30.1.2019

Pros:- Great build quality- Great voice detection- Excellent sound quality for the size- Lots of features- Can be expanded using Skills- Nice app- Grouping different devices- Different music services supported- Functional 'ring' lightCons:- Buttons could be slightly larger- Spotify could be better supportedMany useful features are offered which you can ask such as simply asking the time, playing music or a general question about a subject. These features can be expanded by adding 'Skills' which developers have created specifically for the Echo. A couple I like are 'Ground Control' (Which tells you how many people are currently in space and who they are) as well as 'Connect Control'(Which allows you to pause, play, skip music being played on Spotify on a device other than the Echo). There are many to choose from with a variety of different options. There are also websites which allow you to simply make your own 'Skills' for your device.The build quality of the Echo is very good. A good quality fabric wraps round the side of the device covering the speakers and the base is made of rubber. This stops accidental slides for if you accidentally pushed something against the Echo or managed to catch the cable. The top has 4 buttons: Volume Up, Down, Mute Microphone and the Action button. It would be nice if the Action button was larger as the buttons are quite small compared to the size of the device but they are still quite easy to press. The light ring around the top of the device is a nice feature to have. It tells you the current volume with maximum being the ring all the way around the Echo and minimum just being a small line. This is very useful for making sure that Alexa has woken from the command word as it is bright and very noticeable.The voice detection is very good. it can pick your voice up from the other side of the room without you needing to speak too loudly and can quite easily hear you over music being played. if you have music being played form the device, it will pause the music when you say the command word so that you can hear it more clearly and it can hear you. It can detect when you say the command word and say the command in the same sentence if the room is quiet, but if there is noise, such as from music, you have to say the command word and wait a second before speaking again. This isn't an issue but would be nice as an improvement in the future.An 'Amazon Alexa' app is also provided which allows you to control everything on the Echo. This is required to set up the device as well as to get any new skills or settings of the Dot. the interface is nice with a simple but easy to use design. You can speak directly to Alexa through the app without the need of an Echo as well see different things on the 'Home' tab such as weather or suggested skills for the Echo. the app is also where you can set different Echo devices to be in different 'Groups'. This could be for Bedroom 1, Bedroom 2, Kitchen or anything you wish to name the groups. Devices other than Echos can be added to the groups such as lights or HEOS devices. This allows you to speak to any Alexa enabled device and control devices in different rooms by saying the name of the group (Such as: 'Alexa, Play Music in Man Cave on AV-Receiver' or 'Alexa, Switch off Lights in Kitchen'). There are many other features offered in the app and many settings for the Echo.There are many different music services offered with Amazon Music being the default and most supported. You are provided with 90 days of free Amazon Prime Music with the purchase of an Echo which is a nice gesture. It would be nice to see Spotify better supported (I have not tried any other than Spotify and Amazon Music) such as being able to ask Alexa to: 'Play my Playlist 2018 on Spotify' as well as to have Spotify Connect officially supported. Whenever I ask Alexa anything to do with Spotify, it simply says 'Spotify is Currently not Supported on this Device.' I can say 'Alexa, Pause Music' but this only works I used Spotify connect on my phone to connect to the Echo. The 'Connect Control' skill I mentioned is a workaround to this and works well, but not great. It maybe works around 80% of the time but having to say 'Alexa, Ask Connect Control to Pause' can often be heard incorrectly. It would be nice to see 'Spotify Connect' officially supported to reduce the size of the phrases or a simple way of sending suggestions to the developer of a skill.The speakers of the Echo are good for the size of the device. The quality does drop significantly at medium to high volumes but not to the point where it is unusable. the Bass, Mids and Treble can be controlled from within the Alexa apps to slightly improve the Audio quality. The audio quality from the Echo dot is surprisingly good for the size, so I am sure the quality of the Echo or Echo Plus will be much better, especially if paired with the Echo Sub which is also offered.Overall, I am very happy with the purchase of the Echo, especially for £25. Many features are offered with great build quality and decent sound as well as great voice detection. The buttons could be slightly larger and Spotify better supported but these are only minor complaints which can be improved in future versions.

30.10.2019

** Updated after 10 Weeks Use **I really haven't changed my opinion on my early review, absolutely the right decision to migrate from Google to Alexa, so many less voice recognition issues.I continue to be impressed by the sound. I did have an aesthetic issue with the cable on the product on the second one I purchased. I put it in the kitchen and the cable really got in the way so I picked up an Amazon Proudbird Stand as per the video.It's made a huge difference aesthetically, no sound quality loss, if you are thinking of buying an Echo Dot I highly recommend picking up a Proudbird too!Alexa Play Spotify is usually the first thing I say most days now!Wife unhappy :)*****As the title says i have had a Google Home as a Smart Speaker for a couple of years. There is no problem with it per se, its just become slightly dated, is a little large for my bedside table and after reading many reviews i purchased an Echo Dot 3rd Gen with alarm clock. The speaker is kept in my bedroom so i thought the addition of a visible clock would be useful.* Out of the box it has a solid build to it, the speaker is small but clearly well made, the extra buttons versus google are welcome and as the saying goes, heavy stuff is generally well made/expensive. It has a reassuringly weighty feel to it, but the price point is excellent, it isnt expensive for everything you get.*I particularly like the softer touch base which makes it anchor onto the surface as well as i imagine contributes to the excellent sound by providing a subtle cushion between the unit and whatever you place it on.* Set up is easy, download the app, connect to wifi, away you go. The clock is self setting and moves with daylight saving. The lights are a really cool touch, it adds to the space age feel.* The Alexa app is much more user friendly than the google home app, there is more to see and do, advice and tips to get the best out of the echo as well as clear signposts and instructions to not just basic functions but also some more technical ones.* Voice recognition is smooth, fast and accurate. It has picked up my own and my wifes voice in next to no time with minimal i do not understand responses.* Interface with apps including spotify, prime music and the radio is speedy, setting alarms is easy and the ability to snooze alarms using a gentle tap on the top of the unit is a big plus.* For a speaker this size the sound is excellent, its really surprising how crisp and clear vocals are, the bass is punchy and the depth and clarity is first class. Ive had a small JBL Radio as well as the google home and a couple of anker speakers, it compares very favourably to these specialist speakers and its smaller in size too! My bedroom is approx 120sq ft and it is no strain for the echo to fill that with rich and vibrant music, it does not distort or fizzle out at the top end of the volume scale.* The sounds to fall asleep to is a very useful tool, i imagine its on other smart speaker eco systems but i havent come across it so its been a pleasant surprise and one i have been using.* I have made a couple of phone calls using the echo and theyve presented no issues other than fearing its so crystal clear my neighbours are eavesdropping whether they intend to or not!* Aesthetically its a very eye catching design, the lights are a classy feature but you can turn them off if preferred. One of the most important aspects for me was to have a visible clock. So lazy have we humans become that the act of waking to rummage for your phone or watch in the dark is too much just to check the time so this fills that need! The lights can be adjusted to off as well dim or increase brightness.* I do not run smart devices beyond the speaker so i have not tested anything such as lights or smart appliances with alexa, i would be confident in doing so if i did own any but have no plans to.* I wanted a nice looking alarm clock with a good sounding speaker, i certainly got that and much much more, unfortunately the google home has been consigned to the give away pile in the spare room and i picked up another echo dot, non alarm clock version, two days after my first purchase.The extra one is for the kitchen and am looking forwards to setting this up to complement the intial purchase. Overall i am extremely happy so far that i have migrated from google to alexa and i know i am just scratching the surface with the limited use i have had from it thus far. A first class smart speaker with amazing sound to fill any room of the house that also happens to be pleasing on the eye with an array of features and surprises.Buy one you will not be dissapointed!

20.11.2018

This is effectively an update to a review I did for the 2nd Generation Echo Dot, much of which still applies here. If you already own a Gen 2 then much of what follows this first paragraph you will already know. The differences between the Gen 2 and Gen 3 themselves begin subtly. Gen 3 is a little bit bigger but much more visually appealing. Rounded, with fabric sided, it looks like a more premium product to the plasticky Gen 2. I was surprised to find the power cable has changed from USB to a dedicated circular socket, but beyond those changes it’s a similar product until sound comes out of it. And wow it really is an improvement. Sound is so much fuller and rich.No longer a tinny little puck in the corner of the room the Echo Dot has suddenly come alive. Where I used to connect them to a separate speaker I no longer see it necessary. Okay, it’s no where near the quality of my Sonos Ones, but they’re many times the price of the Dot, and you wonder if you need to spend more on the bigger Echos/Echo Plus. If you have the option of a Gen 3 or picking up a cheap Gen 2, I would seriously recommend the Gen 3 as it is so much better. The microphone also seems more competent at not only picking your voice up but doing so over the sound of loud music. Genuinely a brilliant bit of kit.The following is a repeat of an earlier review I wrote for the Gen 2 but may help those new to the world of Alexa home assistance.I’m over 12 months into my Alexa experience and I’m very pleased to say that it’s in regular use, every day. To get the most out of Alexa, you need to invest in a bit of additional infrastructure. Out of the box you’ll get an Amazon Echo Dot which is smart enough to answer questions and play some free music which will be fun at first, but the real joy comes with exploring what you can do with it by adding other toys and apps.My current set-up is 4no Amazon Echo Dots, 2no Sonos Play Ones with Alexa built in, a Logitech Harmony Remote & Hub and half a dozen TP Link smart sockets. I also have a previously installed Nest thermostat and a couple of Nest smoke detectors, which Alexa can also interact with. With the Echo Dots acting as the main controlling hubs I’ve quickly built a smart home that we really do use. Everything interacts with everything else, and I can easily set up macros to perform multiple functions together. A basic instruction is “Alexa, turn on/off the living room” and the living room floor lamp comes on. A slightly more complex instruction I use is “Alexa, turn on/off the fish tanks” and both of my aquarium lights will turn on or off. A bit more complicated is “Alexa, goodnight”, where she’ll turn off all active devices and lights, turn on the hall light to light the way up to bed and chirpily say “Goodnight”. Then we get a bit more involved with something like “Alexa, turn on the TV.” Now she’ll turn on the TV to a desired channel, Youview box, soundbar and should I wish have the living room lights dimmed. The functionality of controlling the audio/visual equipment comes with the Logitech Harmony Hub, but it was a great investment. Alexa is also able to control the temperature of my house via the Nest thermostat, which saves me opening a separate app or going to the thermostat myself.To get even greater functionality out of it, I’d recommend an Amazon Music Unlimited account. I’ve yet to find a song that she hasn’t been able to play. In the 12 months I’ve had the Echo I’ve not once used my iPhone to search for music to play. I just say “Alexa, play…….” And she plays it to the nearest speaker. If I want to play to a specific speaker I just add the name of the speaker to the command.It's great fun when the family are around too. Getting Alexa to join in with quizzes and games. My dad and I were discussing James Bond one night and disagreed over who sang a particular theme tune. I asked Alexa who sang the theme to Thunderball, and then asked if we wanted to listen to it.The exciting thing is that we’re in the early days of home assistants and already they’re working really well. I can’t wait to see where development takes us.

3.5.2019

This is my second Echo Dot. My first was bought as a Christmas present from a friend. For a long time, I swore I wouldn't have any tech like that because I watched 'I, Robot' and decided that the dog already thinks he could easily overthrow me and I've already got a gobby wife who doesn't listen, never mind adding a mouthy cyber thing to my ever impending doom and misery.Imagine my surprise when I opened the wrapping paper to find not only an Echo Dot but a fancy plug thingy! I can barely get my Smart TV to work, so I was conjuring images of me hitting thing with a stick/having a minor breakdown, rather than images of blissful laziness, not having to get up to turn things on and off.Fear not,dear ones, for I got it all set up incredibly quickly and, to my surprise, the aforementioned blissful laziness began... Alexa is more polite and responsive than my wife... Best Christmas present ever!I then decided to push the boundaries of laziness a step further: My wife isn't entirely house-trained and has an obsession with leaving all the lights on, all the time, even in broad daylight...go figure! I can now sympathise with my father and parents all over the world, yelling "it's like Blackpool Illuminations in this house!!", because it's as irritating as...well...as you know what! I thought adding a few light bulbs to my ever-growing cyber empire would be less painless than getting comfortable in bed, to realise the stream of light flowing out from under every.single.damn.door.in.my.house!I now feel like a Jedi Knight! I can turn the bathroom light on before I even get to it!! That's a seriously impressive skill level unlocked! Even my easily unimpressed father is so fixated by it, it's cute!I started to feel like I was living years ahead and was saving myself valuable time; time that is ever so wisely spent binge watching TV series (naturally!). Imagine my horror when I changed my broadband over, one gloomy March evening, to find that:I HAD NO LIGHTS!!!The profanities spewing from my mouth were enough to make a seasoned sailor blush! The whole house had to be reset. My cheeky, little WiFi wife was silent, her little, red, ring of doom (Oi! Easy there!) blinking away in the darkness... The same couldn't be said about my actual wife, who was threatening to bury me and the WiFi wife under the patio because the entire house was in darkness and she couldn't find the TV remote. Technology -1, Sarah -0. Well played...Needless to say, a couple of hours and several Google searches later, I got my blissful laziness back and the wife shush.Now, you may think that I love the Alexa so much for the blissful laziness, which you'd be right in thinking... However, dear reader, whilst that may be a huge bonus, the real reason I now have two cheeky, little WiFi wives is because of my real life wife...I am a sucker for schadenfreude and as immature as a teenager when it comes to getting my giggles and, as it turns out, Alexa has given me *the* most wonderful, belly-aching, laughs since I watched my dog bump into furniture because he raided the bin and got a cheese packet stuck on his head...My wife is from the North East of England and is a Mackem. I am from Cheshire. I don't have an accent...she does... Mother of all things comedy, the Alexa definitely doesn't understand her. Watching my wife try to turn the lights on is the funniest thing ever! The other night, she tried to turn the bathroom light off and ended up playing Rocket Man instead. I literally cannot explain how funny it is, especially because I am on social media and now our entire network waits, with baited breath, for the next update on the arguments my wife has with Alexa!!! My shopping list gets filled with the most amazing items that don't exist, like my wife is trying to get the most Googlewhack's ever found on a shopping list. Random music will start playing because my wife has tried to ask Alexa something. It. Is. Hi. Lar. I. Ous!And that, dear reader, is why you need to buy one! Blissful laziness and if your significant other has an accent, you will thank me later!

25.5.2019

We now have 3 echo dots - one in the living room, another in our bedroom and a 3rd in the kids' room. I was dubious about the supposed benefits of a (possibly) sentient AI present in the home, attempting to make sense of commands from householders ranging in age from 3 to 43. But...it just works.Perhaps the best example of this is how easily the kids have adopted the technology. Our boys (aged 3 and 6) just love asking Alexa to play their favourite songs on Spotify, read a story on Cbeebies or give them random facts about dinosaurs (and when it all becomes too annoying, you can stop voice recognition with the touch of a button).We own an ageing Pure internet radio and wouldn't be without it.But Alexa just makes it so easy to request any of our favourite radio stations in the evening - Jazz FM, Mellow Magic, Classic FM etc. At bedtime, Alexa obligingly plays soothing ambient playlists, helping the boys off to sleep.Other reviews laud the improvement in sound quality of the 3rd generation - owning neither the previous Dot or any other Echo devices, I have nothing to compare this to. What I can say is that the sound quality relative to the size of the speaker, is impressive. Whilst it won't necessarily handle parties or larger areas so well, the Dot easily caters to an average-sized room for day-to-day domestic use across a range of audio sources (radio, Spotify, Prime Music etc). The integration of an equalizer within the app only helps tweak your preferred levels according to room/location etc.The app itself is relatively intuitive and a set of on-screen instructions guide you through wi-fi set up, adding your first device and so on. Adding new devices and skills (kind of like virtual apps) is simple too - you can name each (we've done that according to location - living room, master bedroom etc.) and access the individual settings quickly and easily. All I would say is that it f something goes wrong in the setup of a device with the app, it's quite easy to get caught in a 'loop' when attempting to repeat the process - but I was eventually able to resolve this and, to be fair, it only happened the once.The device itself has a satisfying weight and looks great (we have both black and white devices) - the ring of light is easily visible, even on a bright day, and the overall build quality is excellent. The 'far field voice recognition' is quite simply brilliant - Alexa will pick up a command from any part of the room (command activation defaults to 'Alexa' but there are other options available in-app) with no issues. Use of the voice-interface is surprisingly intuitive, and very quickly feels natural - I was really surprised at this as the thought of speaking to a device just seemed odd before.Alexa also appears to understand variations on common commands, which again all helps with that intuitive feel - to the point where I find myself wishing my other devices had this technology (physically interacting with my internet radio - albeit touch screen - now seems somehow clunky :-).If, like I was, you're thinking 'is this just a glorified bluetooth speaker?' - all I'd say is give it a try. At the current price of £29, you can't go wrong. All I would suggest is that you consider buying two whilst it's reduced, as you'll very quickly find yourself wanting another.

18.4.2019

I have these in my bedroom and have made them into a stereo pair, unbelievable sound quality, I love listening to my playlists all day and the stereo sound is great. It's way better than I thought it would be. I also have the echo which I had for my birthday and the sound on that is excellent but the 2 dots stereo sound I think is better. I may get another echo in time and pair them to see the difference.Alexa is great! I love how she talks. She is very versatile too. She has a lot of things she can do, tell jokes, give you the time, date, weather, play games, switch on lights (I've got some waiting to put into my bedroom light and lamps but at the time of writing this review haven't got themset up yet)Rather than tell you everything she does I will say how I use her.I don't sleep well at night and find it handy ask Alexa what's the time please? She tells me, saving to bother putting my glasses on and peer at the clock, lazy I know but it works for me. In the morning if you say Alexa good morning she tells you a fun fact about the day in history or someone famous birthday. If you ask Alexa give me my flash briefing you get the news and various headlines. I always ask her about the weather, tell me a joke, ask for a fun fact, to play my music, read an audio book and she even reads a kindle book you have without the audio book, her voice is a bit robotic when reading out these books and it's sometimes a bit confusing but if I'm feeling lazy I ask her to read to me. She tells short stories, plays trivia games and quizzes. Loads of things.I've mentioned about the stereo sound of 2 dots together but even one on its own has a good quality sound to itI found it easy to set up, used it all from my iPhone after getting the Alexa app from the app store, once I downloaded it you just follow her instructions and it was good to go. The only problem I had with my first for was a green light whizzing around her light display which meant I was receiving a call from someone but I didn't have any calls however I left it over night and it went off so didn't last.The light ring flows different colours. Purple and blue when she's listening to you she then speaks when an aqua light followed by a blue light. The ring goes red when you have it on mute or the internet isn't working. And a white light partially around the ring when you adjust the sound volume, lastly a green light whizzing around means you have a call or message or a notification, ie, when you have ordered from Amazon the green light comes on and it mean you will get a delivery, if you ask her Alexa what are my notifications she will tell you whats arriving that day.Both of my dots are the sandstone colour with a white top.On the top are 4 buttons, volume up, volume down, mute and activate. There are also 5 pin microphones one in the middle when the other 4 evenly spaced around the outside.The dots are mains only and have a long cable and chunky plug there is also a port for a aux cable but they are controlled wirelessly by Bluetooth if you want to join them to your own speakers.I love mine and I'm very pleased with them. I'm getting either the echo or another dot for the lounge and already have an echo in my large kitchen diner. I bought both of mine on sale but even the normal price is reasonable.

12.12.2018

Update...After posting this review and a two star rating, I received an email from Amazon which suggested that I reset the Echo and contact Customer Service if the issues continued. Although the details they included on how to reset the 3rd Gen device were wrong (the correct method is to hold the "Action Button" <the one with the solid dot> down for a few seconds until the ring turns orange and then blue), I reset the echo, went through the initial set-up again and it certainly appears to be working correctly, including recognising phrases like "lamp" and "wall light" which had previously been an issue for it. Time will tell if this is a universal cure-all but it's definitely worth a try for anyone having problems.Top marks to Amazon for monitoring reviews and proactively responding like that.***************************************************I've been using my Fire tablet with Alexa on hands-free and it's been great so I bought this Echo Dot in order to get my tablet back for normal use. I even assumed that a dedicated device like this would work even better. Sadly, having used it all day, I'm not impressed. Practically every instruction I give is questioned, fails or is incorrectly interpreted - which is weird, considering that I had no such problem with Alexa on my tablet in precisely the same location and situation - about six feet away, at roughly chest level and placed nowhere near any source of noise - no obstructions, nothing. And it's not just that instructions are not understood, the problem is random and bizarre - I can tell it to make changes to the colour or intensity of the smart bulb in a table lamp (called "Lamp") and it does them - but then when I tell it to turn the lamp off, it repeatedly tells me it can't find "the lamb". Likewise, "wall lights" gets translated to "hall lights", but only when telling this thing to switch them off. Asking it to "connect to my speaker" (Alexa-speak for connecting to a bluetooth receiver) is equally unpredictable - only this time it gives a ten minute speech that apparently can't be stopped. If I'd not used any other Alexa device, I might assume that there's a problem with my diction or the acoustics of the room - but Alexa works perfectly on my Amazon tablet, my Fire TV Stick and the app on my mobile. I just told it to "connect to my speaker" and it proudly told me that it had connected to my laptop.Aside from being pretty much useless as a control device, it's a good-looking gadget and I'm impressed with the sound quality as a bluetooth speaker - it struggles at maximum volume but is pretty loud at around 70% anyway. Thankfully, it's not just tuned to impress bass junkies - speech is very clear too. It's hefty and won't bounce around the table.Overall, I don't know if my device is faulty or if these are inherently poor but I'm really glad I got it on Black Friday - at £25, I'm only a few quid down on a similar quality bluetooth speaker. It's annoying as I just ordered an Alexa-supporting TV - doesn't look like that feature will be getting much use

3.9.2019

If I'm honest, I really bought her because I work from home and I'm also quite lazy, so I bought her with a set of plugs that she can turn on and off, so I could turn the kettle on without getting up from my desk. Which she does, perfectly, and was no hassle linking her to the plugs either (as I got one of the cheaper brands rather than the official amazon recommended plugs) She also lets me set her to remind me to drink said brew after 20 minutes when I inevitably forget I've made it and it starts to go cold.Another reason I bought her is because I'm quite sick of my 6year old son constantly asking me to google things (he's into wildlife, dinosaurs etc) whilst I'm working so now he is able to just ask her,

19.1.2019

We were very lucky to be given an Alexa dot for Xmas. I was very aware of Alexa on other devices (I have a Fire TV box with voice control, a firestick and Alexa on my mobile and PC....) but boy have I become lazy. They all require manual intervention such as pushing a button on a remote, picking up a mobile phone etc. The Amazon dot as I am sure you are aware reacts simply to voice control. I am learning new uses all the time and having fun with the little minx who is Alexa. Who'd have thought that even simple tasks like setting an alarm on an old fashioned digital clock radio have suddenly become redundant through Alexa, "Alexa, set a recurring weekday alarm for 05:30,

19.7.2019

I purchased the Echo Dot (3rd Gen) as part of a Prime day deal after purchasing the larger Echo the day prior. I must have been suitably impressed with the larger model to go ahead and purchase this more or less straight away. In fact at £20 each I ended up purchasing 2.I've held off purchasing one of these smart speakers for a long time now since I wasn't sure if I would use them to their full capabilities. If i'm honest, i'm still not sure. I was originally going to purchase the Apple equivalent when that was released, since I am fully embedded in the Apple ecosystem. However the extremely high cost and the reviews that stated that Alexa was far better than Siri meant that I held out.

23.12.2019

I remember reading an article years ago when Amazon announced the first Echo. At the time I couldn't see how anyone could possibly want one as the available features seemed so pointless.Fast forward to today and I have an Echo of some form in nearly every room in my house (I don't think anyone will be hiring me as a futurist anytime soon...)This review is for the dot-with-clock version, which I have bought to replace a 2nd gen in the bedroom. The clock itself is fine - standard led style digits that glow white from behind the cloth cover. The brightness adapts according to the ambient light and I've found that it's easily readable in bright light and does not burn your retinas in the dark - it is on my bedside table and I've never found it too bright while in bed.In general,

30.12.2019

This Christmas I decided to go headfirst into the realms of the smart home. Having resisted for the past few years I felt now there are a good enough variety of products and 'skills' out there to make these sorts of devices handy in the home. So in the short space of a couple of weeks I bought 4 Echo Dots, an Echo Show 8, a Google Home Hub, 6 TP-Link smart plugs, a Neos smart cam and 4 Phillips Hue bulbs. As you'd expect, due to the quantity, these were purchases were done on the sly so my wife didn't have a complete meltdown at the introduction of a new woman called Alexa into our home. As it turns out she quite enjoys our new addition(s). We've embraced the 'routines'

10.12.2019

okay, so from that title you're probably thinking woah, spam title or WHAT, am i right? well, fellow shopper, you're mistaken. i am here to guide you through the process of just how my day went after receiving this little disc of cold hard joy. i plugged alexa in while trying to do my makeup which was like a super long process because i was trying to get ready to go out for my birthday but whatever, it was great. but my mom was like super annoyed because we're idiots and we thought that it was like siri and that it only recognised one voice, and she just dropped her phone down the toilet a few days ago, so she was bitter. i was kind of worried because things did NOT seem to be going well; the app is a little clumsy to use,

3.12.2019

I bought this because my son has been asking to get an Alexa for a while and when it can up on a Black Friday deal for only £22 I thought it was a good time to try it out. TBH it's been a bit of a mixed bag. The voice recognition is very, very good - the app shows you, through 'activity', what the device has heard and it's been 100% correct so far, even if it's not been able to do what we've asked.My son thinks it's a good way to listen to any song you like just by asking - however he doesn't realise it comes at a price, namely that you must subscribe to a supported music provider like Amazon music or Spotify and so on. Asking Kerrang! radio to play a tune obviously doesn't work.

12.12.2018

TLDR; the Echo Dot (3rd Gen) is a substantial improvement over the 2nd Gen, with a more upmarket design; louder, richer audio and improved microphones, yet currently still struggles when asked search-engine-style questions.-------------------------------------------------------Pros:· Clean, simple, sophisticated design· Makes 'home automation' a breeze due to easy set-up· Impressive audio for its size (volume (~80db max) and overall quality)· Voice detection greatly improved over previous generationsCons:· Complete inability to answer some simple questions which a search engine could answer immediately (as of December,

Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Generation (2018) - Reviews

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