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Canadian homes are about to get even smarter as Amazon rolls out Alexa+ starting today.
Launched earlier this year in the United States, Canada is the second country to get Amazon's smartest AI service, Alexa+.
This "ambient AI" technology is available on Echo devices giving Canadians a more natural and conversational way to interact with their smart homes and schedules.
Interestingly, it's not just a carbon copy of the US version.
Instead it's localized for our country. So, you can ask it about TimBits or ask it to help you accessorize your Canadian tuxedo, and not only will it know what you're talking about, it may throw in a few "ehs" when it responds.
What does Alexa+ do?
If you've used Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, before, then you're in a good starting place for understanding Alexa+. But, unlike traditional Alexa (old Alexa?), where you had to use very specific keywords and phrases (turn up the brightness on the side table lamp to 80 per cent), Alexa+ is much more conversational and uses context like who is speaking, your most recent requests, and past info you've trained it on to provide a very conversational experience.
Amazon described this service as "Ambient AI," which accurately reflects its place as being more than a chatbot and more than a virtual assistant. It's something that's potentially always accessible to you when you need to send a reminder to a family member, confirm a scheduling detail, or settle a debate about the casting in a retro TV show.
The idea with Alexa+ is there's an expert available on so many things (including your lifestyle, if you want it to be) that's there to help you whenever you need it.
Natural Conversation
The first thing you'll notice when chatting to a smart display or speaker with Alexa+ is how natural you'll be able to speak.
Up until now, we've been trained to talk to our smart speakers in a very authoritative voice with specific keywords and commands in mind. Talking to Alexa+ is much more natural, allowing you to interact with Alexa in a way that feels like a conversation with a real person. Alexa's voice has been refined to sound less robotic and be more expressive when helping you sort out your schedule or reminding you to take out the trash and recycling the night before garbage day.
Contextual Awareness
Depending on the permissions you enable for your specific profile, Alexa+ can be more helpful when you interact with "her" because she knows a bit about you. If you specify you're a Winnipeg Jets fan, love the Saskatchewan Roughriders, or cheer on the Blue Jays, Alexa+ will know that if you ask for information, like, "Who's in the starting lineup for the game tonight?" it can surmise based on your team preferences, the time of year, etc., what team you're talking about and provide you the relevant info.
Better Results
Piggybacking on the last point, Alexa+ can learn information that you tell her and keep it in mind for future results. For example, if you tell her you hate onions or that your son has a gluten allergy, it will remember this, so when you ask it next month for recipe ideas for dinner based on the food you have on-hand, she won't suggest french onion soup in a bread bowl, because she knows that won't be a hit with your family.
Routines Made Easy
Additionally, you can use Alexa to create "routines" (a series of events that happen with a specific command). While this has always been possible, it was a feature that usually only the more tech-minded users dug into because it was somewhat tedious. Now, routines can be created simply and quickly just by speaking to Alexa+.
Custom Learning
You can also train Alexa+ to be smarter for your personal needs by sharing emails and documents with relevant info. This could be the entire seasonal layout for your kid's hockey or dance schedule. An itinerary for an upcoming corporate seminar. Or a curriculum for a new course you're studying. With this info, you can then ask Alexa+ to help you plot your schedule for a busy week, make dinner reservations for the family after a dance recital, or verify info related to your course as you're studying in your home office.
Overall, the experience of "talking" to Alexa+ is what you would have wanted the experience to have been like with smart speakers from the beginning. It's a much more natural and enjoyable experience, making you more likely to want to tag Alexa in when you're having a chat in your living room with company or need it to set the mood with a specific playlist and music for a party.
How much does Alexa+ Cost in Canada?
This is the surprising part. Alexa+ can be purchased on its own for $27.99 per month (let's be honest, that's pricey when you consider that each year for who knows how long). But it's included for free for Amazon Prime Members (which, as a reminder, is $9.99 per month or $99 per year).
If you already have a Prime Membership, this means you can be tapping into Alexa+ for free! This brings even more value to your Prime Membership (which, if you didn't know, also includes Kindle Unlimited, a selection of video games through Prime Gaming/Amazon Luna, digital photo storage, and more) aside from using it for fast, free shipping.
Which devices does Alexa+ work on?
The four newest smart speakers from Amazon were designed with advanced AI in mind, and Alexa+ will work on them from day one:
- Echo Dot Max (the smaller speaker which works as a standalone or as part of a pair or set of speakers)
- Echo Studio (the big speaker for room-filling sound)
- Echo Show 8 (the smart speaker with an 8-inch display)
- Echo Show 11 (the smart speaker with an 11-inch display)
All four of the above-mentioned speakers are available in Canada. Additionally, Alexa+ will be available on most of Amazon's smart speakers that have been released in recent years. If you have one of these, you'll have to sign up to request access as Amazon rolls it out across additional devices).
How Private is the Info I Share With Alexa+?
To get the best and most useful experience with Alexa+, you need to enable specific permissions. And with any device that has a built-in microphone or camera that's going to be in your living room or maybe your bedroom, you should be rightfully aware of the privacy measures in place.
In the case of Alexa+, there are a lot of front-facing and backend considerations Amazon has thought of to help users feel comfortable and confident with introducing this smart technology into their homes.
Amazon has emphasized that customer trust and data privacy are of paramount importance. With the introduction of Alexa+, Alexa maintains its high bar of privacy and security in a few ways:
Transparency and Control
Users have full control over their data through the Alexa Privacy Hub, which is accessible via the Alexa app. This hub allows users to review and manage their privacy settings easily. Also, you can manage privacy settings through voice commands. For example, you can ask Alexa+ to forget specific information previously shared.
Data Management
Uploaded documents and memory-related data can be reviewed and deleted directly from the Alexa app. This adds peace of mind, so you can actually "see" specific info you may have used to help you train Alexa (example your kid's soccer practice schedule) that you may want removed eventually.
Microphone and Camera Controls
For added security, Alexa devices come equipped with microphone and camera controls, allowing users to disable these features whenever desired. There's a physical switch allowing you to cover the camera or mute the microphone whenever you want.
Listening Protocol
Alexa is designed to listen only after detecting the chosen wake word (by default "Alexa," but you can make it anything you want). Your conversations you may be having with your family around the home are not recorded or processed unless Alexa has been specifically activated.
Enhanced User Experience with Privacy in Mind
When you interact with an Alexa device, a blue glowing light is the visual indicator that Alexa is listening. Newer Alexa+ devices feature a redesigned visual indicator that is even more prominent when you're talking to your speaker or it responds back to you, showing you the device is active.
While, for some people, there's no amount of assurance that will be sufficient to invite a smart speaker or smart display in their home, Amazon provides many different degrees of privacy for users who want to share a little or a lot of their personal info to make these devices more personalized.
The Bottom Line: Is Alexa+ Worth the Upgrade?
This is one of the easiest recommendations I've made in a long time, provided you are already an Amazon Prime subscriber.
If you have a Prime membership, turning on Alexa+ is an absolute no-brainer. You are getting a massive upgrade to the intelligence of your smart home effectively for "free" (or at least, at no extra cost to what you're already paying). It finally makes the smart speaker experience feel like the future we were promised years ago—conversational, helpful, and genuinely smart.
If you aren't a Prime member, the $27.99 monthly price tag is steep. That's a significant subscription to add to your monthly budget just to have a smarter speaker to chat with. In that case, I'd say stick with the "classic" Alexa for now, unless you really need that deep conversational AI for managing a very complex household schedule.
Alexa+ Ready
Echo Dot Max
Geeking Out Shop
Alexa+ is now available in Canada and works on a variety of devices. If you want to test the waters, the Echo Dot Max is a great starting ground as a low-cost way to interact with Alexa+ to automate your smart home, organize your schedule and more.
Privacy will always be a valid concern when we invite AI into our living rooms, so do take a few minutes to dig into those settings and make sure you are comfortable with what you are sharing. But, once you do, I think you're going to love the experience.
Having an assistant that actually understands the context of "it's too bright in here" without me having to specify which lights or which room I want the bulbs dimmed in is as smart as we can hope for from our smart speakers. And the fact that it understands our Canadian specific colloquialisms? That's just the icing on the cake (or the glaze on the TimBit).
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