The prevalence of smart speakers is so high now that sometimes you forget there are normal speakers out there where you can’t request it to play a specific song or turn the volume up.
This is particularly the case when it comes to portable speakers which win points for the fact you can carry it around, and don’t have to deal with wires, but lose out for the fact you have carry out your musical demands yourself.
However, that all could be about to change. The e-commerce giant Amazon has finally released a portable version of its popular Echo speaker, named the Echo Input Portable Smart Speaker Edition, in India. With a 4,800mAh battery, the speaker will offer up to 10 hours of continuous music playing, as well as support for Amazon’s AI assistant, Alexa, and compatibility with other smart home devices.
The new speaker will start shipping on December 18 with an introductory price of 4,999 Indian rupees (£53), going up to 5,999 rupees (£64) afterwards.
Miriam Daniel, VP of Alexa Devices, said that portability had been one of the most request features in the country. “You want to be able to carry Alexa with you from room to room within your homes. So we have designed something just for you.”
You'll have to keep your fingers crossed that the speaker will come to the UK eventually. An Amazon spokesperson told the Standard: "Internationalisation of all of our products and services is incredibly important. We are working hard to make our devices available everywhere our customers want them."
In the meantime, if it’s a portable speaker you want with voice assistant capability then Sonos released its first bluetooth speaker earlier this year, the Sonos Move. The device features Google Assistant, however, this only works when connected to a Wi-Fi network.
The Sonos Move speaker is smart in other ways, thanks to its automatic auto-tune feature which listens to how the music sounds in different scenarios, whether that’s in your living room or outside in the garden, and uses AI to adjust the playback so it always sounds amazing.
Like the portable Echo, the Sonos Move should offer up to 10 hours of continuous playback however, it is more expensive than the Amazon version, retaliing at a cool £399.
It’s a smart way to take your music on the move.
