It arrived today and just set it up, seams to be an amazing bit of kit. Tell it what you want and it does it, only sight disappointment is the work around needed to access iTunes, but think that will lead to a slow migration to Amazon music
i have ordered an Echo dot but this isn't due to arrive until the 20th October. I am going to link mine to a bluetooth speaker and use it to stream online radio in the bedroom and act as an alarm clock.
It looks an interesting bit of kit, I hope Amazon continue to supply updates and increase its capabilities.
Have you got the echo or the echo dot?
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Go on, tell me more?
I'm lazy and can't be bothered looking it up but I'd be interested how it works in the real world rather some fancy advert
I have the Echo, which includes the speaker and was released today, it's basically a free standing version or Siri/ Cortana but sitting on the kitchen worktop. It will play music, read books, order Amazon goods build a shopping list works really well. Also will control heating and lighting all by voice. You really do anything with it, I just checked weather forecast and train times and all spot on then had it read the news headlines whilst washing up.
This is the problem. Can it control my SONOS set up or play music direct from my NAS? I don't use iTunes or Amazon music.Originally Posted by AndyMilts
Take your time with the 'slow migration' as Apple are rumoured to be bringing out a Siri equivalent to control your iTunes, which may be more universally useful. Then again, they have been rumoured to be bringing out an Apple TV for about 6 years now.
I'd also be interested to know if it has any Sonos capability. I don't think that it does at the moment.
Its coming soon by the looks of it..
SOURCE: https://www.wired.com/2016/08/amazon...ontrol-stable/And then there’s Echo. Although there won’t be any Alexa ears built right into Sonos’s speaker—which would be an integration worth some genuine excitement—you can now control them via the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Amazon Tap. You can use voice commands to have Alexa tell you what’s playing, navigate tracks, and pause and play. That trick is not quite available yet, but it’s coming as a free Echo device update in 2017.
I would guess the Echo Dot released later this month will be the best choice as that's designed to work with an external speaker source, we never went for sonos so easier choice for us. Voice activated personal assistant controls heating and lighting and music. Just read you can copy upto25,000 song to Amazon music for a management fee saw $25 a year so need to find uk price but as a prime member you get Amazon Music free anyways
It's a fun bit of kit. But frankly, it spent the first few days frequently telling me "sorry I can't do that", "I don't know", and other similarly annoying responses to fairly basic questions. It's still a bit hit and miss.
Minimal research seems that its coming, late this year in beta and next year in prod.
I did the research and no mention...that's why I asked.
If SONOS need to do something to their software to make it happen then you can probably forget about it for a while.
Last edited by Gruntfuttock; 29th September 2016 at 18:39.
Is your footman out of action?
I picked up the echo... works well so far - my son thinks its amazing...
Sports scores and up coming games work great - train times and radioplayer are setup as skills.
The alarm/timer and clock just works - i especially lime just muttering "alexa snooze"
It hooks very nicely into spotify and i like the news on demand reports.....
Its a bit if fun which i am sure will continue to develop.. got it in the amazon prime presale deal - not sure i would have paid 150 for it.
Cheers
Matt
I wasn't being pointed, simple meant I've done minimal research and that told me sonos have announced a partnership with Amazon for this. I have sonos myself and a dot on the way.
Google are expected to announce something with similar functionality next week.
2 dots on order for me - looking forward to some voice control for my Nest, Sonos & Hue
Sending my Echo back. Won't connect to our home WiFi. Tried the tethering trick which allows setup ok, but it still wouldn't connect to the home WiFi once the device was registered.
I read something about problems with BT HomeHubs - is this what you have?
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/1390...ub-an-easy-fix
Yep - I'm in the google egosystem so it makes more sense to see what that can do - given it's likely a version of google now, it will have functions I'll find more useful "Time to leave for the airport", "your flight is delayed" and so on.
Google weave...
Most noise I've seen is around Echo.., way better than apple HomeKit
I think one or two platforms will win out
It's quite easy to fix made mine work
It's not that tricky to make work and it's worth the effort
Yes BT Home Hub. Will give that a go before I pack it up.
If I buy one of these for my 65 year old father will he get use out of it or will it be a complete waste of money?
I like the idea he can talk to it and that makes it simple but is it a total faff to set up (I live in China so I can't pop around and do it for him).
Thoughts?
It's not that hard to set up download the app on to a mobile or tablet and most of the set up is done from there. Once set up it is really easy to use, but you need to ask the questions in a Comon format and clear prunciation is key. The kids spend hours talking to Alexa
Ok got it working. The pocket lint page shuold make it clear that you need to manually enter IP settings to suit your own network - the settings given are only for the BT hub default settings. My BT hub is not on 192.168.1.254 and I already have a device on 192.168.1.2, so its not necessarily just a matter of copying and pasting in those settings.
The DNS settings in the pocket lint page are for BTs DNS servers, so I assume the Echo just has trouble working with the BT Hub's DHCP.
Any more verdicts? Gimmick or useful? Might get one on my trip back to UK.
Thanks.
We love ours been used everyday lots, playing music and the kids ask it questions and stuff, if you are an Amazon prime customer offers lots of music and functionality, we now run a virtual shopping list, so whoever goes can see what's needed on their phone, alarms and reminders are good, kitchen timer. Smart home stuff less so as set timers and that's the easiest.
Thanks Andy - I'll give it a try and pick one up off eBay.
Last edited by Dazzler; 10th October 2016 at 13:26.
I quite like the sound of this but... the wife is called Alexa... how will that work?!
There are other names you can use, like Amazon and Echo I think
His wife changing her name to Amazon or Echo seems to be a little extreme?
The kids love it. Ours has been flipping coins and playing rock, paper scissors this weekend - as well as the usual music from Prime. She's also aware of some movie/tv quotes, eg try "Alexa, I am your Father" or "Alexa, surely you can't be serious" or "Alexa, who loves ya baby" or "Alexa, your mother was a hamster".
Picked up an amazon dot for £50. Pretty impressed with it. I got amazon prime so that makes a big difference as it's the music I was after. Found the voice recognition very good even with a cold. Pleased I can listen easily to home radio channels too.
Fun little video found on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xenOYWVwkGY
I personally think they will have to drop the echo (big one with speaker) to £100 (from £150). I thought it was a no-brainer to spend £50 on the dot and then another £40 on a decent portable bluetooth speaker (stereo - not mono like the echo). Also - if you want one for the bedroom you can just buy the dot - it has an in-built speaker that would be adequate for quiet bedtime listening.
Would make a good Christmas present for the nerdy among us.
Let's see if I'm understanding this correctly. You set up a internet connected device in your house that is listening all the time and feeds information back to Google or Amazon. Sounds like a great idea.
On a serious note though, does no one have reservations about the privacy implications of this? It stores your voice recordings 'to improve future queries', your preferences ie. what you asked for and when and your location to give better local business recommendations. I wouldn't put it past either company to be listening all the time to target you with specific/more relevant ads if nothing else.
.... now where did I put my tinfoil hat.
Rich.
I'm not that worried about privacy, I'm more unclear what these gadgets actually do for you?
Is it just a voice search mechanism for Amazon?
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Alexa and Sonos can already be "bonded" together with some third party programming, IFTTT and Control4 are just two partners that allow this. What is coming is a native version of Alexa supported commands for Sonos.
Many of my clients that find Alexa useful get the bulk of their use in the Kitchen. This list from Business Insider has a similar bent.
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazo...t-time-is-it-1
For me, I haven't got much use for it at all. I'd rather use a visual UI over voice control, but there are some people who really like it.
QVC had the Echo on yesterday with demos so you could watch one and make up your own mind. From the brief glance I gave it it looked impressive, calling through from the kitchen to the living room for it to play your favourite tune, or set up a five minute timer or whether it's going to rain later. The sound quality seemed good.
http://www.qvcuk.com/Amazon-Echo-HD-...N-_-1-_-508951
Dot down £10 to £40 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Echo.../dp/B01DFKBL68
Echo down to £120
Ok, I'm sold. I want! I did start to read the link from Business Insider right up until
" With the Echo, I don't need to bother searching for my phone just to get the time — you can ask for the time from anywhere in your house and get the answer immediately."
you could of course just glance at your watch...
For those of you who have been waiting it seems that ifttt has now been released for U.K. Echo use, I haven't played with it yet but it is listing U.K. now
Have been using IFTTT for a while with Energenie, Nest, Wemo and Echo works well but network speed effects the response time. It really needs another layer added to the programming, example if it's after sunset turn on motion sensor for lights, now you have to set up two applets and hope they run in the correct order. Echo with Nest is still tricky to get to work consistently, in my experience
Mine works well. Add the word "nest" to the label in the Nest/Thermostat/Where settings. Go into Alexa and discover your devices.
Now you can say "Alexa set the nest to 21 degrees" or whatever.
I use Triggi instead of IFTTT turn on my lights at night as I don't find the sunset time to be correct in IFTTT, its not right in Triggi either but lets you add an offset.
What do you use IFTTT for with your Nest?
What?
Even blowjobs?
I'ma in.
My son and I both have them. At the moment it is a "fun" toy - though my wife loves the time reminder for cooking.
GE have just produced an Echo lamp... you'll see a load of stuff being designed with Echo incorporated
They barely make any money on the Echo/ Dot, however, they see that Amazon prime shopping increases by 60% (so I've heard!!!) - neat business case!
Strange that they limit the functionality by region.
I'm after the Logitech Harmony Hub connection - currently available in the US but not in the UK*.
I'm using mine mainly for managing Hue lights and telling rubbish jokes ......
I would like to use mine to connect to my main hifi but the connection is all or nothing i believe (or fiddly via bluetooth etc)
*I know there are some work around alternatives using other web skills but i'm just looking for a simple link.
Logitech update - skill seems to have arrived yesterday! Off to test.
dpesnt connect to a bluetooth speaker, only a bluetooth source.
one of the biggest fails of this device if I am honest, version 2 will have this.
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