There’s an Alexa smart speaker in this showerhead, and we’re here for it
Alexa, shower me with compliments
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Ever wanted to have a shower withAlexa? Now you can, with this Kohler showerhead smart speaker that bringsAmazon’s prolific voice assistant to bear in your bathroom.
While the water streams through the showerhead, theAlexa voiceassistant will stream through your Wi-Fi, and be able to hear, respond to, and act on voice commands as you have your morning shower.
Whether you’re likely to use it to soundtrack your caterwauling karaoke, find out the news stories of the day, or the weather you’ll be dressing for shortly after, there’s certainly a use case for it – though for the privacy conscious among you, having a smart assistant in such a private place may be disconcerting.
The center of the gadget is the conical Alexa speaker, which contains the mic array and drivers need to hear commands and play audio in response. That cone is then held within a circular showerhead that disperses water around the speaker: you can buy both segments separately, with the speaker costing $99 (around £75 / AU$140) without Alexa and $159 (£120 / AU$230) with Alexa, and the showerhead costing $70 (£55 / AU$100) by itself.
Available in late 2020, the device has a IPX67 water rating, which means it can survive in a meter’s depth of water for up to 30m, and stop any harmful dust from seeping into its inner workings.
Long may she rain
We can’t speak for the efficacy of the mics underneath the sound of running water, but we hope it’s sufficient for the product to be going on sale. You can also remove the speaker to recharge it, with several hours use out of a single charge (so up to a few weeks, depending on how long you spend in the shower).
We don’t suppose there’ll be much chance to test out the Kohler Moxie Showerhead in person, though it should be on show atCES 2020among a bevvy of other smart appliances and home devices. Given how many products Alexa is in these days, it’s not often one actually stands out for us, but the dual functionality of shower and speaker was certainly worth giving a nod to.
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Keep in mind there are alreadywaterproof speakersyou can have around in your bathroom to play music and the like – even if it won’t quite be as seamless as speaking into your showerhead.
ViaThe Verge
Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.
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