Doubling down on its Alexa voice assistant technology, Amazon.com Inc. unveiled a slew of new Echo products Wednesday, including five new Echoes and a new Fire TV each for under $150.

“With these new products from Amazon, they’re really trying to swim in both directions to attract all sorts of customers for the home market,” said Michael Levine, vice president of marketing at Photon Infotech Ltd. “Their Echo Spot and Dots are going downstream to attract the lower-income household, while the new Echo and Echo Plus are more in-line with their Prime shopper.”

A large number of new devices isn’t surprising considering Amazon has more than 5,000 people working on Echo and the Alexa ecosystem. This figure, more than the combined number of employees working at Fitbit Inc. and GoPro Inc., is a huge jump from the “more than 1,000 people working on Alexa and Echo” reported by Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos in May 2016.

Amazon’s wide array of new smart home products comes just a week before Google LLC’s Oct. 4 event, where the company is expected to release a mini version of its own smart home speaker to compete with Amazon’s Echo Dot. The Google Home Mini will have all the same functionality as the larger device, but will retail for $49. In addition to the Mini, the company is also reportedly working on a higher-end Google Home “Max,” according to 9to5Google, which will be larger and come with stereo speakers. It’s unknown whether the larger Google Home will be announced next week, but the company will likely want to get in ahead of Apple Inc. and the release of its expensive HomePod in December.  

BMW AG also made a guest appearance at Amazon’s press conference and announced deeper integration with Alexa. Previously, drivers were able to access details about their BMW from their home, including fuel levels. Starting in 2018, drivers will be able to interact with Alexa, to access a music playlist, for example, while in their cars.

“With the partnership with BMW, Amazon is going after who they think their customer is,” said Levine. “While the Echo products are spreading far and wide to reach users, this one is geared towards expanding Alexa into the lives of who Amazon believes their typical Prime demographic is – a more luxury shopper.”

Ford Motor Co. is already integrating Alexa into its cars, which it demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. At the same show, BMW showed off its integration with Microsoft Corp.’s Cortana.   

Here’s a look at all the Amazon devices announced at the company’s press conference:

Next generation Amazon Echo

The second-generation Amazon Echo (pictured above) is both smaller and cheaper but keeps the same features as the original. The new Amazon Echo will retail for $99 or you can buy three Echos and enjoy multi-room audio for $250. It will be available in a variety of cloth-covered and veneers coatings.

The long-requested multi-room audio feature allows users to stream audio across all compatible Echo devices, or only in a specific room. The Amazon Echo also includes second-generation far-field technology, allowing for better wake word processing, improved beamforming technology and enhanced noise cancellation.

Calling and messaging has been available for a few months now, but now the company is introducing free calls within the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Alexa will be able to make calls based on your smartphone’s contact list or dial a number that you speak out. The feature will be available on the Echo, as well as the Dot and Show for U.S. customers.

Echo Connect

To help instill Alexa as a phone replacement, Amazon also unveiled the Echo Connect, which will turn your existing Echo device into a speakerphone for your home phone line, whether landline or VoIP. Once connected to your Wi-Fi network and phone jack or VoIP adapter, set up the device through the Alexa app. You can then make and receive calls through Alexa and it will also be able to make 911 calls, according to Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices at Amazon.

The Echo Connect goes on sale later this year for $35.

Echo Plus

Amazon’s $150 Echo Plus device looks very similar to the original Echo but comes with a built-in Zigbee Alliance smart home hub, allowing you to set up and control your smart home devices without the need for an additional hub.

Currently, when you buy the Echo Plus it comes with a Philips Hue bulb, great for customers still experimenting with the internet of things.

In addition to sporting the same features as the Echo, the Echo Plus’ 360-degree sound supports Dolby sound.

Echo Spot

The $130 Echo Spot is a combination of the Echo Dot and the Echo Show and will be available in December. The Echo Spot comes in a compact design and offers video calls thanks to its built-in camera above the screen. While the display is small, Amazon says it will stream Prime Video, but we assume it won’t offer support for YouTube.

The Spot only has a two-watt speaker so it will sound similar to the Dot. While Amazon says you can play music through the Spot, you can also connect it directly to speakers using a 3.5-millimeter stereo cable or Bluetooth to add voice control to your home stereo.

Echo Buttons

Amazon also unveiled the quirky Echo Buttons, which is “one of many” Alexa Gadgets that the company is planning. Echo Buttons, which will retail for $20 a pair, are handheld buzzers that are used to play games through a compatible Echo device.

Trivia games that will be possible with the Buttons include Trivial Pursuit, Sounds Fun with Mike Epps, Buzzer Beater Basketball Trivia with Karl-Anthony Towns, Fourth Down Football Trivia with Philip Rivers, Full Count Baseball Trivia with Buster Posey from Ground Control, as well as Beat the Intro.

A release date is not available yet for the Buttons, but it will be in time for the holidays, according to Amazon.

Fire TV

Amazon also announced an updated Fire TV that offers 4K video at up to 60 frames per second, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and a 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU. The Fire TV comes with a remote with support for Alexa voice control and can also be controlled with other Echo devices around the house.

The Fire TV will retail for $70, the same price at Google’s 4K-capable Chromecast Ultra and more than $100 less than the recently launched Apple TV 4K.

Images: Amazon