It’s been ages since we got an upgrade for the Amazon Echo. These past years, Amazon focused primarily on the smaller Echo Dot or the versatile Echo Show. Now, it’s time for the regular speakers to get a shot. During a massive launch event, the company launched a refresh to the Echo Studio and the new Echo Dot Max.

First up is the Echo Studio. Launched in 2019, the original Studio came out to appeal to audiophiles. The large speaker was the first in Amazon’s lineup to feature Dolby Atmos and the ability to adapt to any room. Now, the Studio is getting a much-needed sequel.

The new Studio ditches the cylindrical format of long, long ago. Now, the speaker adopts the lineup’s spherical shape. It’s still the largest one in the lineup, but it’s also 60 percent smaller than the original. Despite that, the new Studio now has a built-in “high-excursion” woofer to improve bass and spatial audio.

Speaking of built-in woofers, the new Echo Dot Max has the same “high-excursion woofers.” It also has custom tweeters for the other side of the audio spectrum. Though we haven’t seen an upgrade to the regular Echo, the Dot Max might be good enough to replace the former.

Despite being an upgrade over the smaller Dot, the Dot Max is apparently good enough to encompass an entire room. We mentioned the hardware inside for audio output, but it also has a new AZ3 chip to better detect your voice in a noisy room.

The Echo Dot Max and the Echo Studio will start shipping out on October 29. The Dot Max retails for US$ 99.99 and is available in Graphite, Amethyst, and Glacier White. The Studio sells for US$ 219.99 and is available in Graphite and Glacier White.

It’s not uncommon to see a new Kindle these days. Amazon continues to keep its most popular devices updated every year. Now, if you feel inundated with the number of options available for the Kindle, Amazon is focusing on something different this year: writing tablets. The company has just announced the new Kindle Scribe Colorsoft and the Scribe 3.

Color is no longer anything foreign to the Kindle. After the launch of the original Colorsoft, the Kindle can now display images in color. Now, color is coming to the Scribe. For the first time ever, the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will allow users to write (and read!) in color.

Despite the introduction of color, Amazon wants to keep the writing experience as natural as possible. It won’t be extremely bright. Plus, it has a new texture-molded glass display which will make users feel as if they’re writing on paper, rather than glass.

The Scribe 3, on the other hand, is thinner than its predecessor. However, it (and the Colorsoft) will have a new quad-core chip to make the tablet faster. Turning pages and writing will no longer have significant lags. Amazon says that the writing latency is now under 12 milliseconds.

Both models will, of course, come with pens. However, the Colorsoft’s pen will support writing in up to ten different colors and five shades of highlighter.

Th Kindle Scribe 3 and Scribe Colorsoft will ship out later this year. The standard version will cost US$ 499. However, a version without a front light will sell for only US$ 429. Finally, the Colorsoft will sell for US$ 629.

As it stands, YouTube Premium might be one of the most bang-for-your-buck subscriptions out there. Besides getting rid of ads on the main platform, a subscription also gives users access to YouTube Music Premium. But what if you don’t care about YouTube’s music services? For that, here comes YouTube Premium Lite.

At only PhP 109 per month, YouTube Premium Lite offers only one thing for subscribers: ad-free viewing. Well, mostly.

While the original subscription will keep all videos ad-free, the new tier offers “most videos ad-free.” Users won’t get ads on ads on videos across “gaming, comedy, cooking, learning, and more.” However, they might still see some ads on music content and Shorts.

The subscription also won’t give users access to YouTube Music Premium. It also won’t allow downloads or background play. As the name says, it’s a Lite subscription.

YouTube started experimenting with the lighter subscription tier early this year. At first, the platform introduced the tier to a few countries. Now, after experimenting with the tier, it is coming to more countries just as it was advertised in the past.

The finalized version of the tier looks pretty much identical to the experimental version. Except, of course, the version in the Philippines is much cheaper than the one abroad.

SEE ALSO: YouTube is working on a cheaper YouTube Premium Lite again