And real people here are explaining how it has benefited them. Not marketers but actual people. You don’t have to think it’s a benefit but there’s no need to put down those who think it is.
To me, the shopping list, Pandora, and quick weather updates make it worth the price.
I’m a little annoyed that I can Blue Tooth it to my phone. But it won’t let me use it as a speaker phone. It only allows media audio. WTF?
You’re saying there’s a connection? I don’t know, dude. That’s way out there.
Every single parcel I have received from Amazon during the past two or three months has been sealed with blue tape advertising the Echo. While we’re on the subject, has anybody had any experience with a side-by-side comparison between the Echo and Google’s unit?
For now, the consensus favors Echo. But the speculation is, that won’t be the case for long. Mainly because Google has a much better algorithm, and a much lager database to draw from.
Here’s an article that declares that Amazon has already won the home voice-activated device war. It is already in 5% of all US homes.
More than a bit premature to declare a winner, IMHO. But if you can get your gadget into that many homes in just 2 years, that’s pretty amazing and you have a really good leg up.
The “control of the home media” battle has been going on for years. A lot of players, nowhere close to a winner yet, if ever. But with the Echo/Alexa devices, Amazon has managed to make a major inroad in one segment of that market that can be leveraged into dominating more of the home media market.
But they aren’t perfect. E.g., there are TVs available with Roku OS built in. Amazon still only sells standalone Fire TV devices. And since those are more-or-less Android devices and many smart TVs run Android, this should be something that they should have gotten into a couple years ago.
Anyway, expect Echo-style stuff to be considered the norm in the very near future. Get used it.
I also received an Echo for Christmas and had/have a similar problem to the OP. I guess the thing is that while I understand how it can be useful to some people, it doesn’t really interest me. The person who gave it to me has one setup for controlling bits of their house, but I really would rather click light switches and fiddle with dimmer knobs. While I generally keep up with most technology, I tend to only use stuff that I had a need for rather than getting gadgets and then trying to fit them in to my lifestyle. By being gifted this, I’m put into a position of having to fit it into my lifestyle and see if it can be a real benefit or not. I’m open minded enough that I will give it a chance, but I’m a bit worried that it won’t get used.
One thing I’ve never been into is talking to gadgets. I don’t use Siri on my phone, I don’t use voice activated calling in the car, and I don’t use any other voice activated features of the car. I much rather use my hands.
Finally, I like to listen to music, but when I do I like to listen through my stereo and the Echo doesn’t appear to be able to stream music to another device.
Well there Mr. OP, what did you get? Enquiring minds want to know!!
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, Richard and I think about alike. “Ooh, shiny” is mostly not in my nature. (Unless it has a really, really big top speed. :)).
I did have one phone / headset combo that did voice dialing well. But that was years ago. I shudder to think how crappily that works today on my state of the art Android stuff.
Good God, do you similarly labor under the burden of walking up to the TV and changing the channel or do you simply use the remote?
I bought one (an Echo Dot) in November (after visiting some friends of my wife who had the regular Echo and falling in love with it) , and then a second one in late November. Love the thing. I just use it mainly for three things: 1) listening to music/radio/podcasts. I love that I can just go to it and say “Play Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” to hear the last episode, or “play WXRT” to listen to the local station. Or just “play Christmas jazz music” or "play “Wheels on the Bus’” and wham!, the songs I want come on. I have kids, so having it play kids songs on demand actually comes in quite handy.
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Great for shopping lists, assuming you have a smart phone with the Alexa app. I do pretty much all the shopping in the house, and I’ve been terrible about keeping shopping lists, but now I just go about my day and when I realize I’m out of something, I just tell Alexa to add it to the list. My wife can do the same and when I get to the shop, there it is. If you’re already have a good routine with shopping lists, perhaps you don’t need it, but this is the first shopping list I’ve ever regularly used.
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Setting cooking timers.
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Setting alarms.
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Weather/news reports
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Changing the thermostat if I’m not in the room with the thermostat in it.
I haven’t used it for shopping yet. I didn’t realize that something you could even do with it until a few weeks after I got it. I mostly got it for the first two items on the list.
For us, it’s worth it just for the timer function - it’s a hands-free, voice-activated kitchen timer. Unit conversions too (“Alexa, what’s 1/4 cup in tablespoons?”).
It can also play radio (if the radio station you want is available for streaming through iHeartRadio), podcasts (same restriction), etc. If you use Audible, it can play content from there as well. The “flash briefing” feature is useful too - just the main news headlines from a few sources.
It can answer simple factual queries - “what time is it in London?” “is Abe Vigoda alive?” etc. These can be useful, it’s faster than googling the answer on my phone.
People’s reactions to Alexa seem so similar to how reactions were to cell phones in the late 90s or early 2000s. “Why would I need a phone with me all the time?” and “What use is it” Or even “Check out that rude blowhard standing there talking on his cell phone.”
I’ve had Alexa for maybe 8 months now and I admit I am a bit of a techlover - have me an Apple Watch too for example. Similar to cell phones or early iPhones the Echo… heck the voice industry in general… is in its infancy and the potential not fully exploited. Remember when the coolest app on your phone was that fake lighter? And now really how many of us are rarely more than a few feet from our phones.
Anyone with an Echo now is by definition an early adopter but the fact that the use-cases are fairly narrow indicates untapped potential, not useless technology. That said like many others here I use one for radio and music, news, kitchen stuff, lists, weather, and to turn on and off electronics and lights in my home. And I’m excited to see what comes next.
Finally one of my parents is disabled and has very limited mobility and use of his hands and “Alexa turn on the living room lights” is legit life changing.
False alarm. It was for her mother. Kayla’s room was being used as a mail drop and a hiding place.
Whew. Dodged a bullet there.
It does TuneIn radio, as well (at least that’s where most my stations and podcasts seem to come from.)
Dagnabbit. So it’s just me then.
Did you try and ask it who it was a gift for …
Oops, the link went missing in my previous post: Article titled Voice Is the Next Big Platform, and Alexa Will Own It.
Stuff I’ve said to my Echo lately:
“Alexa, how many teaspoons are in one quarter cup?”
“Alexa, when did Julia Child die?”
“Alexa, set a timer for twenty-three minutes.”
“Alexa, how’s the weather?”
“Alexa, play Pentatonix Christmas music.”
“Alexa, turn off the Christmas lights.” (note: I have these outlets plugged in and set up as ‘Tree’ and ‘Garland’, together in the group ‘Christmas Lights’.)
“Alexa, play ‘Ave Maria’ sung by Beyonce.”
“Alexa, what’s on the shopping list?”
“Alexa, play the ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ podcast.”
“Alexa, merry Christmas.”
“Alexa, sing your favorite song.” (it has changed recently)
And for fun: “Alexa, what does the fox say?”
How does this work? Does it talk or beep at you? What do you tell it to let it know you’re awake? Can you tell it to let you sleep for 10 more minutes or until ?? ? Do you have to tell it every night when to wake you up, or can you set up a schedule?
Can you set an alarm for 3 days from now?