Ever since the original Echo first debuted in late 2014, Amazon's push into the world of the connected home has been more aggressive with every passing year. The Echo Dot allows everyone to bring Alexa into their Home, the Echo Plus packs Alexa and a smart home hub into one single gadget, and the company even offers fashion advice with the Echo Look.
Today, Amazon announced two new additions to its lineup – the Amazo Cloud Cam and Amazon Key for Prime subscribers.
Amazon Cloud Cam
Starting off first with the Cloud Cam, this is Amazon's first step into the market of home security. Connected security cameras aren't anything new these days, but Amazon's hoping the Cloud Cam and its integration with Alexa and other services will be reason enough to pick one up over its many competitors.
Looking first at its hardware, the Cloud Cam can capture 1080p Full HD video, supports night-vision recording, and offers two-way audio so you can hear what it picks up and also speak to those near the camera using your phone. A wide-angle lens promises to capture a large area of your home, and the camera will connect to the Amazon Cloud Cam app where you'll be able to see clips of activity the camera's picked up over the past 24 hours.
The Cloud Cam is competitively priced at just $119.99
As you'd expect, Cloud Cam work seamlessly with all of your other Amazon devices. Whether you're talking to your Echo Spot, Show, or Fire TV, you'll be able to say "Alexa, show me the [camera name]" to instantly get a live video feed of what the Cloud Cam is currently seeing.
Buy multiple Cloud Cams to save!
Amazon is selling the Cloud Cam for just $119.99, but it'll also offer a two-pack for $199.99 and three-pack for $289.99. You can also choose from three subscription plans for the Cloud Cam that allow you to keep recordings for multiple days worth of activity for up to 30 days on 10 different cameras.
Amazon Key
Based on what we've already gone over, Cloud Cam sounds like a solid (if not familiar) product for keeping tabs on your home while you're away. However, the real draw to it is the all-new Amazon Key service that will be available on November 8 (the same date that the Cloud Cam will start shipping to customers).
When shopping on Amazon, you'll soon see an option to get free in-home delivery. By using the Cloud Cam and a smart door lock, couriers delivering your orders will be able to scan the barcode of your package, send this data to Amazon, and the Cloud Cam will then start recording. Once the delivery is authorized, the courier will get a prompt on their phone that allows them to unlock your door, go into your house, deliver your package, and lock it back up.
The Cloud Cam will record the delivery process so you can ensure that everything was done properly, and in order for Amazon Key to work, you'll need both the Cloud Cam and a smart door lock from either Yale or Kwikset. Amazon Key will initially be available in 37 different cities across the U.S., and along with deliveries, Amazon says that Key will also be able to provide access to its array of professional service providers from Amazon Home Services within the coming months.
Amazon's connected future
Amazon Key is new, convenient and a little creepy
Not everyone will immediately jump on board with trusting Amazon to let the delivery guy or gal into your house while recording the whole process, but don't expect these sort of gadgets and gizmos to go away anytime soon. This is just the next step for Amazon to be as prevalent in your daily life as possible, and while the concept may be freaky at first, it's undeniably cool, too.
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