Among the new devices introduced at today’s Amazon fall devices event, the company introduced new products for families with kids. The company showcased two new models of Echo Pop Kids, the newer smaller Echo devices with a screen, including those with ties to Disney. The new devices come in two designs, Marvel’s Avengers and Disney Princess. In addition, Amazon announced two new Fire HD tablets — a Fire HD 10 Kids for younger kids and the new Fire HD 10 Kids Pro for older ones.
The Echo Pop Kids come in two new designs: Marvel’s Avengers and Disney Princess, which feature corresponding character themes. Both also include six months of access to the Amazon Kids+ subscription service, which offers a range of kid-friendly games, apps, books, videos and more.
The company said it’s also introducing “Explore with Alexa” as part of its Kids content service that allows kids to have curiosity-driven, but kid-friendly, conversations with Alexa. These conversations are similar to what’s possible with Alexa on other devices, but are designed with trust and safety and the needs of families at the forefront, Amazon says, and was built with a protected version of its LLM stack.
The responses will come from kid-friendly resources like the World Wildlife Fund and other better sources.
Amazon then uses its model to identify the most interesting bits of information and adapts them to facilitate a fun conversation for the kids. For example, it may reframe a fact as a trivia question. Explore with Alexa also will redirect conversations away from any inappropriate or sensitive content, if kids bring it up. The experience should be available before the holidays.
Both are available for preorder today in the U.S. for $49.99 and will ship next month.
Image Credits: Amazon
In addition, the company expanded its Fire HD 10 tablet lineup with the new Fire HD 10 Kids for younger kids and the new Fire HD 10 Kids Pro for older kids. The 10.1” tablets are lighter and 25% faster than the previous generation, Amazon says, with 1080p full HD displays, 3GB of RAM and up to 13 hours of battery life. They’re also $10 less than prior generations ($189.99) and include features like a new “Music Maker” and its existing Sound Box that includes things like screams, farts and whistles.
The tablets also include Play Together games, where kids play on their Fire Kids tablets while grown-ups connect to the same game on their mobile phones from across the house, or across the country, Amazon says.
Both tablets come with a year of Amazon Kids+, parental controls and Amazon’s two-year guarantee — if they break, parents can return them and Amazon will replace them for free.
U.S. customers can preorder Fire HD 10 Kids and Fire HD 10 Kids Pro starting today, and the tablets will ship next month.