Amazon Echo Input now available in India

Amazon has launched the Echo Input in India. It is priced at INR 2999 ($42).

The Echo Input is the cheapest of the Echo range. It is essentially the Echo Dot but without the built-in speaker. This means it relies entirely on being connected to a speaker system.

The Echo Input is aimed at those who not just want an affordable way to use Alexa in their home but also a way to turn their regular home audio system into a smart speaker system. You just have to plug this into any active speaker system with the provided audio cable and turn it into an Alexa-enabled speaker system.

The Echo Input has the far-field microphone array, so it can hear you just fine across the room or over other audio in the room. It does pretty much everything that any other Echo device does, including controlling your smart home devices that are designed to work with Alexa.

Like the other Echo units, the Echo Input also supports Bluetooth, so you can use it as a Bluetooth receiver and stream audio to it, which can then be played over whichever speakers it is connected to. It doesn't support any fancy codecs, however, so SBC is your best bet.

Overall, the Echo Input is the cheapest way to get into the Alexa ecosystem (Echosystem?) but at INR 2999, it is still on the expensive side.