Alexa+ has been years in the making but this week, the ubiquitous voice assistant received its biggest upgrade since its launch nearly 10 years ago. Through the use of generative AI, it has been completely redesigned to provide not just a more natural way to communicate, but a fully connected service.
Think of it as ChatGPT meets personal assistant. You can chat with Alexa+ as you would a friend, without having to carefully word commands in a robotic fashion, and follow up with having to repeatedly say Alexa.
The really clever part for me though is how it interacts with other apps, allowing you to make bookings for restaurants, sports games, taxis or services, set calendar reminders based on information from emails and messages, order shopping and even compose songs.
In one demo, I watched as the presenter filled his shopping basket, not by naming products, but through suggestions and recipes: all the items I need to make muffins, three types of vegetables that a four-year-old might eat. Then the shopping is fulfilled by Amazon Fresh or one of the other shopping partners.
There's some really interesting integration when you involve music and movies too. In another demo, the presenter asked Alexa for the song that appeared at the end of a movie, which then offered up the ability to play that track. Then, switching to the Fire TV, was able to skip right to that moment in the film.
How much will it cost?
Alexa+ is a premium service that will run alongside the existing Alexa voice assistant. The initial price in the US will be $19.99 a month when it launches in March, however, Amazon Prime customers will get this for free. That makes this another big benefit of having Prime, which already includes music, TV, delivery fees and more for $14.99 per month or $139 per year in the US.
There's been no information on how much the service will cost when it comes to the UK, or whether it will also be bundled as part of Prime. However, I expect we will see very similar prices, pounds to dollars, as well as an equally tempting Prime offering.
What devices is Alexa+ compatible with?
Some of the biggest features offered by Alexa+ take advantage of the displays on Echo Show devices. So it comes as little surprise that the initial rollout of the service will require an Echo Show 8 or larger. At a later date though, Alexa+ will be offered through most devices, with the exception of some first-generation Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Plus models.
Third-party devices with Alexa built in, such as Sonos speakers, will also not be compatible with Alexa+, at least for the time being. It's certainly a good reason to stick with Echo devices, especially those with screens.
