Tech: 12 of the coolest gadgets, apps, and tech products not available in Europe

From Amazon Echo Show to Snapchat's Snapcash, here's the awesome tech that Europeans can't get their hands on.

Europe's has a burgeoning tech scene, but when it comes to the coolest new apps and products, the continent often gets left behind.

Sometimes it's because the continent is lower priority; other times it's because of stricter regulations.

But whatever the reason, Europeans often end up missing out on the latest and greatest American tech, from Snapchat's Snapcash to the Amazon Echo Show.

Here are 14 of the most exciting products that Europeans can't get their hands on in 2017.

1. Amazon Echo Show

The Echo Show is the latest version of Amazon's artificial intelligence-powered smart speaker. Coming with a screen for the first time, you can use your voice to play music from a variety of sources, read audiobooks and the news, provide traffic, weather, and sports updates, control internet-connected appliances and more. But not if you live in Europe.

The US is the online retail giant's primary market, and it tends to roll out its products there first. The original Echo was available in the US for years before making its way to Europe, so expect the Echo Show to turn up — eventually.

2. The Essential smartphone

There was a huge amount of hype around the Essential smartphone before it was announced, and with good reason: The high-end Android device is being built by Andy Rubin, creator of Android.

It hasn't started shipping the $699 (£542) phone yet, and it appears to be delayed — but once it does find its way into the hands of customers, it will be (at first, at least) US-only.

It features an almost edge-to-edge screen, a modular back for adding accessories (like a 360-degree camera), and is made of titanium and ceramic.

3. Pandora

Pandora is an popular online radio service, with 81 million active users. But Europeans wanting to give it are out of luck: It’s only operational in the US, Australia, and New Zealand due to "licensing constraints."

4. Uncensored search engines

Europeans don’t even get the same search results that Americans do. The "right to be forgotten" in the EU stipulates that European citizens can apply to have outdated or irrelevant web pages about them removed from search results.

The web pages themselves aren't removed — but hidden from search, they become a whole lot harder to find. This is why Google includes the message "Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe" when presenting search results for names.

5. Venmo

Venmo lets you send money to your friends quickly and easily via your smartphone, and you can sign up with your Facebook account. It's a US company, and only operates within the US: It doesn't have the appropriate licenses to run elsewhere.

6. Lyft

Lyft is a ride-hailing app in the vein of Uber, known for its trademark bright pink moustache.

Uber has a global footprint, while Lyft has yet to launch outside of the US — but Uber has recently been mired in numerous scandals, and Lyft is gaining momentum in the American market.

7. Hulu

Hulu is an American streaming service that runs content from everyone from 21st Century Fox to TimeWarner. But Europeans will have to sit this one out, as it's only available inside the US. It doesn't have the appropriate rights for its content to show it elsewhere.

8. The Amazon Dash Wand with Alexa

The Dash Wand is a basically a fancy barcode scanner from Amazon. Running low on mango chutney? Just scan its barcode to add another jar to your bag! Its latest version, announced this year, includes AI assistant Alexa — and is by far the cheapest way to bring it into your home to do everything from buying food to controlling lights and answering questions.

But once again, it's an example of Amazon's latest products not being available in Europe.

9. Facebook photo auto-tagging

In America, if you upload a photo, it can recognise your friends and suggest tags for them. But due to privacy laws, this feature isn't available in Europe: It can identify where faces are, but you need to enter in whose face it is manually.

10. Seamless

Seamless is a food delivery app that works with thousands of restaurants — but only in America. It operates in New York, Boston, Washington, Miami, and elsewhere. It's based in the US, and in Europe it only offers a service for UK businesses to order food in bulk to their offices in partnership with GrubHub. Individual users are out of luck.

11. The full Facebook Moments app

Facebook Moments is a neat photo-sharing app from Facebook that helps manage your photos and share them privately with friends. It uses facial recognition tech to figure out who’s in your photos, then (with your permission) sends them to them.

After launching exclusively in the US, it made it to Europe in May 2016. But because of the continent's privacy and data protection laws, the most important part — the automatic facial recognition tech — isn't available.

12. Snapcash

Snapcash is Snapchat’s answer to Venmo. It lets you send money to people using the ephemeral messaging app. But like Venmo, it only works if you live in the USA — again, likely due to regulatory requirements.

From Amazon Echo Show to Snapchat's Snapcash, here's the awesome tech that Europeans can't get their hands on. Read Full Story