Amazon unveils Echo Plus, its first true smart home hub

Amazon's new Echo is also a hub.
 By 
Lance Ulanoff
 on 
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Amazon's new Echo is its smartest Echo yet.

This is the first Echo to include its own smart home hub. According to Amazon, which unveiled the new Echo Plus on Wednesday at its Seattle headquarters, the company wants to reduce the steps necessary to install smart home products. Instead of 15 steps, it could take just one.

The $149 Echo Plus looks like the original Echo, but it's a little larger, gray instead of black or white, and has connectivity capabilities.

In addition to all the sound and listening upgrades found in the new Echo, this device has better bass and treble.

To prove that the Echo Plus can simplify smart home setup, it will ship with a Phillips Hue White light. Phillips joins a host of smart device companies supporting the Echo Plus out of the box. All of the supported devices are ZigBee products.

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Lance Ulanoff

Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.

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