Amazon Echo

DGreenwood

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 2, 2003
2,445
Seattle
Today I got an invitation from Amazon to purchase an Echo.  For those that aren't familiar, it's basically Siri for your house but tied heavily to Amazon services.  Anyone else get an invite and/or intend to try it when it's available? 
 
Early reviews are about what you'd expect for a first generation product that's not yet released to the public; in other words, it's a work in progress. For $100 it seems worth the risk and I'll hope that a lot of the improvements that are sure to come will just be software updates.
 
 

B H Kim

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 24, 2003
5,719
Washington, DC
Siri is only on and listening when you activate it. Echo is always on and always listening and potentially sending data and information to a company whose continued financial existence depends on identifying stuff you might like to buy. Maybe it's just my paranoia, but there's no way I would want this in my house.
 

MalzoneExpress

Thanks, gramps.
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2005
867
Cambridge, MA
I have one. It's great. I can get weather for any city with just a quick question. It will play music when I ask. It will set a timer for me when I ask. It goes to sleep until activated with the wake word "Alexa". The sound is good. The companion app is nice. You have to ask questions the way Echo likes it or you get a generic "I don't understand so I created a Bing search for you". You can check the search in the app. Also, it has trouble with some questions. I couldn't get it to tell me the largest of the Great Lakes. It is not bad for a first generation device and I'm sure software updates will address some of the limitations.
 

Tharkin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 11, 2006
1,450
Maine
We've had an Echo for about a month now.  We use it often to set timers and alarms and play music from Prime, Spotify, or our phones.  I've used the shopping list feature a number of times too, not so much for the full grocery list but as reminders for one-off or infrequent purchases.  A couple of times I've asked it about things like conversions from tbs to cups while cooking.  Sometimes Tharkette listens to the news flash while she's having coffee before work.  Overall we've found it pretty useful.  The voice recognition is really good.  I talk a little funny, and I can be facing away from the Echo with my head stuck in the fridge and say "Alexa, add brown mustard and hot sauce to the shopping list" and it'll be on my phone 5 seconds later with impressive accuracy.  The speaker isn't anything special for music, but it's fine for background listening.  The companion app is pretty neat.  You can see the shopping list, timers, alarms, and info for any music that's playing.  It'll also show you what the Echo heard during the last several voice commands, and you can tell it whether it was correct to help it learn your speech (I assume.)  You can even listen to the clip to hear what it sounded like from the unit.
 
Edit to add: When I got my Echo the companion app didn't fully work on Apple products, but it worked fine on my Android.  Tharkette was able to do the initial setup with the app on her iphone, but not the shopping list, timers, etc.  I don't know whether it's fully operational on Apple now or not.
 

Traut

lost his degree
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
12,750
My Desk
My buddy, Lon's review:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0idlLEMp1DQ
 

derekson

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 26, 2010
6,224
From how you guys are discussing its usage, it doesn't sound like it does anything that Siri (or Cortana or Google Now) doesn't already do. What's the point of having a dedicated device to duplicate this functionality?
 

Traut

lost his degree
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
12,750
My Desk
derekson said:
From how you guys are discussing its usage, it doesn't sound like it does anything that Siri (or Cortana or Google Now) doesn't already do. What's the point of having a dedicated device to duplicate this functionality?
To more easily buy shit from amazon. 
 

derekson

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 26, 2010
6,224
Trautwein's Degree said:
To more easily buy shit from amazon. 
 
Well yeah, but that part is just assumed to be part of every electronic device Amazon tries to sell.
 

AlNipper49

Huge Member
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 3, 2001
44,855
Mtigawi
derekson said:
From how you guys are discussing its usage, it doesn't sound like it does anything that Siri (or Cortana or Google Now) doesn't already do. What's the point of having a dedicated device to duplicate this functionality?
Unfortunately Amazon's consumer electronics model has been chasing this model for some time.

You would have thought that Kindle would have taught them of how important innovation is. Yet here they are trying to leverage all of their captive users to buy what is essentially rebranded shit.


They did hit a home run on cables. Man whoever runs that initiative is a freaking genius.
 

Traut

lost his degree
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
12,750
My Desk
Amazon and Samsung seem to fully embrace the let's make everything and see what sticks " approach. Samsung released like 5 different smart watches in 2014.

The only reason that I'd buy this thing is as a Bluetooth speaker. But there are a lot of great speakers for $99 to $199 that allow me to play music from whatever source I want. I subscribe to Google music because I can play Taylor Swift commercial free on YouTube for my kids.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Amazon music and what not. It's just when I buy hardware - I want as much choice as possible. I have about as much need for this device as I would an Amazon messaging app.

Sometimes it seems that there's so much money in tech that even the big boys have no idea how to spend it. In this regard, Apple' s relative restraint is admirable.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,368
AlNipper49 said:
They did hit a home run on cables. Man whoever runs that initiative is a freaking genius.
Monoprice did it. [/southpark]
 

Tharkin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 11, 2006
1,450
Maine
derekson said:
From how you guys are discussing its usage, it doesn't sound like it does anything that Siri (or Cortana or Google Now) doesn't already do. What's the point of having a dedicated device to duplicate this functionality?
Echo is always ready. I don't need to dig out my phone and fool around with it every time I want a timer, I just say "Alexa, set a timer for 10 minutes." Same with music, the shopping list, etc. Doesn't matter if my hands are messy or full (which is most of the time) or if my phone is charging in the other room, or whatever. It's very simple to incorporate into the normal flow of an activity as all that's required is your voice. I suspect most Echos will end up in the kitchen. I use it all the time there, I think I wouldn't use it nearly as often in the living room.

Also, unless they have improved dramatically since the last time I used them, the voice recognition of Siri and Google Now are not in the same league as the Echo. Good luck getting Siri to understand someone who talks like me from 25 feet away with two kids playing Ninja Turtle Battle between.
 

Tharkin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 11, 2006
1,450
Maine
I think the regular price is set at $200, but select (or maybe all) Prime members are getting invites to buy it for $100.

I don't know about a British accent, but due to my hearing loss I definitely speak differently than most Americans, noticeably enough that I am frequently asked where my accent is from and have definitely had problems with voice recognition. Echo understands me very well even when I don't try to speak as clearly as possible.

I'll give it some commands tomorrow in my best Monty Python voice (which is probably about as good an accent as Dicks Van Dyke's) tomorrow to see how it goes.
 

Tharkin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 11, 2006
1,450
Maine
Results:
 
"Alexa, set an alarm for 4:00 tea time."  Generic "American doing an English accent" accent
-- Alarm set correctly
 
"Alexa, smashing! Now tell me the weather!"  "Jeremy Clarkson at his Clarkson-est" accent
-- Appropriate local weather update. 18 below, eff that.
 
"Alexa, what's going on in the world?"  "Outraged John Cleese" accent
-- BBC news briefing plays
 
"Alexa, add crumpets, bangers, and tea to the shopping list."  "Ron Weasley from the first Harry Potter movie" accent (I had to try this one several times.)
-- Cold Intake added to shopping list.
-- "Cold Cuts And" added to shopping list
-- Crumpets added to shopping list, not bangers or tea.
 
"Alexa, add crumpets and tea to the shopping list." (Still Ron Weasley.  I figured maybe Alexa does not know what bangers are.)
-- Crumpets and tea added to shopping list.
 
"Alexa, tell me a joke."  My normal voice.
--"What is black and white a red all over? An educated penguin."
 
 
I'll tell you what, I was pretty impressed.  I was being silly and doing some pretty outalandish voices for some of these and many others (the kids were loving it) and the Echo really understood almost everything I threw at it that sounded remotely like the English language.  In my day-to-day use, if a command doesn't work it's usually because it's a bad command, not because the Echo misunderstood my words.
 

Tharkin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 11, 2006
1,450
Maine
You can choose BBC or NPR for the news source and customize a selection of interests (sports, business, world, etc) to get what you're interested in. I didn't actually know that the command "what's going on in the world" would work, Tharkette always just says "tell me the news flash."
 

Catcher Block

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 7, 2006
5,825
St. Louis
I had an invite a few weeks ago and decided to pull the trigger with the Prime discount.
 
At worst, it's a $99 bluetooth speaker and very basic digital assistant (grocery list, weather, et.) but I'm hoping that Amazon and the modding community can really expand its current capabilities. It seems like the hardware has the potential, at least.
 
I can't live without the Google Now cards on my smartphone, and I (optimistically) envision Echo getting to that point.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,368
Catcher Block said:
I had an invite a few weeks ago and decided to pull the trigger with the Prime discount.
 
At worst, it's a $99 bluetooth speaker and very basic digital assistant (grocery list, weather, et.) but I'm hoping that Amazon and the modding community can really expand its current capabilities. It seems like the hardware has the potential, at least.
 
I can't live without the Google Now cards on my smartphone, and I (optimistically) envision Echo getting to that point.
Don't forget that it's also a direct line to Amazon's marketing and advertising departments. Because who wouldn't want an offer on Summer's Eve when you yell "douche" everytime Joe Maddon comes on TV.
 

LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
29,078
Alamogordo
Anyone still using their Echo? I just got mine today after getting to mess around with it a friend's house a few weeks ago, I don't have an actual stereo in the house (generally I use Pandora on my TV when wanting to listen to music) so having this to play my Prime account stuff is pretty awesome when cooking, cleaning, doing dishes, especially if a song I don't really like comes on.

I do wish it had the capability to recognize "and" when making a shopping list, though, as Yogurt Eggs don't sound too good.
 

Hank Scorpio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 1, 2013
6,920
Salem, NH
Can someone explain how the Echo can control lighting?

Saw some "Echo compatible outlets" that came with light bulbs and such on Amazon... are the outlets themselves the "Bluetoothed" devices?

My apartment has absolutely shitty lighting (we have to rely on lamps in bedrooms and living room, no permanent lighting fixtures aside from bathrooms and kitchen) - and I've been meaning to switch out the lamps anyway. Would be cool to be able to just manage them all through the Echo.
 

Moosey

Mooseyed Farvin
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
4,214
CT
Anyone still using their Echo? I just got mine today after getting to mess around with it a friend's house a few weeks ago, I don't have an actual stereo in the house (generally I use Pandora on my TV when wanting to listen to music) so having this to play my Prime account stuff is pretty awesome when cooking, cleaning, doing dishes, especially if a song I don't really like comes on.

I do wish it had the capability to recognize "and" when making a shopping list, though, as Yogurt Eggs don't sound too good.
Use mine pretty much everyday, and agree on the "and". Music, shopping list, and weather are the three most used applications in my household.
 

SumnerH

Malt Liquor Picker
Dope
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
31,893
Alexandria, VA
I'm more confused as to how it works... seems like the light bulbs and the outlets are the "devices", but I can use any old lamp, maybe?
Depends on the device. Some of them are smart lightbulbs (e.g. the Phillips Hue); you leave the outlet turned on, but then the bulb turns itself on/off.

Some of them are smart outlets (you buy either a wall outlet or plug adapter for it, or a light socket adapter, and then plug/screw your appliance/bulb into that.


 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2008
4,266
New England
I pre-ordered the Echo Dot, although mine isn't scheduled to arrive until April 22. I'm the target demographic. I pay Amazon $25/year to host my digital music, so having an effective speech interface for that will be fun. I hacked together something years ago with Windows Speech Recognition and bluetooth, but this doesn't require me to be at the PC. I'm glad Amazon released this product. I was always intrigued by the Echo, but I didn't want another speaker. It is still possible to order the Echo Dot through the Amazon app for iOS if you don't have an Echo or a Fire.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,368
Anyone doing anything interesting with their echo? I've been pretty underwhelmed by it despite being the target demo. Voice recognition seems marginal at best.
 

bohous

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2005
4,421
Framingham
My wife gave me an Echo for my birthday and have been using it for about a month. I don't really take advantage of all the features but I do really like it as a hands-free music player/speaker and I use it much more than I did my previous Bluetooth speaker since pairing it and managing it with my phone etc. is kind of a PITA. I occasionally ask it basic questions about the weather, what time is the game tonight, conversions or something. Basically the same way I would use Siri. I would like to use it more for reminders (not just alarms and timers) but haven't spent the time to figure out how to set that up yet.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,368
The only thing I find it useful for is easily throwing on a playlist. Given the aforementioned mediocre voice recognition, this isn't always all that easy.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
I use it in the kitchen all the time for music, conversions and timers. I use it with my home automation some but will do so a lot more once I upgrade my HA system and add a bunch of dots around the house. I've got it hooked into IFTTT for some things like Nest control but my wife likes to do things manually so that doesn't fly as much. I'm hoping for much deeper and more native HA control as someplace they're going and hoping for some integration with smart TV, etc. but it's really just meant as a music player and somewhat smart assistant.
 

Tim Naehrings Girl

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 13, 2004
2,890
Tavares, Florida
I am about to get one but I am trying to figure out if there is a big difference between the echo and the echo dot. There is a huge price difference and I am trying to see if there is a catch.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
The big difference between the Echo and the Dot is the speaker. The Dot has a very small, low quality speaker intended just for you to hear responses from Alexa. The Echo has very nice speaker intended for listening to music and podcasts and such. The answer to which one works best for you depends on your intent. If you have an external speaker or stereo or Sonos or something, the Dot will be fine. If you just want to control some Home Automation, the dot will be fine. If you want it as a primary listening device with nothing attached then the Echo is the way to go.

In case anyone is interested, I also got a Google Home because I wanted to compare them and I like Google Home's multi-room music capabilities but it's got a ways to go to catch up to the Echo. Google Assistant, while it understands commands better than Echo, can not fulfill most of them.
 

jayhoz

Ronald Bartel
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
17,368
The big difference between the Echo and the Dot is the speaker. The Dot has a very small, low quality speaker intended just for you to hear responses from Alexa. The Echo has very nice speaker intended for listening to music and podcasts and such. The answer to which one works best for you depends on your intent. If you have an external speaker or stereo or Sonos or something, the Dot will be fine. If you just want to control some Home Automation, the dot will be fine. If you want it as a primary listening device with nothing attached then the Echo is the way to go.

In case anyone is interested, I also got a Google Home because I wanted to compare them and I like Google Home's multi-room music capabilities but it's got a ways to go to catch up to the Echo. Google Assistant, while it understands commands better than Echo, can not fulfill most of them.
If that is the case then I would definitely go with the Echo. Mine is primarily used as a speaker.
 

wutang112878

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2007
6,066
I've got an Echo Dot that should be arriving tomorrow and from what I've read you can hook a bluetooth speaker up to the Dot. So basically rather than spending $180 on the Echo, I am going with the Dot (costs $50 right now) and pairing it with a Cambridge Soundworks Oontz which has got some good reviews and is $30 Its probably a bit of a speaker downgrade but you save $100.
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
SoSH Member
Feb 4, 2012
38,144
Yeah, the Dot is essentially the smart side of the Echo. If you have a speaker, it's golden. But if you want an all-in-one, the Echo is your best bet.

I bought my wife the Echo last year for Christmas and it is still a main stay in the kitchen. "Alexa, what's the weather today?" and just turning on music fast is the best parts. We have music on constantly now.
 

AlNipper49

Huge Member
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 3, 2001
44,855
Mtigawi
We do too, I bought echos for a few of our rooms and between that and Airplay we almost have music on everywhere now, it's really awesome. And it goes to show you how people use technology, my kids get a lot of information from Echo, my little fucker 9 year old even learned he can have it do his homework for him.
 

jercra

No longer respects DeChambeau
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
3,147
Arvada, Co
We do too, I bought echos for a few of our rooms and between that and Airplay we almost have music on everywhere now, it's really awesome. And it goes to show you how people use technology, my kids get a lot of information from Echo, my little fucker 9 year old even learned he can have it do his homework for him.
I recently switched to Homeseer for my home automation controller and added a few dots around the house. The combination of Homeseer and Echo is awesome. From just about anywhere in the house I can say things like "Alexa, set the living room lights to 50%" and it works like a charm. It really has changed the way I interact with my home and I'm adding more and more things to my HA system as a result.
 

AlNipper49

Huge Member
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 3, 2001
44,855
Mtigawi
I recently switched to Homeseer for my home automation controller and added a few dots around the house. The combination of Homeseer and Echo is awesome. From just about anywhere in the house I can say things like "Alexa, set the living room lights to 50%" and it works like a charm. It really has changed the way I interact with my home and I'm adding more and more things to my HA system as a result.
Yeah I have a combination of things (home assistant and wink mixed with Ifttt) and it's crazy how useful it is.
 

bohous

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2005
4,421
Framingham
Has anybody here paired their Echo with their Harmony remote? I haven't set this up yet but would like to try it.
 

uncannymanny

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 12, 2007
9,081
I got 6 Dots to cover our place ($250 total); I can hit Alexa from anywhere in the house. It's great. Alexa makes Siri look like a parlor trick. We have them connected by Bluetooth to speakers in almost all cases, even the bathroom (living room runs analog to my Marantz). Being able to cue up songs/radio stations in the shower is life changing.