The Amazon Echo and the Echo Dot are finally going to be available in the UK and Germany. In the UK, the Echo Dot is £49.99 while the Echo is £149.99, and in Germany the Echo Dot is €59,99 while the Echo is €179,99. Customers in the UK can pre-order either device immediately, but just like when the Echo first arrived in the US, German customers will have to request an invitation to purchase the Echo or Echo Dot. In both regions, Prime members will receive £50/€50 off the price of an Amazon Echo if they pre-order/request an invitation within the next couple days. In the UK, first shipments will arrive on October 20th and Germany’s first orders will arrive a few days later on October 26th.
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I just successfully ordered 2 via my Echo! They won’t arrive until October 20th though.
Here’s the product page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DFKC2SO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Does anyone know if the Echo now recognises both German and English at the same time? Or do you need to choose which language it should recognise?
I’d love to know this as well, but I assume the best places to find the answer are German tech sites, which I can’t read.
Was there any mention that Alexa is coming to Fire TVs in the UK? Without that these have limited value to me.
Also is there a huge difference in functionality between the Echo and the dot?
Alexa on the Fire TV really doesn’t do a whole lot. The Fire TV is for playing movies and with the improved voice search Alexa doesn’t have a lot of use, apart from asking for the weather etc. But you need to have the TV on to make her work so it seems pretty pointless to me and why the Echo is a much better buy.
Some of the new commands like skip forward 1 minute, pause etc would good. Also I use a Harmony Elite so doesn’t have a microphone so was hoping that the Echo would be able to do all that. I guess from what you describe it can’t.
The reason the held back on releasing the Echo in the UK for so long is because they weren’t sure if Alexa would handle all the British regional dialects, but now that they have determined that Alexa that handle the British accent and have released their Alexa products here, Alexa will inevitably be integrated into an upcoming Fire TV update.
The dot’s main drawback is you need to use an external speaker to play music etc. Apart from that it’s pretty much the same. The voice recognition has improved over the Echo as it’s the 2nd gen (Echo is still the old gen). So if you have spare 3mm speakers than the Dot is far better value for you.
I would also like Alexa on my UK Fire TV.
I haven’t heard Fire TV mentioned at all in any of the UK coverage. My guess is Amazon is saving that announcement as one of the new features for the Fire TV 3 in the UK.
When the Fire TV 2 was announced, Alexa was one of the big new features that was revealed, …even though it was coming to the Fire TV 1 and Stick as well.
It’ll probably go something like this: THE NEW FIRE TV 3 HAS ALEXA IN THE UK!!!! …oh and Alexa is coming to all existing UK Fire TV devices too… BUT YOU SHOULD BUY A NEW FIRE TV 3 BECAUSE IT HAS ALEXA!!!
When is Canada going to get some Echo love????
Don’t know, but I want to see some Canada Fire TV love as well!
I’m a UK prime customer and tempting to cave in and get it for 100 pounds. Is this the cheapest it has went for in its equivalent US currency in the US or have they dropped it more on Black Friday etc? Not sure should I get it now or if they’ll drop it more around Black Friday
Generally speaking, all early buyer Prime-only deals when a new product is announced have been the cheapest those products ever get.
The Echo was $99 for early Prime buyers when it first came out, with a then expected retail price of $199. They dropped the retail price to $179 when it was widely released because they decided to not bundle in a voice remote, which the early buyers got included.
The cheapest “regular” sale the Echo has been was $129.99. The absolute cheapest you ever could have purchased the Echo was for $94.99. That was a one day only “perfect storm” incident when the Echo was on sale for $149.99, and there was a promotion where you got $50 off a purchase if you used an Amazon card, and the Amazon card gave you 5% off.
In summary, the Echo will likely never be cheaper than it is today in the UK.
Thank you for that info! I’m guessing the 99 pounds here is equivalent to the 99 dollar introductory price when it first came out as pre-order in the US. It seems from what you have said, it may never hit 99 pounds again, even on Prime Day and Black Friday. I think I might have to take advantage of it. I subscribed to Prime for the first time when they dropped the price as a promotion for their new car show a few months back, but I haven’t found much use for Prime Music. It seems Echo would be the perfect way to make use out of that Prime service. I’m hoping Pandora will work here. Apparently there is currently no geo-blocking on Pandora for UK users of the US Echo at present I hope that won’t change.
Has anyone heard if we will also get the Alexa software update to the Fire TV box here in the U.K.? I would really like it on my first gen Fire TV.
Alexa will come out very soon on UK Fire TVs. The reason they haven’t released Echo in the UK until now is because they said they weren’t sure if Alexa could properly handle the British accent and now that they have introduced Alexa into the UK with their Echo devices it’ll only be a matter of time before they add it up an upcoming update for the Fire TV.
Why does Amazon hate Canada so much? XD
I’m really surprised Echo hasn’t been realised in Canada yet. They released the Fire TV in Canada before they did in the UK.
Um… I think you are mistaken. The Fire line of devices never released in Canada. I wish you were right though. Good thing I live near the border.
I’ve noticed something interesting on the page. I’m in Northern Ireland and on the page, it says the Echo Dot can’t be delivered to the North. Yesterday they allowed to order the large Echo but today they are saying on the product page that they can’t deliver to Northern Ireland. They haven’t cancelled my order so far so I’m not even sure if they’ll send it out to me on the 28th September. Interestingly they won’t ship the Echo Dot but they’ll ship the Echo Dot and the Wemo Switch bundle. Don’t understand the inconsistency as the North is in the UK.