Back in February, after months of speculation, Amazon finally took the covers off of the next-gen Alexa.
Dubbed Alexa+, the new version of Amazon’s digital assistant was revealed during a big launch event over in New York City and we were told that it would “start rolling out in the US in the next few weeks during an early access period.”
And, fair play to Bezos and the gang… Amazon’s supercharged AI assistant is now hitting Echo smart speakers.
Guide: What is Alexa Plus?
However, while the upgraded voice assistant officially started rolling out on Monday (31 March), not every Alexa owner will have access to it yet, and some of the most talked-about features are notable by their absence.
A report in The Washington Post claims that it has seen internal documents that reveal that several headline features weren’t ready for the initial launch.
Among the missing capabilities are…
- Ordering food from Grubhub via a conversation with Alexa+.
- Visual recognition for assigning reminders to specific family members.
- AI-powered brainstorming for gift ideas and placing Amazon orders.
- Story generation to entertain kids.
- Shopping list creation and orders from various stores.
- Chatting with Alexa+ via the new Alexa.com website.
One of Alexa+’s more intriguing features, reading and summarizing uploaded documents, is available at launch. However, there’s a bizarre issue: you can’t delete any files you upload. If you try, you’ll get an error message stating that “deletion of attachments is not yet supported.”
According to The Washington Post’s report, Amazon support can manually remove the files, but they can’t guarantee all associated data will be erased. A fix is reportedly in the works and should roll out “within weeks.”
Tickets to the Alexa+ party are currently limited; according to the Alexa+ Early Access page users who own an Echo Show 8, Show 10, Show 15 or 21 will be first through the door.
The missing features do make the launch a bit less exciting but, let’s face it, Amazon was always going to roll out the revamped Alexa in stages, and at a slow and steady pace; hence why it’s being housed with an “Early Access” platform.
Opinion: Will Alexa+ fix my biggest smart home frustrations?
It’s the biggest change to its voice assistant in the 10+ years it has been a mainstay in our houses and there was no way a dramatic, all-in, approach would be risked.
When you do get access, Alexa+ will set you back $19.99 a month. However, if you’re a Prime member, you get it for free… for now, at least.
