re: AMazon Echo $99

I got one for Christmas. It's a pos!

It's a pretty decent Bluetooth speaker. I use it mainly for the time and weather as I'm walking around.

Get ready to hear that Alexa bitch say that she can't do anything and go check your bing link on your echo app.

Side by side with Google voice recognition, amazon echo is a joke.

Ohhhh...I use it as a calculator too.

Got mine in today. Set it up and have played with it for a few hours. Here's a few observations:

Mine came with the old software version that doesn't control the Hue or Wemo without the new software. The only way to update the software is to leave it alone for 20 mins and it will auto update.

I'm testing it out in my kitchen and talking to it from my living room and have had very good success with voice recognition even with the tv on. There's also a trainer exercise to help it become more accurate to your specific accent. I honestly haven't had it misunderstand me yet. But it has just not heard me at all when music is playing through it at a really loud volume.

Works great with my Philips lights. Lets you create groups with titles so that you can say "turn living room lights to 50%". Would really like some Nest integration and Harmony.

Has TuneIn radio built in so you can say "listen to 98.1" and it just starts playing.

Shopping list seems really useful. Can say "add milk to shopping list" and it shows up in the shopping list in the app. Also being in the kitchen I can say "set timer for 15 mins" even if my hands are covered in food.

Sound quality for music seems pretty decent and the volume gets really loud.

I'm curious to check the traffic feature. You can set your home and work address in the app and then anytime you ask "how's traffic" you're supposed to get a traffic update for your commute.

There are plenty of other features I haven't tried yet. Hope this helps.

Just got my shipping notification, should be here Tuesday. Just wondering what the verdict is now that it's been out for roughly six months. Saw I can still sell on eBay for around $200, so if it sucks, I'd probably do that.

Been using mine since March. Thought the glamour would wear off but I still use it a good bit everyday.

I'll typically use the timer, weather, traffic, shopping list, and music everyday

yeah i have it near the kitchen but i have an open floor plan so its kind of in the living room as well. It listens pretty well (which is also kind of creepy). Ill be in my bedroom and it can still hear me if i speak up a bit.

also comes with a remote which i put in my bedroom.

some simple features id like to see added is the ability to add reminders to my phone....ability to add multiple items at once to my shopping list...

Just got my notification that my Echo will be at my house Friday by 8pm.

I see good and bad reviews on here. I'm not sure if I should keep it in the box and sell it or keep it and give it a go.

Anyone absolutely hate it and think it's garbage? Anyone see that it's something that would be a great benefit for our day to day life?

quote:

---

I'm not sure if I should keep it in the box and sell it or keep it and give it a go.

---

What are you expecting from it?

quote:

---

I'm wondering if I can link it somehow to some other electronics in the house (tv, stereo, nest thermostat, wemo switches and plugs, etc).

---

It has support for Wemo. Also, news articles says it has IFTTT capability though limited.

quote:

---

It's a great little bluetooth speaker, but it won't answer a lot of the questions that google will.

---

In response to the poster above with his expectations, if you want a Bluetooth speaker with some frills, I think you're in for a treat. I can't speak for the WeMo integration. It's not particularly great at answering questions. For instance, my brother asked "mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" And received a "sorry, I don't understand." It seems to be fairly good at easy, fact-based answers, but it suffers with pop culture references and comedy. This is probably not a big deal to you, but it could be.


It can:
answer simple questions that have actual answers
Play music comparable to any Bluetooth speaker I've heard. Fairly decent bass response, highs present but not overpowering. It's not an audiophile marvel, but if you're looking for that in a mono, Bluetooth speaker, you're a fool
I haven't asked it to set timers, but I am fairly certain it's good at that. So wireless timers + wireless volume adjustments and song choices (or simply channels, playlists) make it a great option if you're into food prep (first thing that comes to mind. There are plenty of other scenarios this could be useful in, but I see it best as a kitchen background noise producer) and like to have control of music choices.
Answer current weather conditions
The app logs every question you've asked it and allows you to search it, verbatim, on bing. It also allows you to choose whether it heard you right. It will probably get better, but that's speculation.


Unfortunately, I only had about a 30 minute test run with it. I bought it for my old man. All in all, I think it's a good Bluetooth + wifi streaming speaker with a few extra thrills. I don't think it's terribly much more at this point.

Got mine last week. I live in a condo with a large living room connected to the kitchen so it's perfect for my space.

Use the flash brief every day when I'm making breakfast, play music randomly and it's plenty loud for the area. Also utilize the weather, and it's nice to do random stuff like ask what the definition of something is.

Simon says feature is also childishly funny with friends.

Highly recommend at the $99 price point.