Amazon
At Amazon’s Echo and Ring devices event Tuesday, the company announced the Amazon Glow, an interactive video-chat device focused on helping kids and loved ones play together via the internet.
Now playing:
Watch this:
Amazon Glow: An interactive projector for kids
4:24
The Amazon Glow works in two parts. On the child’s end, an 8-inch display projects an interactive gaming surface onto a 19-inch, white silicone mat. The Amazon Glow is also equipped with a video screen that shows the remote adult on the other end of the video call. Children can call anyone in the preapproved list of contacts set up by the parent with its Amazon Parent dashboard. Parents and children can also disable the microphone and close the camera shutter at any time.
Get the CNET Daily News newsletter
Catch up on the biggest news stories in minutes. Delivered on weekdays.
The remote friend or family member uses the free Glow app for iOS and Android mobile phones or tablets to interact with the child’s play mat. Two cameras on the Amazon Glow capture footage for the remote adult: one focuses on the child; the other points down at the mat. The cameras provide wide-angle, 720p video and the remote adult sees a picture-in-picture livestream.
Read more: Amazon’s smart products lead the market even as trust in the company lags
Amazon
The Amazon Glow includes a wide range of entertainment and educational content. Games like checkers and go fish are built in, as well as puzzles, thousands of books and a free drawing app that can scan objects into the artwork and do fun things like create a jigsaw puzzle from your favorite toy by smashing it on the screen.
The catalog comes from an included one-year subscription of Amazon Kids Plus. After the year is up, that subscription will kick in at $3 per month. Amazon also partnered with studios for branded experiences from Disney, Mattel, Sesame Street and Nickelodeon. Curated video content is available, but kids can only watch videos while they’re calling an approved adult.
The Amazon Glow will also come with accessories called GlowBits. One GlowBit kit will be available at launch and included for free, a Tangram puzzle game with physical pieces. A child can complete the puzzle and watch an animation come to life on the projection mat. More GlowBits will be sold separately after the Amazon Glow launches later this year.
Amazon
Alexa is not built into the Amazon Glow, but Amazon representatives said they would continue to listen to customer feedback regarding the virtual assistant. Several Echo devices have kids’ editions, including the Echo Dot and Echo Show 5. Alexa is onboard those devices in a limited, kid-friendly scope. If the Amazon Glow sounds familiar, that’s because there’s also a kids’ smart lamp called the Echo Glow. It’s still for sale, but not to be confused with this new Amazon Glow device.
The Amazon Glow is launching in the US only in mid-October. No specific dates were available, but the device will cost $250 at introduction, going up to $300. Customers can request an invitation to the early-access Glow program starting today on Amazon’s site.
At Tuesday’s event, Amazon also announced the Echo Show 15, a Disney voice assistant, new Smart Thermostat, the Halo View fitness tracker and more.
Now playing:
Watch this:
Amazon Glow: An interactive projector for kids
4:24
