Amazon Echo

[Subby]

I love the concept but this thing is the listening equivalent of having a webcam running in your home 24-7.

[ISiddiqui]

Apparently, I was wrong... it's been out for a few weeks to some... but only two reviews, very different reviews:

ZD Net gave it 10/10:
Amazon Echo review: A perfect 10 | ZDNet

CNet gave it 3/5 (though its users rating is 4.5/5):
Amazon Echo review - CNET

Apparently it does streaming music very well and has above average sound quality. The shortcomings involve not being connected to a search engine (there is an opening for Google), so you can't do Google Now type stuff. But apparently it listens very well and the sound can fill an area. I think for $100 for Prime members that's plenty worth it (esp since it appears to be a good bluetooth speaker).

[ISiddiqui]

Appears that the negative view involves it being somewhat like a work in progress in terms of adding features. It'd be great if they can add full Bing support (they likely won't be partnering with Google).

[stevew]

Seems like an easy thing to just buy and immediately flip on eBay.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Subby

I love the concept but this thing is the listening equivalent of having a webcam running in your home 24-7.

Put some pants on.

[ISiddiqui]

Ok, this thing is really quite fantastic! I can't believe how well it works. There are some questions that trip it up - like asking "Who was the first leader of the Soviet Union", but it had no problems with the more difficult (IMO) "Who was the King of France in the Year 1500". Aside from the questions (which really can be asked pretty damned far away), it plays music pretty nicely - above average bluetooth speaker quality. I mean it isn't going to replace your Sonos or anything, but its $99 (if you are on Prime). And I'm really glad that Amazon expanded its Prime Music offerings (though you have to manually have to add them to your Library, which is annoying).

[Vince, Pt. II]

Really wish they'd extend me an invite :/

Neuqua, if you really don't want it I will happily buy yours off you for cost + shipping.

[Lonnie]

Well I don't know when the announcement came out, but I'm pretty sure I checked in halfway through day 1. I'm surprised I haven't gotten an email yet. Im checking email, spam, deleted messages... because I really want to try this out. Come on Amazon.. and 4000 chinese workers...spit it out already.

[ISiddiqui]

Well, folks have apparently getting invites since the third week of November. They are doing, it seems, a slow rollout. Probably to work out any kinks (I haven't found many at all) and likely to partner with more companies. Right now its just iHeart Radio and TuneIn - which can get you local radio stations and podcasts. When Echo can't come up with something, it'll send a Bing link to your Echo app (ah, the frenemy relationship of Amazon and Google), so maybe they are trying to work with Bing to get search results able to be spoken?

[Desnudo]

So Echo must be an excellent porn searcher

[Desnudo]

Anyone else get an invite for one of these?

iPhone app is out now.

[ISiddiqui]

I feel that more invites may flow after the New Year.

I still really enjoy the Echo. It's great as an easy to use music speaker. The only issues is that it is basically limited to Amazon Prime, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn Radio. However, Prime Music getting tons of music has really improved the selection - most of my music is uploaded to Google Music. Amazon Music has a Free limit of importing 250 songs, which puts it at a disadvantage and will have me using bluetooth for most of my music (Amazon may wish to rectify that if it wants to compete with Google Music).

Having Wikipedia, weather, dictionary, etc. with voice control is very nice - but I think that the product would really shine if it was fully integrated with a search engine. Right now, if it can't answer your question, it sends you a Bing link. But it'd be great if one day it could (like I did with Google Search the other day) tell you what time a local restaurant is open.

So in that regard, the Echo seems to be something that would be perfect with Google. If Amazon and Google weren't frenemies, it'd be absolutely incredible. Right now its 'just' amazing.

[Ironhead]

Any more feedback on this? We were extended an invite and I am curious if it is something worth trying.

[cartman]

I got an invitation today, and when I went to place the order, it said expected delivery date of 4/30. Yikes!

[Easy Mac]

I think it went live for all prime members today. Was going to buy this morning but waited. This morning it told me February. Should have ordered earlier. It was going to get there right before my birthday.

[Lonnie]

I ordered it. Delivery estimate is 3/23.

[stevew]

Anyone have an echo or a tap and how loud are they as speakers? A lot of the bluetooth stuff isn't loud at all.

[Vince, Pt. II]

The echo works pretty well - can easily get too loud.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by stevew

Anyone have an echo or a tap and how loud are they as speakers? A lot of the bluetooth stuff isn't loud at all.

I've got the echo and the dot. The echo can easily fill a room, has a nice sound, and I rarely get it up to max volume, but you're not going to use it as the center of a dance party. Better bass than you'd expect. The Dot is smaller, and the speaker pays for it. It's tinnier, and when it's loud the Dot has a harder time "listening" to commands. Makes it a little harder to navigate, but still love that it's tied to our main Echo. All this Dot stuff is probably irrelevant, because you need an Echo in order to get a Dot.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I've got the echo and the dot. The echo can easily fill a room, has a nice sound, and I rarely get it up to max volume, but you're not going to use it as the center of a dance party. Better bass than you'd expect. The Dot is smaller, and the speaker pays for it. It's tinnier, and when it's loud the Dot has a harder time "listening" to commands. Makes it a little harder to navigate, but still love that it's tied to our main Echo. All this Dot stuff is probably irrelevant, because you need an Echo in order to get a Dot.

If you have an always on speaker (even if it's a bluetooth speaker; or old computer speakers you may no longer use because you only use a laptop nowadays), the Dot is a better as the Echo's speaker isn't all that great. Though its kind of irrelevant because it appears the Dot has been discontinued / sold out / was only released on a limited run.

[PilotMan]

We had to wait 4 months to get ours after we ordered it so demand was quite high for it. I'm sure there will be a newer, better, model at some point if there isn't already.

[stevew]

Ah, I didn't realize the Echo wasn't portable. Maybe I'll snag a Tap then. Would primarily be using it at work and on my deck

[ISiddiqui]

The Tap takes away the best part though... The 'always on' part.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Dodgerchick]

I curse at Alexa all the time for not answering my questions. If robots take over the world, I'm pretty much screwed.

[PilotMan]

For those of you looking to expand your Echo throughout the house, the Dot is back and on sale again.

[stevew]

Do i need an echo to use a dot? The 2nd generation looks like a steal at only $50

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by stevew

Do i need an echo to use a dot? The 2nd generation looks like a steal at only $50

Yes

[Lonnie]

Originally Posted by stevew

Do i need an echo to use a dot? The 2nd generation looks like a steal at only $50

No, you don't need an echo to use a dot. Yes, it is a good deal.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Lonnie

No, you don't need an echo to use a dot. Yes, it is a good deal.

Then they changed it. Previously the only way to order it was to tell the Echo to order it. No Echo, no Dot.

[Lonnie]

I think that was just for Gen 1. You can order straight from Amazon.com now.

[AnalBumCover]

So I got the Echo. What do I do now, aside from asking it to play music and reading aloud the news and weather?

Eventually, I intend to smarten up my home with it, but that'll be done over time.

[bhlloy]

Play jeopardy once per day
Use it as a timer for cooking
???

I only spent 30 bucks on the dot, and like you I plan to add more smart home stuff over time, but suffice to say I haven't found much use for it so far. Other more connected people probably get more out of it

[jeff061]

From my perspective there are really 2 uses. Smart home and Music. My use is 100% smart home, so I have the dots. If I wanted more music and didn't have Dot compatible speakers, I'd go with full Echo.

I also use it for minor things like setting various timers when we are cooking and what not. Shopping list functionality is something that seems handy that I'm trying to get in a habit of using. You think of something you need, just need to tell Alexa to add to your list then and there. That said, ultimately without my SmartHome it would probably get limited use.

All the skills offer endless potential and are most interesting to me, but you are basically required to verbally navigate a hierarchical system to utilize them, it's too unnatural and obtuse for common use. Really hope they fix that.

[Easy Mac]

I'm trying to figure out if it is more cost effective for me to install hue light bulbs, or just change out switches. I think it makes more sense to just do switches, as that would save me money in the long run since 99.9% of the lights in the house are recessed lighting/not lamps. I don't really care about light dimming or colors, just turning on/off the things from the bedroom without having to walk around the house hitting switches at night/in the morning.

[ISiddiqui]

Cooking timers is something that is far more useful than I would have ever thought possible. It was almost worth buying the Echo just for that. However, they also good for inquiring about the weather and various other questions (though I find my Google Home is FAR better in answering questions - especially stuff that requires more searching, like 'how do you get wax out of clothes'). Smart Home stuff is where it really is nice though.

Oh, also they added a new Wake Word. "Computer" - so you can Star Trek the Hell out of your Echo.

[muns]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

So I got the Echo. What do I do now, aside from asking it to play music and reading aloud the news and weather?

Eventually, I intend to smarten up my home with it, but that'll be done over time.

You are right, unless you have all the home functions to go with it, you prob wont get all its usefulness. However, my parents use it for shopping lists, actual shopping, you can look up just about anything you want (movie times, store closing times, recipes) and have found all that stuff to be extremely helpful for people that are aging. I don't have to be the one that gets called all the time anymore for little stuff (especially since I don't live in the same state), and it has been real nice.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I'm trying to figure out if it is more cost effective for me to install hue light bulbs, or just change out switches. I think it makes more sense to just do switches, as that would save me money in the long run since 99.9% of the lights in the house are recessed lighting/not lamps. I don't really care about light dimming or colors, just turning on/off the things from the bedroom without having to walk around the house hitting switches at night/in the morning.

I started with Hue early on into my Smart Home foray. Switched to Light Switches when I bought a new house and expanded everything (have about 20-25 GE smart switches now). Not only a cost savings, but they perform consistently better (I found Hue to be flakey through SmartThings) and still allow for legacy control through the switches that the Hues don't. If you use a light switch to turn off a Hue they are offline and dumb until you physically turn them on again.

My belief is a SmartHome should seamless and individual smart bulbs makes that difficult. Also you don't lose dimming functionality, just buy a dimmer switch and make sure your dumb bulbs support dimming. "Alexa set Bedroom lights to 20%" works perfectly. Hell, I even have smart switches for my ceiling fan that can be controlled by Alexa and SmartThings very similarly to the lights.

In my opinion you can't put together a good install with individual lights, switches are a requirement. I have a couple specific use cases I employ my Hues for, but I'm 90% smart switches

[pbot]

Didn't have any interest in getting this, but my kids wanted one for Christmas. We now use it quite a bit.

Cooking timers, shopping lists, alarm clocks. Bought some wifi-light bulbs and use it to control lighting throughout the house. It's nice to be carrying a load of laundry or something upstairs and just tell it to turn on the hallway lights, for example. Set it up so my son can play his bedtime go to sleep music and control his bedroom lights without getting out of bed (he's afraid of the dark).

This lead to buying a Smart Things controller, so I'm slowly turning the house into a smart home.

[AlexB]

Just a public information video for any of you with kids!

Amazon Alexa Gone Wild! (ORIGINAL) - YouTube

[Ajaxab]

Am I the only Luddite who doesn't want to talk to devices? The move towards forced extraversion doesn't sit well with me. I suppose it isn't that much different than typing something into a search engine, but there are many times where I don't want to say anything more to anyone after a long day, never mind a device feigning the seeds of sentience.

[AnalBumCover]

After almost 2 years of having the Echo, I'm finally starting to make my home smart. We bought a couple of Echo dots for the bedrooms (one 2nd gen, and a 3rd gen), and have a Ring doorbell. And Santa is getting me a Nest thermostat.

So my questions: I see SmartThings above in this thread...are there any other controllers/hubs out there in the market? What good light switches are available? I know of WeMo, but from what I hear, they don't support dual-pole switches.

[Butter]

I got a Dot for free accidentally.

I guess I'm going to be doing some research on it once Christmas rolls around. Anybody have any bright ideas besides a fancy paperweight and/or Bluetooth speaker?

[Bee]

I have several, so I can tell you how I use mine. I use them to control most of my lights and a couple of my televisions. The cubes are great for basic tv control (on/off, mute, volume, etc) but don't really replace the remote for channel surfing. I have a couple of dots connected to decent quality bluetooth speakers to listen to music when exercising or hanging out with friends. Every morning, I check the weather and traffic for my commute. The other thing I use it for a lot is keeping track of shopping lists and ordering stuff from amazon. I also use the one in the kitchen as a timer when cooking as well. Occasionally I use it to find out what movies are playing nearby if my wife and I are thinking of going out or to answer random questions that come up like how old an actor is or who played a certain role in a movie(usually as a result of disagreements with the wife). It's all stuff you can don't really need or could do on your phone if you wanted, but I like the ease of just asking Alexa for what I want.

[ISiddiqui]

Yep. It's a convenience factor to just ask what's the weather or the news when you wake up. Or put in the kitchen for timers when your hands are dirty. Can also control smart lights.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Edward64]

Been asking Alexa to play John Denver music while playing FO 76.