Amazon has been refining its Echo hardware over the past few years to create a powerful smart home experience. Some of the most recent hardware updates come via the Echo Show and Echo Spot. They are the first Echo to include displays and video cameras, making them perfect for visual announcements and video calls.
The tablets also have screens and video cameras, and some of these features will be included in Amazon's Fire tablet lineup via software updates. However, the new features won't be available on all Amazon Fire tablets. Right now, Amazon is only adding the functionality to the Fire HD 8 (2017 and 2018) and Fire HD 10 tablets.
The Drop In and Announcements features are almost identical to those found on the Echo Show and Echo Spot. The former lets you make calls with other Echos and compatible Alexa tablets, while the latter lets you broadcast to all your other Alexa devices. The good thing is that the features aren't enabled by default.
How you can use them:
- If you want to try out the Drop In and Announcement features on your Kindle Fire HD, you'll need to change some settings. Go to Settings in the drop-down menu and select “Alexa.” Turn on Alexa and Hands-Free Mode. Toggle “Communications” to Calling and Messaging.
- Next, you’ll want to enable Drop In by selecting On. Select “My Household” to allow other devices on the same account to access Drop In or even other contacts.
- The last thing you need to do is enable “Announcements.” Simply go to the Announcements slider.
- Once you’ve got everything set up, you’ll need to enable Show Mode to use the features. This can be accomplished in two ways: The easiest is to simply say “Alexa, go to Show Mode.” If that’s not convenient, you can also enable it from your Fire tablet’s screen by toggling the Show Mode slider.
