Amazon Equips Model Homes With Alexa-Enabled Gadgets

Amazon has an interesting new strategy to peddle smart home devices: putting them within model houses for people to play with.

Amazon's "Experience Centers" will live inside model houses from homebuilder Lennar. Amazon is outfitting these Alexa-enabled model houses with everything from video doorbells and smart locks to robot vacuums, smart speakers, media streamers, connected lighting, security cameras, garage door openers, and smart lawn sprinklers.

And then, equally people walk through the homes and cheque out the digs, they can ask Alexa to control the television, lights, thermostat, shades, and more by voice.

Thank you to Alexa'southward routines feature, visitors tin can, for case, say "Alexa, adept morning" to have the virtual assistant switch on the lights, read the atmospheric condition, and provide real-time traffic updates. Or, they can say "Alexa, starting time political party time" and the digital helper will dim the lights, lower the shades, and stream a political party playlist.

Experience Centers are now open in Lennar model homes in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C., with more than locations planned for the time to come.

"We wanted customers to experience a real abode environment that showcases the convenience of the Alexa smart habitation experience, great amusement available with Prime number, and Domicile Services," Amazon Services General Manaher Nish Lathia said in a statement. "Lennar offers the potential to enable this experience inside piece of cake driving distance of millions of customers."

Also in San Francisco, Target recently opened a mock-up smart habitation in the Metreon mall to show off connected devices and other home electronics.

Virtually Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's expert on fettle and smart dwelling products. Didactics yoga for nearly ten years has helped her in evaluating a range of continued wellness products including fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, force training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart abode devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, simply to name a few.