I'm wondering if Voice View, Amazon's screen reader, will also be baked
into one of these TVs.
From usatoday.com
Amazon's Alexa will be inside TVs for the first time
Edward C. Baig , USA TODAY Published 9:01 a.m. ET May 16, 2017 | Updated
4 hours ago
636305212110486394-W-LQ.JPG
An Element TV with Amazon's Fire TV platform baked in.(Photo: Amazon)
NEW YORK—You’ve been able to ask Amazon’s Alexa to help you search for
movies and TV shows and deliver other Alexa “skills” through your
television set as long as you outfit it with a special Amazon device.
Now you can buy an Alexa TV with the voice assistant baked in.
On Tuesday, Amazon begins taking preorders on special televisions built
with Alexa, a new addition to the sometimes troubled market for TVs that
respond to your voice.
The Element Electronics Ultra HD 4K smart TVs are the first televisions
with the Fire TV Edition built in, an advance announced during the CES
industry confab in January. . These make it easier to use Alexa than the
previous method, which required buying and connecting a Fire TV external
streaming media player or Fire TV Stick to your television.
I got to check out a demo.
With the supplied voice remote control, you can summon Alexa and bark
out various commands, from changing the channels to accessing on-demand
content, the more than 300,000 TV episodes and movies available
from Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO NOW, Showtime, Hulu, Sling TV and others
— as long as you buy these subscriptions. You can also tap into what
Amazon says are 15,000 channels, apps and Alexa skills. Among other
things, you'll be able to surface Yelp restaurant reviews, dim the
household lights, control other smart appliances, or follow the lyrics
on the TV screen as you sing along karaoke-style.
If you ask Alexa to “go to PlayStation,” say, the TV is smart enough to
switch to the appropriate input. You can also ask Alexa to: “play HBO
Now,” fast-forward one minute,” or find “Clint Eastwood movies.”
Unlike an Amazon Echo, you’ll have to hold down the remote control to
communicate with Alexa. The TV is not in a listening mode waiting for
the “Alexa” wake word. Of course, Amazon recently unveiled Echo Show,
the first Echo with its own video screen.
The Fire TV interface.
The Fire TV interface. (Photo: Amazon)
Amazon is following the path taken by rival Roku, which besides the
external media set-top boxes and streaming sticks it sells that connect
to the TV, has also built streaming capabilities directly into a television.
Google’s Android TV platform is also built into certain televisions,
while there are still no TVs that incorporate the smarts from Apple TV
set top boxes.
The fact that these Alexa TVs aren't always listening will cheer viewers
who might be worried that their TV might be spying on them. Back in
February, Vizio had to pay $2.2 million to settle charges that
it was collecting data on viewer habits without their consent. And in
2015, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with
the FTC over Samsung's smart TV software and always-on capabilities.
The new Element TVs will come in four screen sizes—at 43, 50, 55 and 65
inches, and cost $449, $549, $649 and $899, respectively. Amazon is
throwing in a free indoor over-the-air HD antenna for those who preorder
(while supplies last).
These latest models, and similar TVs that will carry the Westinghouse
brand, will hit stores in June.
The on-screen Fire TV interface is clean, with rows showing featured
content, recent stuff you’ve watched, apps and games, and so on. The
Element TVs include 3GB of memory and 16GB of storage, which you can
expand either through an optional SD card or by connecting a USB drive.
They also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, 4 HDMI ports, along with other
connectors. The refresh rate is 60 Hz.
Such TVs don’t incorporate all the latest TV technology. HDR (high
dynamic range), for example, is not an option on any of the latest
models. Nor is Dolby Vision. But as modestly-priced mainstream
televisions, the screen quality for average viewers should be perfectly
fine.
Email: ebaig@xxxxxxxxxxxx; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist
@edbaig on Twitter
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist Feel free to visit my
Web site WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
for additional resources and information about assistive technology training
services.
To unsubscribe from this list, please email
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the
subject line.
To subscribe from another email address, send email to
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word subscribe in the subject
line.
To contact the list administrator, please email
blind-philly-comp-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx