Alexa Voice Calling And Messaging Now Enabled On Fire, Android And iPad Tablets

by Brandon Hill — Monday, March 12, 2018, 11:31 AM EDT

Amazon Echo owners have enjoyed the ability to place calls and send messages with their smart speakers for nearly a year. However, some additional members of Amazon's Alexa-enabled product family are also gaining the ability to communicate with friends, relatives, and colleagues using voice controls.

This new tablet functionality is best integrated with Amazon's Fire HD 10, which allows truly hands-free access to make free voice (and video) calls, along with the ability to send messages. Placing a call is a simple as calling out for Alexa and speaking a contact name. If you have a Fire 7, Fire HD 8 or older Fire tablet, you'll have to first press the home button to initiate a call or send a message.

In addition to supporting the Fire family of tablets, Amazon is also extending calling/messaging support to Android and iOS tablets. For these devices, you will first need to open the Alexa app, after which you will be able to perform tasks such as placing a voice call or "dropping in” on other Echo devices that might be located within your home or office.

"Drop In is for the special cases when you want to connect instantly with your closest family and friends or other Echo devices in your home," Amazon explains. "For example, you can drop in from your supported Echo device, tablet (including Fire tablet) or mobile phone to ask what time dinner will be ready, see the baby's nursery, or check in with a close relative."

Amazon Echo devices have been in the news quite a bit in recent weeks. Earlier this month, an Amazon Web Services outage knocked out Alexa-based services for many people along the east and west coasts of the United States. Luckily, Amazon was able to restore service within a few hours. A few days later, Alexa-based devices were scaring their owners by laughing out loud for no particular reason. Amazon pushed an update to address the creepy outbursts in rapid fashion.

Most recently, Amazon upgraded Alexa to support back-to-back questions with Follow-Up mode, for more natural conversations with the voice assistant.

Tags: Amazon, echo, (NASDAQ:AMZN), alexa, fire hd 10

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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