Amazon's Experience Centers unleash the power of Alexa in real homes

The smart home is evolving. What was once the simple novelty of being able to turn off your lights with your phone is now becoming an all-encompassing ecosystem that can lock your doors, schedule your lights, play your favorite songs, and order you toilet paper all without getting out of bed. Amazon wants to do more than just provide the hardware you need to do all those things. It wants you to experience just how advanced smart homes have become. Thanks to a partnership with Lennar model homes, Amazon has opened up Amazon Experience Centers at select locations around the United States. These Centers are model homes designed to showcase everything Amazon's Alexa can do.

If you're doubtful about how much a smart home can improve your quality of life, or just haven't realized the full potential of an Alexa-enabled device you already have, these Experience Centers provide a real setting for you to see absolutely everything in one place. The homes come outfitted with smart thermostats, cameras, Dash buttons, and Fire TV streaming devices. Sit down on the couch and see who's at the front door or pull up your favorite movie using your voice. See the full benefits of a Prime membership by streaming Prime Music and Amazon originals throughout the house.

Each house will be setup by Amazon experts using the latest technologies, so you can schedule a tour and see the products in action. You'll even be able to schedule a one-on-one meeting with these experts to talk about how to transform your own home if you want.

Currently there are only a few cities with these Experience Centers. If you live near Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, or Washington D.C., you can schedule a tour through Amazon.

Amazon is discounting a whole lot of hardware right now, too, because of Mother's Day. Don't wait for your next tour to get started on your smart home setup. You can get an Echo (or two), a Fire TV streaming device, or even a Kindle tablet on sale right now.

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John Levite
J.D. Levite has been in the deals game since 2012. He has posted daily deals at Gizmodo, The Wirecutter, The Sweethome, and now for Thrifter. He was there for the first Prime Day and has braved the full force of Black Friday. If you cut him, he bleeds savings. But don't try it for real. That's a metaphor.