Amazon releases Echo speaker across the UK and Germany, letting people talk to their house

The computer, powered by Alexa and using only people’s voices, has been out in the US since earlier this year but is now shipping across the world

(Amazon)

Amazon is finally releasing its talking robot assistant for people’s houses in the UK and Germany.

The Amazon Echo uses voice to allow people to talk to its Alexa personal assistant. Like Siri or Google Now, Alexa can answer questions or do tasks by talking to the internet – but unlike those, it sits in a devoted speaker that can be placed around the house so people can use it as an assistant.

As well as being able to talk to Amazon itself – from where it can pull information like sports results, start timers and of course buy things – it can also be integrated with other services. Amazon announced that it will be able to talk to things like Sky Sports and Uber in the UK, letting people get sports results or request a car.

And it will also be able to talk to other devices, like those for the smart home. That will mean that people can use it to talk to smart lightbulbs and thermostats to have things change in their house.

The company launched its Alexa speaker in the US two years ago, to rave reviews. But since then it’s not gone any further, with no announcements about whether it would be coming to the rest of the world.

Now Amazon has announced that in the autumn it will be releasing the little speaker in the UK and Germany. It didn’t say whether it will be coming to the rest of Europe or anywhere else in the world anytime soon.

Part of the work to bring it elsewhere has involved making the voice better for local markets. So the UK Alexa has a British accent when she talks, for instance, and can respond to the kinds of things that people in its new locations might say.

Amazon also announced that it will release a white version of the Amazon Echo, to sit alongside the traditional black one. That will come out in all the places the Echo has been released – the US, as well as Germany and the UK – and will come out at the same time.