Amazon's immersive smart display is now regularly available in the US store. What does Amazon Glow have up its sleeve?
With Amazon Glow, the e-commerce giant is launching a smart display designed to enable immersive video calling for kids. After its unveiling last fall, Amazon Glow was available for order by invitation only. Now, an improved version of the slightly different smart display is going on regular sale.
Amazon Glow: Video calling with hologram game board
Amazon Glow is primarily designed for video calling between children and family members and was first introduced at Amazon's Hardware Event 2021. Combining immersive projection, sensor and video technologies, the phone calls are presented in a child-friendly way and combined with games or learning activities.
During the phone call, games, coloring books or animated books are projected onto the surface in front of the device. Amazon Glow can scan physical objects such as play figures or handicrafts and embed them in the virtual experience as stickers or small holograms.
The people on the call receive the content streamed directly to their Echo device, tablet or smartphone in real time via the associated app and can also play along. Amazon Glow has an 8-inch (approx. 20 cm) HD touch display for video calls and projects a 19.2-inch (approx. 49 cm) touch screen onto a mat in front of the device.
Amazon Glow: Features and innovations of the current version
In the revamped version now out, Amazon Glow users have almost twice as much content available to them as they did at the limited product launch. Nearly a hundred games and "visual art activities", from chess variants to action-packed racing games, are available in the online store. In addition, there are thousands of illustrated and animated books.
A new feature allows Amazon Glow to be used without video calling. This should allow children to play on the device even with family members physically present. Other improvements mainly affect the overall performance of the device when playing games and during video calls, and there's a new slider for projector brightness.
Amazon Glow price & availability
Amazon Glow is available now from Amazon's US store individually ($299.99) or bundled with the Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet ($379.99). The scope of delivery includes a mat for the projections with a matching case as well as a free one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.