The Amazon Glow is a bulky Frankenstein monster of a gadget with one important, heartwarming job. It lets my 5-year-old daughter play games and see her grandparents like they’re in the room together, even though they live more than 1,000 miles away. After weeks of testing a unit from Amazon, my family loved this mashup of a projector, video chat and gaming system — we even ended up buying our own.
Amazon found a way to connect us like no other technology has before in the Zoom era. And now, after months of it being sold only by invitation, the company has made several software updates and is opening sales to the general public .
The Amazon Glow (not to be confused with the similarly named Echo Glow, a kid’s lamp) is refreshing to use in the era of endless Zooms and FaceTimes. Connecting on the Glow feels genuine and wholesome for young families to read stories with kids and play games from afar, as you can see each other’s faces the whole time. Amazon has invented something special to bring us together virtually — no silly headsets or metaverses required.