New details emerged about a new wall-mounted Alexa tablet that serves as a smart home command center being developed by Amazon’s Lab126 hardware division, the same that did the Amazon Kindle, Eco and Echo Dot.
The mysterious device is still in development at this point, but the general idea is that it would function as a central hub for controlling your smart devices like Amazon Echo Show. The device can potentially show upcoming calendar events and may also have a built-in camera for video calls.
The report comes from Bloomberg, who spoke with people from the company in particular who did not want to be identified and said that the product line is opposed to the Control4 Home Automation System.
The Bloomberg source says the new home command center screen may be available in one or two sizes between 10 and 13 inches, and can be launched in late 2022 for between $ 200 (about £ 140, AU $ 250) and $ 250 (about £ 180, AU $ 320).
Do we really need an expensive Alexa tablet mounted on the wall?
Amazon has been experimenting with new form factors for Alexa since the arrival of the original Amazon Echo in 2014. Since then, Amazon has incorporated Alexa into additional smart speakers, smart monitors, video streaming devices, phones, tablets, laptops and even some cars.
The wall may be the most logical next step for Alexa.
The counterpoint to this line of reasoning is that Alexa didn’t need a sophisticated control center to work – in fact, one of the best parts of Amazon’s smart assistant is that it works just as well on a cheap Amazon Echo Dot as it does on high- company’s most expensive speakers and smart monitors. The latter adds a visual component, obviously, but the main functionality remains exactly the same.
Admittedly, why Amazon would want to turn it into a glorified, relatively expensive and potentially difficult-to-assemble wall tablet, it doesn’t seem clear unless there is some cutting edge feature that Bloomberg sources did not disclose in their information.
None of this should slander about Bloomberg’s reports or the existence of this device (probably one of many projects Lab126 is underway on), but it can have an impact on when – or even if – Amazon will finally remove packaging from the device .