Amazon has announced a new Disney-branded companion for Alexa.
The company showed off the new technology at its annual product unveiling event, and confirmed that a new personality would be coming to the world of Alexa, bringing movie characters to life and allowing fans to access games, stories, jokes, and sing-along content from their Alexa devices in the coming months.
Hey Disney will launch in early 2022 at Walt Disney World hotel rooms, and it’ll be an add-on for anyone who has an Echo device. Amazon and Disney haven’t revealed how much it’ll cost to buy the assistant for the home, but it’s important to see Hey Disney has an extension of Alexa rather than a replacement.
Disney’s “magical companion” can tell jokes, sing along to songs, and it can beam the voices of popular Disney characters into your home. Disney says it’ll play “soundscapes” as background sounds inspired by movies and theme parks, and there will be characters from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.
Hey Disney will also perform some of the basic Alexa tasks, like telling the time, reading the weather, and setting alarms, and with over 1,000 possible interactions, there’ll be plenty of things to get up to.
Amazon also showed off the Echo Show 5, a smart display with a 5.5-inch touchscreen, which will be available in Disney hotel rooms in 2022. Users can preorder their own stand which adds Mickey Mouse ears on the Echo Show 5 for just $25.
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