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Ask HN: Why is Amazon Echo cylindrical in shape?
I am wondering is there a specific reason for echo being a cylinder? Does it give cost advantage? or any advantage in terms of placement of microphones that pick up voice? Really curious
- LinuxBender 9y agoIt could likely be carry-over from WWII. Many of the U.S. and German spy devices were engineered in small cylinders and then tucked away in corners of rooms. IIRC it had to do with improving the ability to pick up certain audio frequency ranges and naturally cancel out unwanted noise whilst remaining small in size. j/k probably aesthetics.
- twobyfour 9y agoIt does allow for microphone pickup to be omnidirectional without having to account for the effect of corners, which can block/reflect/distort sound waves.