Amazon’s Echo Show has not been around for all that long, but smart home device makers are already jumping at the opportunity to integrate with the new technology. On Thursday, Vivint, August Home, Nest, Amcrest, EZViz, IC Realtime, Ring, Logitech, and Arlo (all of which produce smart cameras or video doorbells) announced compatibility with Amazon’s new Alexa-enabled touchscreen device.
Thanks to the new Vivint integration, you can now ask Alexa to show you live camera feeds from your indoor, outdoor, and doorbell cameras. If you say, “Alexa, show me my doorbell camera,” you will be able to look to your Echo Show and view content immediately. Similarly, the Echo will be able to control other Vivint smart home products, like smart locks, lights, garage doors, and thermostats. Of course, given that those products do not have cameras attached, Echo’s functionality here is not quite as special.
“We continue to expand our relationship with Amazon to enhance and simplify the smart home,” said Jeremy Warren, chief technology officer at Vivint Smart Home. “By enabling consumers to use their voice to access high-quality, live video and audio from their cameras, we’re giving them another convenient way to keep track of what’s happening in and around their homes.”
Similarly, for smart lock makers like August and Ring, the Amazon Echo Show will now allow you to check out live video footage of what is happening outside your front door. If you have an August Doorbell Cam, you can ask Alexa to show your doorstep and watch real-time video of visitors. When your mailman’s left, you can say “Alexa, hide my front door,” if that’s what the name of your Ring doorbell. Footage from connected cameras like the Arlo or Nest will show you what’s going on in the garage, kid’s room, or living room, depending on where you have them placed. For many, it’s probably easier to ask Alexa to show you a certain room, rather than having to pull out a phone and open an app.
This marks the first time that users have been able to divorce their smartphones when it comes to actually monitoring footage from the cameras, doorbells, or Vivint devices, and certainly drives home the usefulness of the Amazon Echo Show.
