Updated: The Amazon Tap is upon us! But.. what is it?
Amazon has just announced their newest device. It’s called the Amazon Tap, and it joins the “Echo family” that was brought on the market with the original Amazon Echo.
The Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth speaker that does a lot more than your run-of-the-mill Beats Pill. It features the Alexa voice recognition technology that Amazon has developed, and has made available for manufacturers to use on their devices.
This technology is quite interesting, allowing you to perform a whole host of tasks, from ordering a Uber, to getting pizza delivery, all—you guessed it—at the Tap™ of a button.
Let’s focus for a moment on the very basics here. If the Amazon Tap is, at its core, a Bluetooth speaker, how does it compare to any other regular Bluetooth speaker on the market?
Let’s find out.
The Music
With a regular Bluetooth speaker, you would pair your phone (or computer) to the speaker, and start streaming music, either from your iTunes library, or from any of the streaming music solutions out there, iTunes Music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
With the Amazon Tap, you can connect the device directly to your home Wi-Fi (or a mobile hotspot using your cellular data from your phone), and stream music directly from Prime Music, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn and iHeartRadio.
Sound Quality
The Amazon Tap is pretty loud. The sound quality is pretty remarkable, thanks to the dual Dolby speakers, which provide 360° audio. The treble is crisp and clear, while the bass is boomy. Definitely sounds better than most Bluetooth speakers of comparable size.
Battery Life
The Amazon Tap‘s battery life is one of the most impressive features of this device: it lasts an incredible 9 hours when in active use, and 3 weeks in standby.
Another cool feature is the charging station (Amazon calls it “charging cradle”) that comes with the Tap. It’s a charging base that you plug into your outlet. Simply rest the Tap on top of it, and voilà, you’re charging.
Design
Amazon Tap is smaller than the regular Amazon Echo ( 6.2″ tall x 2.6″ wide or 159 mm tall x 66 mm wide). Its design is as minimalistic as the original Echo‘s, and it’s basically a black cylinder that’s “all speaker”.
The main button is of course, the “microphone” button, that you have to tap to access Alexa. Yes, unlike the Echo, you have to tap it to speak your command. This is the major con of the Amazon Tap, you actually have to tap the button; you can’t just say “Alexa” from the other room and ask it to play your favorite tune. Still, this is probably what makes the Amazon Tap less expensive, and keeps the battery running for so long.
Tapping the microphone button lights up the LEDs situated in the front-facing microphone, letting you know that you can now speak into it. Pretty cool!
On the slightly concave top, we have the self explanatory audio controls, play/pause, previous, next, volume up, volume down. The buttons have a very slight texture, so you can feel them under your fingers.
It’s definitely not as rugged as some other Bluetooth speakers out there, and that’s why Amazon provides an optional “Sling”. Essentially, the Amazon Tap Sling is a colored silicone case that protects the sides of your Tap, and adds a convenient loop at the top, so that you can hang your Amazon Tap from your tent or backpack, making the Tap a lot more convenient and giving you the chance to personalize it with your choice from the 6 available colors (White, Black, Green, Blue, Magenta and Tangerine).
The Amazon Tap Sling unfortunately does not come with your Amazon Tap, and you’ll have to shell out an extra $19.99 for it. And, unless you plan to just keep your Amazon Tap on your desk or nightstand, you’re probably gonna need one.
The Alexa Voice Service – How Well Does it Work?
We all use Siri on our phones more and more, and we’re thrilled to see a big company like Amazon creating a voice-recognition system that can be embedded in third party gadgets. Voice recognition is still a pretty arduous feat of narrow AI (so much so that even Mark Zuckerberg still struggles with it), and having access to a “pre-packaged” solution is a real boon for developers.
Alexa works extremely well and sounds more natural than Siri. It can do a lot of interesting things, though you’ll mainly use it to play exactly the tracks that you feel like listening to. Overall, this alone makes the Amazon Tap a better bluetooth speaker than most other brands’. In fact, if you pair your Echo Tap with your iPhone, you can get “the best of both worlds” and use Siri with Apple Music, or some of the other options through the built-in Alexa. That’s pretty neat.
So, how can I buy a Amazon Tap?
You can get it directly on Amazon of course.
Amazon Prime users don’t get a discount unfortunately, but, if you’re like us and you order a lot of stuff from Amazon anyway, it’s still getting it for the savings in shipping and for the Prime Music service that you can use with the Amazon Tap. Plus, you can try it for free for 30 days by clicking here.
In Conclusion
The Amazon Tap is a competent little device that will make your pool parties more fun. Is it perfect? Not really, but it strikes a good compromise for its price point, though if you don’t care about the voice recognition, you have better options for improved sound quality at this price point.
Keep checking in at WishingDwell.com for updates, as we pit the Amazon Tap against some of the most popular Bluetooth speakers out there, like the JBL Flip 3, the Bose Soundlink Color, the UE Boom 2 and the Beats Pill.
