You can now access Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant through your iPhone in the form of a new app.
Lexi is available right now on the App Store for £3.99, and it allows you to speak directly to Alexa without the need for dedicated Amazon hardware. It also provides those outside the US with a way to try out Amazon’s smart assistant.
Alexa has been popularised by the Amazon Echo speaker, which acts as a home assistant. Ask it to perform a task whilst ambling around your living room, and it’ll respond.
However, the Echo with Alexa is only available to purchase in the US.
Now Lexi performs many of the same functions on your iPhone. You can place orders, control your smarthome devices, access Alexa’s Skills, inquire about the weather, and more.
All you need is an Amazon account to get it up and running. And everyone has one of those, right?
As The Next Web points out, the Lexi app doesn’t feature support for Alexa’s music or book services (it isn’t an official Amazon app). So you won’t, for example, be able to ask it to stream music from your Amazon Prime Music account.
Still, it’s a good way to try out Alexa’s features (most of them anyway) ahead of a wider rollout of the Echo speaker range. We’re waiting, Amazon.
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Do you plan to buy Alexa? Let us know in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
