Alexa calling and messaging now available across Echo devices, apps

You have a lot of free calling and messaging apps and services out there, but Amazon wants to make it easier for you, if you’re getting into their whole smart eco-system. Their digital assistant Alexa now has improved calling and messaging features that will be available across all Echo devices (Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show) and also your smartphones or tablets that have the Alexa app. The basic features are available across all, but there are also specific ones that will only work on certain devices.

Basically, what you will have here is a hands-free calling system. You can just say, “Alexa, call Alex” or whatever name is programmed in your contacts, and it will do the dialing for you. When receiving calls, you can answer or reject it through voice commands too. You can also leave voice messages in case you don’t want to actually talk to them but would like to say something. Just say, “Alexa, message Alex”. And if you receive a message, you’ll see a blinking green light, and then you say, “Alexa, play my messages” so you can listen to them.

The recently announced Echo Show brings it to a higher level as you can of course do video calls since it has a 7-inch touchscreen and a 5MP camera. For now though, it will only work if you call other Echo Show customers. It also has a feature called Drop In where the receiver of the call doesn’t even need to answer the call. It will just automatically do so, so the people you need to add on your whitelist have to be someone you trust and know.

There are of course things like Skype, Viber, Messenger, etc so you can make free video and audio calls. But if you have an Echo device lying around the house or you’re planning to get one soon, then this is probably something more convenient for you.

VIA: SlashGear