GADGET SPECIAL..... Just tap and ask for music, or order a pizza

Just tap and ask for music, or order a pizza





With an AI-powered portable Bluetooth, this WiFienabled speaker has full-range sound

The Amazon Tap is the portable version of the Amazon Echo. At its core, it's a basic Bluetooth speaker that has Alexa built into it. But, in order to actually get Alexa's attention, you need to get up off your seat to press a button located on the top of the speaker.While all that sounds like a hassle, the advantage of the reduced form factor is that the Tap is portable -wellsuited for a friend's house or a day at the beach. Not only is it smaller, it's cheaper, too. It's just $129. More importantly, it sounds better, thanks to dual stereo speakers, and it's smarter thanks to the constant updates that have come to Amazon's AI.

Design

The Amazon Tap's resemblance to the slightly taller, portlier Echo is uncanny. It only comes in one colour (black) and its distinctive marking is the silver Amazon logo that sits above the base of the unit. The biggest difference from the Echo is that the Tap is almost entirely coated in a mesh fabric. Inside the unit are two, 1.5-inch drivers, dual passive radiators and a battery that's capable of going nine hours on a charge.

Performance

Where the Tap excels above and beyond the Echo, is in its audio performance. Unlike the muddled and dulled mids and highs of the Echo, the Tap performs much better given its size. The Tap can draw on two sources for audio, either directly from your mobile device via Bluetooth or, if it's connected to a WiFi network, from streaming services like Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, etc.

Where it lacks

The impressive aspect of the Echo is that it could take commands from anywhere in your house, either by the sound of your voice or using the bundled remote control should you decide to wander out of Alexa's earshot. With the Tap, there's no way to use the Alexa app and there's no option to enable an always-listening mode, even when the Tap is plugged for power.

Possibilities

The Tap is a gadget with contradictions. The main attraction here is still Alexa, but using it has become more of a hassle -both due to the time it takes to walk over and press the speaker button, and also because of some limitations of Alexa's capabilities. If Amazon could figure out a way to keep Alexa always on -even when the speaker is plugged for power -the Tap would be an all-around better product than the Echo.

techradar.com