Here in my car, I can only receive, I can listen to you
The connected self doesn’t just stop at the walls of your home, or on your wearables; the car is a growing area of interest for tech companies, and Alexa has just found another way in with the new Garmin Speak.
Garmin teamed up with Amazon to make a tiny Echo Dot that affixes to the windshield and brings Alexa’s voice commands into the car. Turn-by-turn navigation via Garmin is the headline sell here, but you’ll be able to get all your usual info – news, weather, sports – from Amazon’s assistant as well. Forgot to turn off the house lights? You can sort that too.
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It also works with your car sound system via Bluetooth or AUX, so you won’t have to pipe everything through a tiny speaker. At 1.5 inches wide it’s a lot smaller than the Echo Dot but there’s that familiar glowing blue ring around the top. There’s also an OLED display that will display arrows for navigation.
And as you’ll be out of the house and range of Wi-Fi, the Garmin Speak will need to be paired with your smartphone so it can get a data connection.
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We’re not sure Alexa will prove as helpful in the car as in the home, but things like music control and turn-by-turn navigation do appeal. The Speak costs $149.99 and you can pick one up from Garmin’s website.