Coolpad Smartphones to Get Amazon Alexa Voice Support in India

Select Coolpad smartphones in India will receive the Amazon Alexa voice service. The Coolpad Cool Play 6, Note 5, and Note 5 Lite will get Alexa via an over-the-air (OTA) update, while the future Coolpad devices will include its presence out-of-the-box. Coolpad Group at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona on Wednesday announced the Alexa integration.

With Alexa integration, Coolpad smartphone users will be able to use their voice to perform certain tasks such as play their favourite music tracks or shop from Amazon.in. Users will also be able to access information about weather, calendar, and to-do lists, or listen to the latest news briefings directly using the Alexa app. Notably, the same Alexa integration is already available in the US, though Coolpad has become the first Amazon Exclusive smartphone brand in India to natively offer Alexa on its smartphones.

"We are working to immerse more AI and tech into smartphones to make the experience more intelligent, friendly, and beneficial for the customers. Incorporating Alexa in Coolpad smartphones is one such step in that direction," said Syed Tajuddin, CEO, Coolpad India, in a press statement.

The latest development emerges just following the release of Amazon Music in India. The Amazon Music app, which is available for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Fire TV, and on the Web, includes Alexa integration that is limited to audio controls only. Last month, the Amazon Alexa app brought voice command support to Android devices in a handful of markets, including the US, UK, Germany, and Austria. That support brought access to Alexa skills and enabled users to control music playback as well as send messages using their voice commands. But the support didn't include "Alexa" hotword functionality that you can use on Echo speakers to activate the voice assistant.

Earlier on Wednesday, Coolpad also announced its partnership with Qualcomm to enter the growing market of smart wearables. The Shenzhen-based company is set to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear platforms to develop its wearables such as smartwatches for kids and smart trackers for pets, elderly, and valuable assets.