Do we really need Alexa-connected microwaves?

Am I so out of touch? No, it’s everyone interested in these things who is wrong. However, it might also be just a matter of opinion, and in my personal opinion everybody’s wrong.

In all seriousness, Amazon’s presentation of their new Echo and Alexa devices unveiled a new line of devices; including a smart microwave being released on November 14, 2018.

While it’s not the most extravagant thing to come up with (there’s a smart microwave made by GE), the thought of actually using Alexa to do something as simple as re/heating something in a microwave is just weird to me.

According to Amazon senior vice president of devices and services, David Limp, “the microwave user interface is still stuck in the 70s.” And so, they proceeded to demonstrate the capabilities of the AmazonBasics Microwave, a 700-watt smart microwave which works in conjunction with a nearby Amazon Echo. However, it failed to listen to commands at first.

Limp was eventually able to get Alexa to understand his command and started microwaving a potato. I hereby declare that this potato shall be named “Limpotato.”

Anyway, think about this for a second; while programming a microwave might be hard for many people, using it is easy most of the time. Most microwaves have preset labels on the number pad, which indicate how much time (in minutes) the microwave will run for each press of those buttons. There’s also the 30-second button that you can press several times to add more time to the process, and many even include presets for popcorn, baked potatoes, defrosting, and other types of food.

However, while you’re fiddling with the Alexa to understand your voice command, you could just press the buttons. 

“But hey, it might be helpful to people with disabilities.” Is it, though? Alexa can’t open/close the door, or take the food out for you, so the fact that you still have to walk up to your microwave and do all of that kind of defeats the purpose of having your microwave connected to Alexa. If anything, Amazon will probably use your command history to better target ads.

So, is the existence of this device idiotic? Not really, but we’re not at the point where it’s actually useful. If I were them, I would’ve gone for a 1000-watt microwave at least, instead of 700-watts of slow and uneven cooking, but at the $60 US price range it might be worth a try just to see what it’s capable of.