Meet the Sugr Cube, a portable minimalist Wi-Fi speaker system now with Amazon Alexa.
With a growing number of smart products found in the home today, form factor design has become just as important as the technology found under the hood. Customers want smart home products that make their lives easier, but not at the expense of personal taste and design aesthetic. That’s where Sugr, a global innovator in high-definition Wi-Fi audio systems, comes in.
Customers can stream music from Spotify with Spotify Connect technology, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and more just by tapping and asking. The speaker also responds to unique gestures or movements—customers can play music with simple touch commands, with rocking motions, or with the companion mobile application.
Sugr Cube is inspired by modern minimalism, combining natural wood materials with a customized neodymium full-range driver that delivers rich sound and bass that can be heard and felt. The Wi-Fi speaker also comes with on-board memory for music storage and 24-hour battery life, making it a product that can complement any environment in and out of the home.
Sugr Cube is now available on Amazon.com. Alexa will be available for existing Sugr Cube users in the next few weeks through an over-the-air firmware update.
Sugr was founded in Shenzhen, China, with the mission to create simple audio experiences for its customers. For Cube, the team wanted to create a voice-first speaker product from day one, but the voice services available didn’t help the team achieve their desired experience, so its founders decided to wait for the technology to improve.
When the Sugr team got their hands on the Amazon Echo, they were impressed by the product’s responsiveness, accuracy, and variety of streaming content. The team began to work with the Alexa Voice Service shortly after to integrate Alexa into the Cube form factor. When reflecting on the collaboration, Sean Song, founder and CEO of Sugr, highlighted two benefits of working with AVS: the stability of the AVS API and the strong support his team received from Amazon.
Sugr Cube now ships with an Amazon Alexa integration, and beta users have enjoyed the convenience already. According to Song, he and his team have received many positive reviews in a variety of forms, including Facebook comments and reviews on its own Forum.
Looking ahead, Song says that his company will look to work with AVS to develop a total solution that enables other device makers to quickly and easily launch smart speaker products with Alexa. More on that to come.
Alexa is always getting smarter with new capabilities and services through machine learning. Your product also gains access to new capabilities with Alexa through API updates, feature launches, and custom skills. Learn how AVS can add rich voice-powered experiences to your connected products, and read how some of our partners below have integrated with Alexa already:
Have questions? We’re here to help. Visit us on the AVS Forum or Alexa GitHub to speak with one of our experts.