The Amazon Echo and Google Home already have quite a few tricks up their sleeves, but soon they may be gaining a big new one: the ability to act like a phone.
Amazon and Google are considering adding the ability to make and receive calls to the Echo and Home, respectively, say sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal. The features could launch as soon as this year.
While Amazon and Google are looking at adding phone calling functionality to their smart speaker devices, there are some concerns that they’ve got with such a feature. Those include privacy, telecom regulations, emergency services, and just the plain ol’ awkwardness that some people might feel about conducting a phone call on a speaker.
Amazon is also reportedly working on its own set of issues, like getting the Echo to sync with your phone number or possibly just getting the Echo its own phone number.
The ability to make phone calls on the Echo or Home would have its pros and cons. It could be handy to be able to just shout at your device to make a call like you do with other actions, especially if your smartphone isn’t nearby. However, conducting a phone call on your Echo or Home wouldn’t be private at all, so you’d have to be ok with everyone around you hearing every bit of your conversation.
What do you think of this rumor? Would you like the ability to make phone calls with an Amazon Echo or Google Home?