Amazon's Bee Unveils Two New Personal AI Devices with Enhanced Features

Bee, the personal AI wearable maker acquired by Amazon last year, has introduced its first new products since the acquisition. The company has launched two new devices: the Bee Frontier and the Bee Eclipse. These devices are designed to take notes from everyday conversations and provide users with actionable insights, summaries, and to-dos.

The Bee Frontier is a wrist-worn or clip-on device that comes in three colors: Onyx, Lavender, and Sage. It has a price tag of $74.99, making it more affordable than similar devices like the Plaud Note ($159) or Pocket AI device ($129). The Bee Eclipse, on the other hand, is a credit-card-sized device with magnetic attachment to smartphones, available in four colors: Silver, Midnight, Honey, and Blush, priced at $99.99.

The new devices use artificial intelligence to process conversations in real-time, creating summaries and recaps for free. Users can also upgrade to Bee Pro subscription ($11.99/month) for unlimited conversation summaries, integrations with Amazon.com, Alexa+, and third-party applications. With this subscription, users receive suggested to-dos, daily memories, a personal chat assistant, and conversation templates.

Bee devices employ a private computing security architecture that doesn’t store raw audio from conversations. Instead, audio is processed in real-time and then deleted. Transcripts of the conversation are encrypted using keys created and controlled by the device itself, ensuring no one else can access those files unless manually shared by the user. This includes Amazon employees.

The Bee devices also offer optional integration with Alexa, allowing users to connect their Echo device for voice recognition through Voice ID. When connected, the Echo device can record conversations to provide insights from the Bee device. Users have full control over deleting transcripts and summaries at any time. Additionally, they can make purchases on Amazon or ask Alexa for hands-free access to Bee’s insights, summaries, or to-dos.

The new devices come with a companion mobile app that has been redesigned, along with a desktop app. The Bee Frontier features IP67 water resistance, up to seven days of battery life, USB-C charging, and dual microphones with advanced noise filtering. Both devices have a single button for turning them on and off, accompanied by an indicator light when summarizing conversations.