“Samsung Scoop”—a portable Amazon Echo clone—spotted in FCC database

Samsung is apparently working on an Amazon Echo clone. A circular Bluetooth-speaker-and-microphone-combo called the “Samsung Scoop” was spotted in the FCC database by Android fan site Ausdroid.

The Scoop looks a lot like a mini Amazon Echo—it’s a squat little cylinder about 80mm in diameter. There’s a speaker on top with Play/Pause and volume controls around the perimeter. On the side is a power button and a flap hiding a USB plug (it looks like Type C?) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Scoop is so compact that it’s apparently going to be portable. Samsung gave it a big leathery carrying handle and—if the circuit board labeled “battery board” is any indication—a rechargeable battery.

What Samsung plans to do with the software on the Scoop is a bit of a mystery. The majority of the functionality in Samsung’s smartphones comes from Android, but there’s no established operating system for these Bluetooth voice command speakers. Will the Scoop run Samsung’s Tizen OS? Like “S-Voice” on a Galaxy smartphone, we’ll expect a Nuance-powered voice command system, but with Samsung shutting down its Milk Music service, we aren’t expecting too many home-grown services on the Scoop. It will be starting from scratch in the app ecosystem, too. There’s also the possibility that the Scoop is a “dumb” device and would rely on a tethered smartphone for the voice commands to work.

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Source: Ars Technica – “Samsung Scoop”—a portable Amazon Echo clone—spotted in FCC database