What is an Echo Glow and who should buy it?
Best answer: The Echo Glow is a smart multicolor lamp designed for kids. It can serve as a nightlight, mood light, or party light. It's also one of Amazon's latest "Certified for Humans" connected devices, which makes it easy to setup.
- An Echo glow up: Echo Glow ($30 at Amazon)
- The perfect pair: Echo Dot Kids Edition with Echo Glow ($90 at Amazon)
Kids will love it
The Echo Glow was just one of the many products Amazon announced at a recent product launch event, and it just might be the most straightforward of the new Echo devices. Basically, it's just a "smart" LED lamp that can change colors based on music playing on a paired Echo speaker or by the preferences you set in the Alexa app.
Amazon touts the Echo Glow as one of the first devices made through its Certified for Humans program, which promises devices that are hassle-free to set up and use. All you have to do is plug in the Glow and ask Alexa to discover the device. That's it! Then you can start creating routines, setting Rainbow Timers, or hosting impromptu dance parties with fun mood lighting.
Other uses for the Echo Glow
In addition to the use cases mentioned above, there are other intriguing ways to fit an Echo Glow into your everyday life. For starters, you might want to use the Echo Show as a gentle, smart alarm clock aid. You can pair it with your alarm in the Alexa app and have it gradually get brighter and brighter until it is time for you to get up. Alarm clock zen mode activated!
My favorite feature of the Echo Glow is the ability to set it to campfire or color flow mode. All you have to do is ask Alexa to set one of these modes, and you can just sit back, chill out, and watch the beautiful changing colors. If you don't enjoy calling out to Alexa, you can always simply tap on the Glow to change the color.
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The most potentially intriguing use for the Echo Glow is the ability to create routines with it through the Alexa app. As an example, a few years ago Amazon introduced Echo Buttons, which were initially intended as a way to use Alexa and your Echo to play interactive family games. They also featured functionality that allowed you to create routines based on a tap of an Echo Button, which could be useful for a young child to turn on a smart light or send a notification to their parent downstairs, for example. We don't see any reason why Amazon couldn't enable this functionality on the Echo Glow, and we look forward to exploring the possibilities in the near future.
Should you get one?
Do you need one of these? Absolutely not. Should you get one though? Why the heck not?!
The Echo Glow is a souped-up nightlight that can perform some cute tricks and provide entertainment or soothing mood-setting regardless of your age or family status. I'm tempted to get one of these for my home office in lieu of smart LED strips just to have that cool dad office vibe!
If you're considering getting one of these for your child, we recommend looking into the Echo Dot Kids Edition with Echo Glow bundle. Not only do you get a way for your child to control the Echo Glow, but you also get the peace of mind of knowing that their Echo Dot Kids Edition comes packed with kid-friendly content and parent-friendly controls.
Jeramy was the Editor-in-Chief of Android Central. He is proud to help *Keep Austin Weird* and loves hiking in the hill country of central Texas with a breakfast taco in each hand.