OK, I’ve ordered one of these, Gen 2, too be delivered Tuesday. Is it worthwhile? I’m not sure I’m interested in smart light bulbs or anything like that, so I imagine I can control my Firestick TV stick and play music. But what other neat stuff can I do? I guess I can reorder dog treats and other stuff on Amazon, right?
Give me some ideas.
GaryM
Make sure you turn off Voice Purchasing in Settings for the Alexa app on your phone/tablet if you have kids ar friends who prank you.
The list of things to do is vast. News, weather, time, podcasts, internet radio, cooking timers, recipe conversions, quick fact lookups, reminders, shopping lists, games like Jeopardy. NPR Sunday Puzzle…
Controlling Hue light bulbs and my AV system with Harmony Hub are cool.
We do cook a great deal, so I’m thinking cooking timers will be handy. I guess it can handle more than one at a time.
I had some X-10 controlled devices at my old house but none here. One reason is that I have two breaker panels and if memory serves X-10 signals couldn’t cross legs without some special equipment. But that might not be an issue with WiFi or Bluetooth devices.
If I add an additional Echo device I assume they work in tandem using WiFi.
I have had a Dash Wand for a bit.
I intended to use it for answering trivia and doing IMDb type look ups. It has not gone well.
E.g., “Who was in On the Waterfront.”
Did I get Brando, Malden, Cobb?
No!
I got some names that included Pat Hingle, Fred Gwynne, Nehemiah Persoff, etc. From the bottom of the IMDb list in the “uncredited” section. (Apparently one has to explicitly ask for the stars.)
And that’s assuming it could understand the question at all.
I got a deal on a Dot 2 with a TP WiFi plug. Setting that up is an incredible pain. The plug only works with the Wand, not the Dot.
The Dot is horrible at understanding me. E.g., “Donny” is thought to be “Dunny”. “Maude” is thought to be “Mode” and on and on and on. Words the Wand has no problem with.
As you standard computer geek, it annoys me when I ask the temperature and it gives me the full weather forecast. I didn’t ask for all that, just the temperature!
Well, I guess it’ll be an adventure in any case.
GaryM
I have it primarily for playing music. It means I don’t have to stop knitting to adjust what’s playing and how loudly. The speaker is okay, too.
Other than that, we mostly ask her to set timers and check weather reports.
I use it for shopping lists all the time. WAY easier to say “Alexa, put bread on the shopping list” than it is to dig around for a pen & paper. Also nice that the list is on my phone, so I don’t need to remember the shopping list when I’m out.
Internet radio - I tell it to play NPR every morning when I make coffee & empty out the dishwasher.
It’s good with sports stuff too. “Alexa, what NFL games are on today?” etc.
What else? Timers, though I typically use Siri for that as I don’t want to stay in the kitchen. Math, too - “Hey Alexa, what’s 5,801 / 28?”. Conversions: “Alexa, how many tablespoons in 1/3 of a cup?”
Aforementioned trivia, though it doesn’t always get it right.
But really, the thing I’d miss is the shopping lists & radio.
Now I can hardly wait for tomorrow’s mail.
What’s this “drop in”? Not clear but it appears that I can use the app on my phone to leave messages on the echo, or actually have a conversation.
GaryM
You can use Alexa to make phone calls to any phone number (in the US), call others with an Echo (it ‘rings’) and if they allow it, you can ‘Drop in’ on others with an Echo and start chatting. With multiple Echos, it is like an intercom.
Beware that currently Amazon wants you to upload your entire phone address book for this to work. I don’t like that, so I used an old phone with an address book with just a few numbers (and no personal information like email, addresses, birthdays etc.) The old phone lacks a SIM but can connect to WiFi.
If you do this - DO NOT run the Alexa App on your ‘real’ phone - it will automatically upload your full address book - and there is no way to delete it.
In a few weeks, Amazon will ship Echo Connect for $35 that plugs into your land line and allows you to receive phone calls.
I work about an hour away from where I live, so I ask her every day what traffic is like. I also enjoy playing Jeopardy with her and asking her the question of the day.
I haven’t used it yet, but the fact I can order pizza with her seems intriguing…
To expand - to use Alexa messaging/calling , you have to opt-in from your phone (not from a table) but that is implicit consent for them to periodically upload your address book. There is no way (currently) to view, edit or delete that information from the Alexa App or the Amazon website.
I hope that changes soon.
Thanks for the warnings. I’ve loaded the app on my phone, but sobe I don’t have the echo yet it’s probably done nothing yet. I may delete the app and use my old iPhone. But does that mean I can’t ever use my real phone with the echo?
GaryM
What’s the scoop on Alexa and Sonos? Apparently it didn’t work until Sonos came out with a new model.
My wife has a Dot that is about six months old…does the generation matter ?
We’ve used ours successfully for ordering items. It’s OK for easy to identify stuff. But I’m not sure about “shopping” with one. When I go on Amazon and search for an item, I get 12,398,276,982 matches. So, I skeptical on how Alexa will be able to help there.
My original Alexa works just fine with my original Sonos speakers. The new Sonos model just has Alexa built in.
You need to enable the Sonos skill using the Alexa app on your phone.
Reordering items bough previously probably works pretty good. I buy printer ink and dog treats etc. on a regular basis.
GaryM
Unless you have a tablet for the Alexa App, I would run it from the old iPhone. Other than adjusting settings and enabling an occasional skill, I just have not used the App all that much.
My hope is that when the Echo Connect ships, there will be a way to set up an ‘Amazon Echo Address’ book without potentially exposing all of my contacts to Amazon marketing campaigns. I have a suspicion that even with my minimal one, they used a phone number to determine a friend with an Echo and now will allow me to call it.
The App on your phone does let you call another Echo from your phone - but why? I would just call the person’s phone.
I bought a Dot this fall. I don’t have any smart gadgets. I played with it for a week. As has been said by someone else, it didn’t always understand me. I also had to shout at it all the time to get it to hear me at all. It was a PITA getting it to find the version or artist of a song I wanted to hear. It’s been sitting around unplugged for the last three months. The best thing I found on it was an Audubon Society app to identify bird calls. Maybe I’ll give it to my nephew-in-law for Christmas.
Is there any truth to the story about a 3 yr old asking Alexa to play “digger digger” and Alexa called the kid a dildo, in front of his parents no less.
N/M, I can use Google too… Apparently I was close.
When Alexa indicates that she is about to deliver some porn, you can hear the parents yelling “no no no no” as Alexa drops phrases like “hot chick” and “pussy anal dildo” …
Well, I usually have my phone on my person, but my wife does not. Nor does she sit near the landline. So I can see when it would be convenient to call and have her able to answer without have to move. Not necessarily for a long conversation, but more like “hey, I’m on my way home, do we need anything while I’m out?”
GaryM