With the launch of the Amazon Echo Show, a number of third-party skills have started taking full advantage of the device’s touchscreen. The Show performs all the smart home duties of a regular Echo but displays the data visually instead of just using Alexa’s voice.
The Echo Show may need some more time before its utility is completely clear, but right now, the Alexa Skills Store has roughly 15,000 skills waiting to be tested. Not all Skills made it to the resting screen, at least not yet. It may take a while, that according to Amazon itself, who said that “third-party Skills had not yet been finalized for The Echo Show.” For the time being, we could only hope for the Skills below to fully capitalize on the visual component of the Show.
1-800-Flowers
You’ll never know when the need for a bouquet arises, or when the sudden urge to get fresh flowers comes up. And while the Echo gives you options through descriptions, it’s more comforting to see images, because really, who doesn’t want to look at flowers one’s about to order?
Ordering flowers is pretty much like ordering food – visuals are necessary, especially if you’re making a non-preset order. Should 1-800-Flowers make it to the Amazon Echo Show, that would be more than helpful.
This Day in History
Granted, not all are history buffs, but picking up a thing or two from the days of yore is a pleasant experience, plus it adds to your knowledge of random things. Ironically, This Day in History is one of the most popular Skills on the Skills Store, but it’s a no-show on the Show.
The listening experience is fun as it is informative, but some clips and photos would make things a lot more interesting.
Kayak
You can say, “Alexa, ask Kayak to book me a hotel room in Chicago,” and the Echo will give you a list of available hotels and rooms that you can reserve right there and then. Convenient, yes, but the lack of pictures could trigger an anxiety attack, because what if you end up in one of those expectation-vs-reality scenarios?
There’s a pretty strong chance we’ll get to have it on Amazon Echo Show, though. According to Engadget, it could launch the new features for the touchscreen device “soon.”
Amazon is opening its doors get more developers on board and has added new capabilities to its Alexa Skills Kit to help developers get started. That’s a good thing, and for a device that’s priced $230, a lot more people would call the Amazon Echo Show a steal.
