It’s still raining Echo rivals, contenders and, let’s face it, clones at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, with both ambitious startups and creatively-struggling tech veterans aggressively gunning for a slice of an increasingly tasty smart speaker, home entertainment and automation pie.
But one particular AI-focused little company called SmartBeings may actually steal Amazon’s thunder by preceding that rumored “premium” 7-inch touchscreen-sporting Echo derivation to market with its own all-in-one smart home hub and IoT platform.
The multifaceted device showcased in Sin City very close to commercial completion is dubbed WooHoo, which is the proprietary assistant’s activation word, as well as equal parts playful and silly. In addition to voice commands, the tall, cylindrical new speaker is also capable of voice and facial recognition, the latter thanks to a 360-degree rotating HD camera, with a 7-inch touchscreen, wireless charging, simple setup, USB, HDMI, SD, 4G LTE slot, and pre-built integration with Echo or Nest highlighted as important selling points too.
The crazy thing is WooHoo’s $49 pre-order price tag, although you’ll also have to shell out at least $9 a month on a subscription to all the software services purportedly making this the only gadget needed to organize and control your connected home tech.
Meanwhile, Olly has slightly humbler goals, no touchscreen, pricing details or specific availability info. Hailing from London-based startup Emotech, this funny-looking little donut-shaped speaker/personal assistant mainly focuses on machine learning and an adaptable personality, claiming to emulate the owner’s temperament, evolve with time, and intuitively offer to help based on your voice queries, web searches, and smart home habits.
The post WooHoo and Olly are the latest Amazon Echo challengers to come out of CES 2017 appeared first on Pocketnow.
from Pocketnow http://pocketnow.com/2017/01/05/woohoo-olly-amazon-echo-challengers-ces-2017
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