Mysterious battery-powered Google device appears in FCC filings

It’s officially August, which means we’re approaching the fall hardware season, and two recent FCC filings from Amazon and Google may or may not reveal some products the companies may or may not.

Google’s products are very vague; Product is only as described “Wireless device.” It appears to be battery powered – no AC connection – although it can be powered via a 5V USB connection, and a diagram shows it connected to a laptop for testing. such as 9to5Google A noticeThe recording may suggest some kind of Nest device – for example, some Nest cameras used rechargeable 3.65V batteries.

Google already said it Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, And Pixel game It’s launching this fall, so whatever the “wireless device” is, it could be unveiled when the company shares more details on those other products. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

We’re more optimistic about Amazon’s filing, which appears to be for a newly revamped version of the company’s Echo Studio smart speaker. At first glance, there’s no obvious connection: The new product is vaguely described as a “digital media receiver,” and if you dig a little deeper, the files indicate that it has an outlet and a power cord to plug into a Zigbee radio. Commonly used to control smart home products. that same deposit It doesn’t appear to be from Amazon – instead, it was introduced by a mysterious company called Flake LLC.

But Amazon often uses FCC filings to keep its products secret, and 1 more product image by Flake Submitted to the agency – another “digital media future” – It fits perfectly with Echo Studio. And last deposit actually say That is Echo Studio and this second item is “Electric”. [sic] Identical” except for a different wireless chip from MediaTek. It’s not exactly clear why Amazon is swapping out the chip, but it’s likely doing it to address supply chain issues, as some other companies have done before: Tesla swapped out additional chips. To sustain productionLast year Panic said it would use a different CPU The next installment of Playdate handheld game consoles.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company often hosts a hardware news event in September, but given the small changes, there’s a chance Amazon won’t say anything about it.