See what Alexa can do
Let me preface this review by revealing a few facts about myself. I am male, aged 75 years old, and more tech savvy than most people my age, but if you can use a modern computer, and own one, you should have not problem using this device. IT IS SO FAR, MIRACULOUS, and intriguing! I bought mine about a week ago, and waited till a couple days ago to jump in with "both feet" and set it up. Even though I once did computer tech support for Dell computers, It was a long time ago now, and a lot of tech has evolved since then, and i have the same fear of new things as most people my age, though admittedly higher skills. I also own an Iphone 6s plus, of which I have mixed emotions. The Iphone is made by apple, and Apple's idea of "intuitive" and mine are very different. Microsoft is much better at designing "intuitive" into an operating system than Apple. Aniyway, You will need some type of connected WIFI device to use this product. (read that Cell Phone with it's own WIFI abilities, and Bluetooth built in) You will need to download the "Alexa App. " on that device to set up the Alexa products.
From that point on, simply plug in the Echo device into a regular 110V. wall outlet, it comes with a plug in adapter. There are no batteries in this device, although some have them. A NOTE HERE" YES, YOU CAN UNPLUG IT WITHOUT IT LOSING ITS BRAINS AND REQUIRING REPEAT SET UP. So though not specified anywhere I read it evidently has some on board nonvolatile memory built in that will allow this. ( i spent several research sessions attempting to find this out, and finally had to bite the bullet and just try it. ) I moved it from one room location to another and within a few seconds it greeted me and said it was operational. NOW I AM ONLY AN OLD GUY WITH PRETTY GOOD HEARING ABILITIES YET, (NOT EXACTLY AN AUDIOPHILE ) BUT WITH DOLBY DIGITAL SOUND, THIS IS ONE NICE SOUNDING SPEAKER SYSTEM,
FULLY AS GOOD AS MY 7 SPEAKER ALTECH LANSING ON MY PC. IT MAY EVEN BE BETTER.IF YOU HAVE A NORMAL EAR, YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT THE SOUND QUALITY!
Now I am still learning about this product. Every new thing I try I am pleasantly surprised. I plan to get at least a smart home door lock and thermostat to use with it in the future, and several light switches. I am no great fan of the "RING DOORBELL" (due to frequently needed battery recharging) at this point, but I understand Amazon has purchased that company and will soon have an interface app available to use with the "Ring System" If you want to keep up with the march of technology, this device is probably your best doorway to that end, since Amazon is committed to pursuing it. Others may drop out along the way. (NEW) I made a hands free phone call to my son this moring as a test of the phone capabilities. Sound on my end was like he was in the room. The Alexa app and it's capabilities are evolving technologies. Features will be added. (Mine did an update download while playing music) Don't be disappointed. It is attractively packed, and very capable, but the "instructions" are not detailed and are sketchy. Lean about it online as I did before you purchase it. Read as many reviews as your eyes and attention span will allow, and take the plunge! An education awaits you!
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"Alexa, turn on the lights."
Control the lights with your voice.
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Make your Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus just for kids at no extra charge by enabling Amazon FreeTime in the Alexa app. Automatically filter explicit songs, add approved contacts, set time limits, or review activity with easy-to-use parental controls in the Amazon Parent Dashboard. With an Amazon FreeTime Unlimited subscription (starting at $2.99 per month), your kids can access over 1,000 Audible books, premium kids skills from brands like Disney and Nickelodeon, ad-free radio stations and playlists, and more. |
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| Price | From: - | From: - | From: - |
| Ratings | (985,274) | (96,112) | (101,747) |
| Overview | Add Alexa to any room | Room filling sound in various styles | Premium room-filling sound and built-in smart hub |
| Speaker size | 1.6" speaker | 2.5" woofer and 0.6" tweeter | 3" neodymium woofer and 0.8" tweeter |
| Pair two together for stereo sound |
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| Controls smart home devices |
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| Streaming music |
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| Line-out with 3.5 mm cable or Bluetooth |
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| Free audio calls to US, Mexico, and Canada |
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| Dolby audio |
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| Built-in Zigbee smart home hub |
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| Line-in |
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Amazon, What Is Up With Customer Service??????? UPDATE
I have paid to be a Prime member for many years, and felt dissed this year when Amazon announced that EVERYONE, Prime or not, would be getting free shipping until Christmas. So what am I paying money for? But I kept silent.However, I feel dissed again at my purchase of an Echo, 2nd Gen. I love the Echo's quality and Alexa is so very cool. I've only had her a couple of days and she's helping me with a lot of things. BUT, I began having trouble today downloading skills from the Amazon Store. I haven't had any trouble in the past, and it was working just fine this morning, when all of a sudden I started getting the message shown on the attached screen shot. The first picture is where I was looking for skills. When I touched the screen to bring up the screen to download, I would get the second screen instead of the download screen.I use an iPad Pro with iOS. It is the latest version. I troubleshot everything I could think of. I deleted the Alexa App and re-installed it. I unplugged the Echo and let it sit to try and clear out the memory. Cleared out my cache. Turned my iPad off and on. Searched through all the Alexa troubleshooting questions I could find on Google. I also tried to access the Amazon skills store through my iPhone and got the same result. Finally, I admitted defeat, and phoned Customer Service.Now, I get that they are busy and get the same stupid questions repeatedly. But I expect that when I call a Customer Service department, they will at least LISTEN to my problem and what I have done to try and resolve it. I must have been this Reps last call before going on break. She gave me rote answers, didn't understand the problem and wanted me to go through the same steps I had already gone through. I'm no computer whizbang, but I'm not the newest bear on the block, either. I "get" the basics of computers and software and how they integrate. Which she did not, but kept spewing lines from a notebook. Finally, I gave up and said I'd continue on my own.Next step was to email Customer Service. Which I did. But there is no way to send screen shots to them. WHAT? How can they understand a problem with no picture of it?????? But I tried to explain as best I could. And got a very nice treatise on how to download Alexa skills.I KNOW HOW TO DOWNLOAD ALEXA SKILLS. YOU AREN'T LETTING ME DO IT!Next stop was Chat. Which, much to my dismay, comes from India. Complete with crappy English. Not only does he not get the problem, he disconnects the Chat in the middle.((sobbing))I give up. You win. You no longer care about your Customers, but you are the only game in town so I am stuck. I am glad you are constantly developing new skills for Alexa, but I'd like to point out that I can't be the only person in the world having this same problem, and an unlimited number of skills is no good if people cannot access them. Yes, there are other places I can get skills, but your library is the largest. But I can't fix the problem, and you don't care to help me, so Alexa is going to become a fancy music playing machine for me. Too bad. I had such high hopes and it started so we'll.UPDATE - Amazon's Technical Services Team reached out to me the same afternoon I left the last review, and finally did help me out. I use an iPad Pro with iOS. Because of Apple restrictions, there are just some things I cannot do on the iPad, like purchasing some Kindle books. I have to go to my old trusty PC to do that. Same thing with Alexa skills. I can't get them through the Amazon store, but I can get them through the Alexa app. There are more listed on the Amazon store, so for the ones there, I can verbally ask Alexa to enable them.Tammy, the Support Rep, agreed that I should have not had to go through the hoopla that I did. If one knows both Apple and PC computers, one should have suspected this was the problem right away. As I did, but the reps weren't listening to me. She apologized and is going to put in a suggestion that their training be changed.I can't speak to that, but I am satisfied with how Amazon finally stepped up to the plate. I'm enjoying her immensely. Many of the skills you can get are bogus, but others are exactly what I've been needing to help me manuever in the world as I age and things become more difficult. Her "personality" (jokes and trivia and such) is an added goodie. Thank you, Amazon!
