As voice capability become a huge hit in recent years, HP printers are getting Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility. HP said in an announcement that it has added Alexa to its list of compatible voice assistants, including Microsoft’s Cortana.
With Alexa and HP printers, users can ask the assistant to print out a to-do list, a Sodoku puzzle, a graph paper or a coloring page with outlines of a comic character.
Different voice assistants will have different capabilities. For example, Google Assistant is able to print out a user’s Google Calendar, while Alexa can print out a shopping list, and Cortana has access to Outlook calendar.
HP first released the voice feature with Google Assistant in May 2017, and the Cortana version was rolled out in October. With the latest Alexa skill, the company has completed most of its voice control capability. It’s not clear if HP will support Siri since Apple HomePod just hit the market.
HP has plans to achieve further in voice capability. The company has imagined that in the future voice assistants may be integrated into printers, so a smart speaker may be no longer required at home.
Users may simply speak, to add a printer to the home Wi-Fi, or ask how much ink is left, for example. It may even print out a boarding pass for a user who is catching a flight before he or she departs for the airport.
The impact of a talking printer in our daily life is not clear. Not many people are using printers often at home and most documents can be shown on smartphones or tablets (including boarding passes).
Offices are places where printers are more often used. However, HP hasn’t announced plans to bring voice features to the business context. Meanwhile, Amazon rolled out Alexa for Business a few months ago. It’d be interesting to see how HP’s printers will work in the office with Alexa.