Amazon has introduced to us here at STG an all-new line-up of Echo devices, featuring completely new designs, enhanced audio, more powerful hardware, and experiences that make Alexa even smarter, more engaging, and helpful.

“These are the best Echo devices we have ever made,” said Kate Burleigh, Country Manager for Alexa and Devices, Australia and New Zealand. “Echo and Echo Dot look beautiful and sound even better, and Echo Show 10 completely reimagines Alexa with a screen, simply move around and the display stays in view. It’s as natural as having a conversation. Plus, Alexa continues to get smarter, just ask to watch Netflix, make group calls, upgrade your smart home, and much more.”

The next-generation Echo combines the best of Echo and Echo Plus into a single device. Its all-new design and fabric finish looks great in any space, with a bright LED light ring at the base of the sphere that reflects off of surfaces for added visibility. The new Echo also sounds significantly better; thanks to a 3.0-inch woofer, dual-firing tweeters, and Dolby processing that delivers stereo sound with clear highs, dynamic-mids, and deep bass. As with Echo Studio, the new Echo automatically senses the acoustics of your space and fine-tunes audio playback, just ask to listen to your favourite music and the rich, detailed sound will automatically adapt to your room.

For the first time, Echo comes with a built-in smart home hub, with support for Zigbee, and Bluetooth Low Energy.

Customers have made Echo Dot our best-selling speaker—and it’s now even better. The all-new Echo Dot has the same spherical design and fabric finish as Echo, making it a stylish way to add Alexa to any space. It’s compact, but packs in a powerful 1.6-inch, front-firing speaker, producing crisp vocals and balanced bass for full sound you can enjoy in any room of your home. The new Echo Dot with clock, also comes with the same enhancements as the new Echo Dot, plus a simple LED display so you can glance at the time, temperature, timers, and alarms. And now, the tap-to-snooze feature that customers love on Echo Dot with clock will also be available on Echo Dot and Echo.

The all-new Echo Show 10 is a complete reimagination of Alexa with a screen, and has been upgraded in every way. It features a brilliant 10-inch, adaptive HD display that automatically stays in view when you interact with Alexa, no matter where you are in the room. Plus, the new brushless motor is completely silent, meaning you won’t hear a thing as Echo Show 10 rotates.

Ask Alexa to make a video call without worrying about being out of frame, as you move the screen does too, and the new 13-megapixel wide-angle camera pans and zooms to keep you at the center of the frame. Plus, with new Alexa Group Calling you can create a group of up to eight friends and family members, and simply say “Alexa, call my family.”

As Echo Show 10 moves, so does its dual, front-firing tweeters and powerful woofer, providing premium, directional sound that automatically adapts to your space, making it great for all kinds of entertainment. Echo Show 10 will also rotate as you watch the news, flash briefings, or TV shows from ABC iview, or Prime Video. And, coming soon, you will be also able to watch Netflix simply by asking Alexa, with the ability to search, browse, and streamthe entire catalog by voice.

“Improving our member experience includes making Netflix available where people want it. We’re excited to partner with Amazon on bringing the Netflix experience that people know and love to Echo Show, making it easier for our members to browse their favourite shows and films using their voice,” said Barry Smith, Partner Engagement Manager, Netflix.

Echo Show 10 uses advanced computer vision algorithms to help make your home smarter and more secure. You can also securely access a live feed on Echo Show 10 from another Echo Show device, or the Alexa app, with the ability to remotely zoom or pan the display and camera to see the entire room; or set up a Routine that automatically turns on the lights when someone enters the room. Plus, its built-in smart home hub capabilities include support for Zigbee, and Bluetooth Low Energy for devices that stay connected and work great inside and outside your home.

As with all Alexa-enabled devices, Echo Show 10 is designed and built with privacy in mind. It uses a fusion of audio-based localisation and computer vision—all processed locally and securely on-device—to determine where you are and keep the screen facing you. Turn motion off at any time by sliding the built-in camera shutter closed, adjusting settings on-device or in the Alexa app, or just by saying “Alexa, turn off motion.”

All Echo devices announced today are built with 100% post-consumer recycled fabric, 100% recycled die-cast aluminum, and post-consumer recycled plastic. Plus, all wood-fiber based materials used in Echo device packaging are made entirely from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources. In addition to using sustainable materials, these Echo devices also have a Low Power Mode to intelligently conserve energy during periods of inactivity, and deliver energy savings over the lifetime of the device.

Echo and Echo Dot will be available in Charcoal, Glacier White, and Twilight Blue. Echo Dot with clock will be available in Glacier White and Twilight Blue. Echo Show 10 will be available in Charcoal. Pre-order starts next week from leading retailers, with new devices shipping later this year (2020).

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The post Introducing the All New Echo Family appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Ultra HQ audio meets A.I smarts.

Alexa has her boom and bass on with Amazon’s newly released Echo Studio bluetooth speaker.

Taking notice of the successes and failures of the earlier released Echo speaker, Amazon have gone back to the roots of what makes a bluetooth speaker damn good and produced one A.I. driven sound machine to rule them all.

The cylindrical eight inch heavy weight (3.5kgs) is not designed to be portable – it requires mains power to work and is most definitely a shelf or desk sitter.

Using the Amazon Alexa app for iOS or Android you will instantly connect up with the Echo Studio via both bluetooth and your home’s Wifi. If you have other Alexa devices in your smart home the Studio will instantly integrate itself in to the Alexa eco-system. You can even promote the Echo Speaker as the preferred source for your music by default.

Upon first power up the Echo Studio will do an audible scan of your surroundings relative to where the Studio has been placed. It is recommended to give it at least 6 inches away from walls and objects.

With one grunty large sub at the base the Echo Studio has four low to mid-range speakers w. built in tweeter facing up, left and right and front. This projects sound in a virtual surround effect while the downward facing sub exhausts it’s low rumbles from the cut out lip on the speaker.

for the size and girth of the Echo Studio the onboard controls are minimalistic. Volume, sync and mic off pretty much does it and for inputs at the rear, AC power, USB-C and a traditional 3.5mm.

For users of the subscription based Amazon Music, Amazon have built the Echo Studio to be in tune with their UHQ and 3D Music tracks. While there are only a handful of these 3D songs at the moment, it is something that we can expect to see a bit more of going forward.

However, for the most of us who stream music, Spotify works and for the first time ever we are hearing music from a single Bluetooth speaker that is up there with the likes of 5.1 system.

While the Echo Studio does a fantastic job of projecting sound in a virtual 3D environment, there is no projection to the rear of the device. You don’t notice it, unless you have the Echo Studio on a table where it can be accessed at all angles.

Being that it is an Alexa speaker it does come with all of the amusement and artificial intelligent helpfulness from the Amazon assistant.

The Echo Studio is by far the most powerful, the best sounding, ground rumbling smart Bluetooth speaker currently available. Priced just a bit over $300 AUD / NZD it’s a totally sound and worthy investment.

The post Amazon Echo Studio Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

New Zealand’s locally owned and largest department store The Warehouse has launched a new ‘Snap and Shop’ feature on its mobile app allowing people to take photos of items they like on their smartphones and instantly match them with thousands of available products in its catalogue.

Snap and Shop is one example of the retailer’s partnership with Google Cloud to deploy neural network AI technology to enhance customer experience and optimise pricing.

Warehouse Chief Information Officer Timothy Kasbe says AI is also being used by the retailer to price tens of thousands of non-labelled products, taking into account variables such as size, weight and material.

“We input the product specifications into Google Cloud’s platform, it searches for comparable matches all over the world and instantly comes back with pricing which is fair and accurate for the New Zealand market.

“This eliminates guesswork and estimation in determining pricing, which makes The Warehouse more competitive. It also gives us insights into how a specific product is marketed, so we can adjust the images or messaging we use to get a better result,” Kasbe says.

Google Cloud New Zealand’s Brendan Bain says developing an AI solution in the past to solve these challenges would have required vast resources and capability.

“With Google Cloud’s pre-built Machine Learning models and API’s, The Warehouse was able to quickly develop this solution using their existing team’s skill sets”.

Internationally, the use of AI by retailers is booming, from chatbots, voice shopping and shelf scanning robots to checkout free stores, personalised pricing and product recommendations.

Online shopping events like Single’s Day in China demonstrate the potential of AI to transform retail and boost sales, increasingly driven by AI algorithms that recommend products and communicate with retailers to keep up with demand.

“We’re thrilled to be one of the first retailers in the world to utilise this technology. AI is set to transform retail globally over the next decade, and it’s important for us as New Zealand’s largest eCommerce retailer to be well ahead of the curve locally, Kasbe says.

The Warehouse app is now rated a New Zealand’s number one shopping app in AppStore. You can download it for Apple HERE or for Android HERE.

The post NZ’s The Warehouse leaps into the AI future w. Google appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As the years whizz by in the STG office we have had quite alot of smartphones come our way for review.

During this time, there have only been a few memorable ones. One of those was the Mate 7 which released back in 2015.

Time travel to today (7th of November, 2017) – and Chinese tech giant Huawei have released the mighty impressive Mate 10 in New Zealand.

Releasing in two varieties (actually there’s three if you include the Mate 10 Porsche Design); Mate 10 (Standard) and Mate 10 Pro, it is smartphone that is, well, ‘smart’.

This is due to the Huawei’s inclusion of their Neural Network Processing Unit – the A.I. Kirin 970 chipset which the phone utilises for it’s photography.

Huawei’s Kirin 970 is the first of its kind and an industry first for a smartphone.

The 23MP dual Leica Lens rear camera will learn over 100 Million images, breaking those down in to thirteen various categories such as people, food, flowers, animals, text, scene and more.

When the camera instantly recognises what it is looking at it will adjust itself accordingly and do this immediately for the best snap possible.

You have not experienced anything like this before and Huawei are paving the future of professional grade mobile photography with artificial intelligence.

The image quality, as you can imagine is astounding. Simply the best I’ve ever experienced on any handset. Ever.

Taken on Mate 10 (Standard).

The front 8MP camera also utilises the A.I. and will know it is looking at you, a human, and optimise the selfie accordingly.

But, the beauty feature that is synonymous with the Huawei selfie camera tends to be too smoothed-out. Sure, it gets rid of any wrinkles and flaws on your face – but it can also in certain light make it look as though you have had a bit of cosmetic surgery.

Nonetheless, with the Mate 10’s selfie camera you no longer have a bad side that’s for sure.

Of the varying camera modes, the one that stood out for me was the new 3D Panorama option. Light Painting is also a favourite. In all there’s 14 Modes including Video, which records from the rear camera in 4K HDR.

Mate 10 (Standard) – LEFT and Mate 10 Pro – RIGHT.

Moving on from the camera, the A.I. is also utilised by way of text translation – handy if you are a traveller. There is infact a Translation App that is preinstalled which will generally use the camera in order to convert signs and so forth in to your native language. The Mate 10 is equipped with over 50 languages.

Speaking of language, Huawei are the only smart device manufacturer that go out of their way to really know their customers.

Since the P10 released earlier this year (2017) in New Zealand, the native language of Te Reo Maori has been included in their devices as a standard language option. This language pack will be available as a free download shortly after the device’s release date.

Spec wise, the standard version of the Mate 10 (Standard) sees 4Gb of RAM and a 64GB ROM (storage). Naturally upgradeable via a microSD, but I felt the RAM on the Standard handset a little too middle road.

The Pro version sees 6GB RAM and 128GB Rom.

The Mate 10 (Standard) boldly displays an almost bezel-less 5.9 inch screen (Mate 10 Pro 6.0 inch). Huawei smartphones are known for their astounding end to end screens.

The phone is super fast however, and the Standard handset that we were given had zero lags or hang ups when gaming, watching Netflix or browsing the net with a zillion tabs open.

The audio on the Mate 10 has taken an interesting turn.

Previously Huawei handsets came with DTS enhancements. This worked exceedingly well, especially through inner ear headsets.

DTS has now been replaced with Huawei Histen.

This sees the usual Equaliser options also with the ability to adjust listening distant to your audio, Front, Near and Wide variations. 3D Audio can also be toggled on or off. You are more than likely to toggle this off however as with music it just didn’t sound right.

I missed the DTS enhancement. It really packed a powerful audio punch.

Like DTS on prior Huawei devices, the audio filters will only work when a headset is connected via the 3,5MM socket or via Bluetooth.

The Mate 10 pulls alot of industry firsts.

What most Android fans will notice immediately is that the Mate 10 (Standard) and Pro comes with Google’s newly released Android 8.0 (Oreo). Overlayed on top is the signature and very elegant looking Emotion UI or EMU.

Now to be fair, if you have never owned a Huawei smartphone before the EMU may take a bit of getting used to. There is no separate App button, the Emotion interface is all a series of swipes. From left to right to get to your Apps, through to your Homescreen and so on.

Another change that has been implemented is the swiping feature on the non-tactile Home Button.

There is no onscreen HUD at the lower portion of the screen to go back to Home screen or reverse out of an App. It’s all swipes on the Home button and a long press will always revert you back to Home.

On the Mate 10 (Standard) the finger print sensor is on the Front Home Button and works 100% of the time. On the Mate 10 Pro it is on the rear of the handset – which is my preference.

Both the Standard and Pro versions are Dual SIM with a world first 4G capability for each and both are equipped and ready for 4.5 to 5G capable mobile data networks. Huawei fully understands mobile data – they not only make smart devices, they have also been in the Telco commercial industry for decades.

Battery performance on the Mate 10 (Standard) was not too bad. As a heavy user I was able to get a full days charge out of the device without the need to recharge until the following morning.

A moderate user should be able to get up to two days before needing a charge – and for charging, this is adaptive where the device will learn your charging habits. Whatsmore there is also Quick Charge – 30 minutes or so will see you right at around 60% from almost 0%.

Either of the Mate 10 versions do not feel too large in the hand in the wider birth of the OLED screen optimises your media viewing and photo taking experience.

Huawei’s Mate 10 is the logical choice for any serious mobile photographer and separating the two editions, the Standard one will suit most general users, for those that like to push their devices to the extreme, you’d be better to go for the Pro.

I had been eagerly waiting for the Mate 10’s release since it was first announced months ago – and I have no complaints.

Elegance in a handset, the Mate 10 looks like a million dollars and retails cheaper than it’s lesser spec’d competitors.

A superb Android phone that will see an average pic snapper producing images like a professional.

Gallery of Photo’s taken with the Mate 10

The post Huawei Mate 10 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.