Tonsilitis Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 One of my sons bought me an Amazon Echo Dot for Xmas. I am totally astounded by the technology! It's not something I would have bought myself but having got one it's amazing. Firstly, the voice recognition works right out the box for anyone. Any experimenting I have done in the past with voice recognition dictating software needed lengthy training to get far from perfect results. Not this! I have signed up to Amazon music and have yet to ask for an artist, album or tune that just does not start playing immediately. We have British Gas Hive heating controls which are easily connected. It tells me the news or connects to radio stations. It's not something I ever thought about before but I am totally hooked now! Voice control has a big future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Thompson Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Just remember to turn off automatic purchases or you'll find yourself accidentally ordering stuff from Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHope Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Just no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHope Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 It won't be all sweetness and light when Sarah Connor kicks in your door armed with an AK-47 and a jungle knife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spain Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Getting one of these next week. I've got a few different smart home stuff already (wemo mostly but I'm planning on changing to Hue) as I'm quite into tinkering with home automation stuff. Looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newbornbairn Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Yeah I've got a Dot and quite like it, enough to buy the wife her own Echo. Novelty hasn't worn off yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepper Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I've had an echo dot since black Friday and it's used daily. I control my TV and audio equipment using a logitech harmony hub with alexa via the yonomi app and my lights using tp link smart plugs. I honestly thought it would just be a gimmick and id get bored of it but I'm surprised at how quickly it's become the norm. The most annoying thing is alexa going tonto anytime there's an advert for it on the telly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Minertaur Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I got a Dot for Christmas and use it everyday for music. Signed up for Amazon Music but just for the dot. It's brilliant. Not really got it connected up to anything else but did reorder a takeway last week which was a weird moment. Farewell diet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spain Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 It's got me right back into using spotify etc. again. My wemo lights are being their usual flaky selves though, going to ditch them in favour of Hue. It's just a pain that there isn't an easy way of getting it to stream to airplay instead of only bluetooth. I've got a plan to try out over the next couple of weeks to see if I can get round it, involving a bluetooth receiver, a USB DAC, and my NAS. As soon as I iron out some of these tweaks I'll definitely be adding a couple of extra dots to the rest of the house though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dindeleux Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 On 1/13/2017 at 21:51, Tonsilitis said: One of my sons bought me an Amazon Echo Dot for Xmas. I am totally astounded by the technology! It's not something I would have bought myself but having got one it's amazing. Firstly, the voice recognition works right out the box for anyone. Any experimenting I have done in the past with voice recognition dictating software needed lengthy training to get far from perfect results. Not this! I have signed up to Amazon music and have yet to ask for an artist, album or tune that just does not start playing immediately. We have British Gas Hive heating controls which are easily connected. It tells me the news or connects to radio stations. It's not something I ever thought about before but I am totally hooked now! Voice control has a big future! Can I ask if your opinion on this has changed at all? I'm thinking of getting my mum one for mothers day but I just don't know if it will go unused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonsilitis Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 12 hours ago, Dindeleux said: Can I ask if your opinion on this has changed at all? I'm thinking of getting my mum one for mothers day but I just don't know if it will go unused. Nope! Still very impressed and the list of "skills" you can add to it grows all the time. It has stuff like national rail enquiries so you can ask when the next train from Greenock to Glasgow is etc. Amazon music is free for a month to let you try it and then its £8 a month to use on any device or £3 just for your Alexa. It has its own speaker and can work standalone but I have mine hooked to my computer which lets use the computer sound system which is better quality. I think you can also connect it to external bluetooth speakers. Your mum should be able to use it right out the box. Family and friends have all tried mine and so far there's nobody it has failed to understand. It occasionally mis hears (don't we all!) but the accuracy is generally excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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