Amazon-owned Bee introduced two AI note-taking devices on Thursday, its first new products since the retailer acquired the company last year.
The Bee Frontier costs $74.99 and is available now on Amazon. The $99.99 Bee Eclipse will be available soon afterward.
The Frontier can be worn on the wrist or pinned to clothing. The Eclipse is a credit-card-sized device that attaches magnetically to the back of a smartphone.
The Eclipse competes more directly with devices such as the Plaud Note and Pocket. The Plaud Note costs $159, the Note Pro costs $189 and the Pocket AI device costs $129.
Like the original Bee, both devices use AI to take notes from everyday conversations and turn them into to-dos, summaries and insights. They can remember an agreed date and time for plans with friends and create a calendar invite, take lecture notes or document a care plan discussed with a doctor.
All Bee devices provide free conversation summaries and recaps, with 14 days of memory. The $11.99-per-month Bee Pro subscription includes unlimited conversation summaries and integrations with Amazon.com, Alexa+ and third-party applications.
Pro subscribers also receive suggested to-dos, daily memories, a personal chat assistant and conversation templates.
Bee devices use a private-computing security architecture that processes audio in real time and then deletes it, rather than storing raw conversation audio.
Conversation transcripts are encrypted using keys created and controlled by the user’s device. Amazon employees and other parties cannot access the transcripts unless the user manually and intentionally shares them.
Users can optionally connect Bee to Alexa, allowing an Echo device to use Voice ID to recognize when they are speaking and record conversations for Bee insights. Amazon notes that users can delete transcripts and summaries at any time.
The Amazon.com and Alexa connections let users purchase products from Amazon and ask Alexa hands-free for Bee insights, summaries or to-dos.
Bee integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook to draft emails, set up meetings and identify action items. Users can also upload photos or connect Apple’s HealthKit to incorporate overall wellness information into their insights.
Both new devices have a single button to turn them on and off, plus an indicator light that shows when a conversation is being summarized.
The Frontier offers IP67 water resistance, up to seven days of battery life, USB-C charging and dual microphones with advanced noise filtering.
The Frontier comes in Onyx, Lavender and Sage. The Eclipse will be offered in Silver, Midnight, Honey and Blush.
All Bee devices come with a newly redesigned companion mobile app and a new desktop app.
Tags: amazon
