend battery life,
Amazon recommends that you plug it in when you’re not using it).
The
name of the new product is a bit confusing – the Echo Input was like a Fire TV
stick for speakers, it made a dumb speaker smart by driving them over a 3.5mm
cable or Bluetooth. It has built-in microphones so that it can listen to
commands, but lacked a speaker of its own.
The
Amazon Echo Input Portable Smart Speaker Edition has its own speakers so it’s
self-sufficient. There’s no 3.5mm jack, but you can connect to an external speaker
over Bluetooth (not sure why you would want to, though).
You
can also use the Bluetooth connection to play music from your phone. The Echo
Input Portable natively supports Amazon Prime Music and Apple Music plus
JioSaavn, Gaana and other local services – you just need to connect it to your
home Wi-Fi and ask it to play your favorite artist.
Or
you could ask it about the weather, news, various questions and to control
smart devices. Every Alexa skill is supported, so there are many ways to
integrate this smart speaker into your daily routine. You can pre-order one now at INR 5,000 – a
17% discount off the usual price of INR 6,000. Amazon will start shipping out
units on December 18.
