Amazon Tap
Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth speaker with Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa. The tap can be spoken to in order to listen to news, traffic, and weather, set alarms and timers, order items from Amazon, and connect it to the smart home devices. it is named Tap because you have to press a button on the speaker to activate Alexa.
The Amazon Tap was updated so that the voice assistant works completely hands-free simply like the Echo and the Echo Dot. This makes the Tap a compelling alternative. This makes it clear that the audio quality is better than with the Echo Dot. The Amazon Tap costs around Rs.8400. And you’ll get a better performance for this price range with this Bluetooth speaker.
Whatever problem people faced with the Alexa has now become a history as it no longer continues with the Amazon Tap. Thanks to the free over-the-air upgrade, the Amazon Tap now supports a hands-free mode. When this mode is activated, Tap responds to the word “Alexa” just like the Echo and the Dot. The Amazon Tap can be simply said as a Portable Alexa and it means with all the features that we would expect.
Design Features:
The Amazon Tap is an black cylinder that measures 6.2 x 2.6 inches (HW) and weighs 470 grams. It’s smaller than the Echo that measures 9.3 x 3.3 inches and is easily portable. You can also wrap it inside an optional Rs.1290 rubber Tap Sling sleeve with a strap that you can then attach to a backpack. Out of the box, the Tap comes with a 0.6 x 2.6 inches (HW) charging plate and a micro USB cable.
The Tap has a gray Amazon logo on the front near the bottom, as it is with the Echo and Echo Dot. The Tap packs with it a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi button, micro USB power port, 3.5 mm audio input, and a power button. All these can be seen on the back of the Tap. And on the top, there is a play/pause button, volume, track navigation buttons along with a row of 5 LEDs on the front panel on a rubbery panel. The LED glow blue when using Alexa and orange when in pairing mode. You can tap the microphone button to manually use the voice control. It is powered by a rechargeable battery. This battery can last for 9 hours in playback and 3 weeks in standby mode.
As found in the Echo show, the Amazon Tap doesn’t have any display. The Show’s 7-inch touch screen and 5-megapixel camera allow to video chat, among other multimedia capabilities like watching movies. The Tap is designed only for audio like the Echo and Echo Dot.
Performance:
Coming to the audio performance of the Amazon Tap, it’s better than the Echo Dot. But it is not as rich as the larger Echo or Echo Show. The Tap performs with better tonality and more accurate details than several other Bluetooth speakers. The Tap can draw on two sources for audio, either directly from your mobile device via Bluetooth or a Wi-Fi network, from streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn and, of course, Amazon Prime Music.
Connecting the device to the services you want to use is done through the Amazon Alexa companion app. But, the good thing is that you need not spend more time with it once you’re connected. ultimately, songs sound a bit better with the use of Amazon’s native streaming service than using your mobile device.
Alexa:
The Tap has the same Alexa capabilities as Amazon’s Echo devices. Similar to other voice assistants like Google Assistant and Siri, you can ask Alexa to locate nearby restaurants and services, set alarms and timers, play music, report the news, or order products from Amazon. Alexa can also connect with smart home products like the Nest Thermostat or Philips Hue light bulbs to control home automation tasks like adjusting the temperature or dimming the lights. All these can be done through voice commands.
An update in February 2017 introduced full hands-free functionality, so you no longer have to press the microphone button to use Alexa. This makes the voice assistant much easier to work with. Previously, you needed to press the button for every command that wasn’t a direct response to a prompt. Now you can say “Alexa, play music” or “Alexa, what’s the weather?” and the speaker will answer without your needing to tap it first.
Although the Tap connects to your audio device via Bluetooth, it also needs to be connected to Wi-Fi in order to use Alexa. That means you won’t be able to use Alexa on the road unless you’re connected to public Wi-Fi or using a hotspot.
Conclusion:
The Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth speaker that is a very appealing alternative to the Echo. The rechargeable battery allows you to use it anywhere instead of just using it only while it is plugged in. And the Echo device doesn’t have this feature. The Echo and Echo Show produces high-quality sounds for a higher price and Echo Dot produces good quality sounds for the low price. Whereas Amazon Tap is the best and solid alternative if you wish to have a portable Bluetooth speaker with good performance in terms of audio and everything else.
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