Amazon’s new $200 Echo Look camera will judge your outfits

Amazon today announced a new device for the Echo family: the Echo Look, a “style assistant” camera that helps catalog your outfits and rates your look based on “machine learning algorithms with advice from fashion specialists.” Imagine it as a smart mirror of sorts — you can talk to the Echo Look to take full-length photos or short videos to check out your outfit from seldom-seen angles.

The Echo Look first leaked as a “security camera” back in March, and the photo matches exactly with what Amazon has announced today. The device comes with a built-in LED light, a microphone, and a base mount for you to attach it to the wall or leave it freestanding. It will also work with a companion app that has a Style Check feature to compare two outfits and rate which is better. As an aside, the Amazon iOS app offers a similar feature under the Programs and Features menu, if you don’t want to buy the Echo Look. The Echo version of the feature gives you a percentage rating of outfits based on a mix of algorithm and stylist opinions, while Outfit Compare on the Amazon app picks which outfit of the two it likes better.

Like the original Echo speaker, you can ask Alexa on the Echo Look to read you news, play music, or get traffic estimates. Amazon says it will continue to add Alexa skills for the Echo Look as well.

The device appears to be Amazon’s way of expanding its fashion retail shop, as it will store your lookbook and recommend outfits that suit your style. From a fashion and lifestyle perspective, the camera could be a way to enter the fitness realm as well — soon, the Echo Look might have an app that could take daily photos of you to compare weight loss progress, for example.

And while it’s not designed to be a security camera, it does seem like it has enough components to double as one that could periodically snap photos while you’re away from home. We’ll check out the hardware on this more when we are able to snag a review unit. For now, if you do decide to buy it, it’s probably best to not get dressed in front of it.

The Echo Look is available for $199.99 by invitation only. Interested customers can request one on the product page