|
Call Me Charlie posted:From what I read, it has a single microphone instead of an array like the Echo/Dot so it wouldn't work as well while always listening. Amazon always seems to err on the side of caution when it comes to walling people off from situations that would technically work but not work well enough to meet their expectations. And yet they released the Fire Phone.
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2016 13:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 21:17 |
|
|
bull3964 posted:I really don't understand why tap can't be set to be always listening. My phone is and it's battery powered. I'm thinking this has something to do with power management; it's intended to last as long as possible so rather than having it waste power by listening constantly, you have to hit the button. It's implied that it's portable and thus within reach, because if you just want to set it somewhere and leave it plugged in with always-on voice recognition, then that's what the original Echo or Dot are for.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 07:55
|
|
|
Atomizer posted:I'm thinking this has something to do with power management; That's crap though because the amount of power it should expend doing that is minimal. I'd I left my phone sit unused on wifi, it would last for days but it's always ready to respond hands free. It should at least let you switch always listening on when you are actively using it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 16:12
|
|
|
The Tap costs $129 to the Echo's $179. I would expect that one of the design goals for the Tap would have been "Don't undercut the Echo" -- otherwise they're destroying the market for their highest-end product. Compare how the Dot is available only to Echo owners.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 16:28
|
|
|
You don't need to own an echo to order a dot. You can voice order it from the Amazon app.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 16:32
|
|
|
bull3964 posted:You don't need to own an echo to order a dot. You can voice order it from the Amazon app.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 16:42
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:Oh, okay. When they first released it, you had to have an Echo. Nope, not even then. That's how they advertised it, but it wasn't necessary. Besides all that, you could also order them through Alexa on the FireTV, including the FireTV sticks which there are tons of out there. I preordered it on the day it was announced with a FireTV. I would wager to say that most of the Dot purchasers out there do not own the original Echo.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 17:35
|
|
|
bull3964 posted:Nope, not even then. That's how they advertised it, but it wasn't necessary. Actually, they patched being able to order a Dot without ordering through Alexa. You think they'd want people buying in but I guess they're scared of idiots going 'my music sounds like poo poo NEGATIVE FIVE STARS' from trying to use it like an Echo with no connected speakers.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 17:58
|
|
|
After using the Dot for a couple of days, it is glorious. When the Echo came out, I ordered one for my parents but passed on one for myself because I specifically wanted it to physically connect to my powered monitors. The Dot does this, is exactly as good as the Echo, and it's half the price. So awesome. I'm excited to see how the competition responds, because Amazon is throwing down the gauntlet so hard with the Dot. Apple and Google have their work cut out for them producing something that is comparable or even better.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 18:25
|
|
|
Call Me Charlie posted:Actually, they patched being able to order a Dot without ordering through Alexa. You think they'd want people buying in but I guess they're scared of idiots going 'my music sounds like poo poo NEGATIVE FIVE STARS' from trying to use it like an Echo with no connected speakers. You can still order from Alexa on a $35 Firetv stick. So the idea that they are limiting it to Echo owners so as to not undercut that device doesn't hold up.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 18:43
|
|
|
I was way wrong on the Dot; my apologies.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 19:12
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I was way wrong on the Dot; my apologies. Mature and reasonable posting is not acceptable in IYG.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 19:28
|
|
|
My suspicion is it is a staged rollout strategy to ensure it scales well. Start with the Echo, add Alexa to devices that people already have to give a taste, then introduce a more mainstream device. The big thing to remember is Amazon is not a hardware company and they have no real reason to try to force people towards the Echo itself for higher margins. They want to get this tech in as many homes as possible so people start integrating voice ordering into their every day lives.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 19:34
|
|
|
I'm still really fighting with myself about buying one of these things. I mean, I want one, but that's more just because of the new and cool factor. What, if anything, about Alexa will I be able to do that I can't do with Google Now on my always-listening cell phone that I have on my person during all waking hours if I don't really have any smart home stuff?
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 20:11
|
|
|
Hook it up to other things using ITTT? Play stuff in your Amazon music library? Those are the things I use it most for. Halfway through making a PB&J I discover we're about to be out. "Alexa, add peanut butter to the shopping list", then I go back to the PB&J. As it happens, my shopping list is in Remember the Milk, but I used ITTT to hook up Amazon's shopping list to RtM.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 20:21
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:I'm still really fighting with myself about buying one of these things. I mean, I want one, but that's more just because of the new and cool factor. It's perfect for kitchen stuff. Voice timers, unit conversions, music. Not having to worry about battery life or having to interact with a touchscreen is very nice. The mic array is also way better than a single mic setup. It can hear you from a good distance away and you'll be shocked how clear the recording is if you listen to them on the site. Of course, it's better if you're in Amazon's ecosystem. Being a prime member, having an Audible account, having some kindle books and paying the extra $25 a year to put all your music in the cloud, it all makes the Echo much more useful if you don't have smart home stuff to control. Thankfully that's starting to disappear as things like Spotify add support. Call Me Charlie fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Apr 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 21:02
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:I'm still really fighting with myself about buying one of these things. I mean, I want one, but that's more just because of the new and cool factor. I use mine constantly to yell out dumb and lazy questions like "What time is it?" and "What's the weather like today?". And lots and lots of music. I'm also still amused by asking Alexa how much wood a woodchuck could chuck (if a woodchuck could chuck wood).
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 21:36
|
|
|
Ehh, all of that is literally stuff that you can do with Google Now and I have little problem with my phones mic and being able to recognize my voice input. Sounds like it's not really for me.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 22:23
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:Ehh, all of that is literally stuff that you can do with Google Now and I have little problem with my phones mic and being able to recognize my voice input. It's one of those things like an e-ink Kindle where you need to use one for a bit to understand why it's a different experience. (eh, should probably clarify that it's fine if your phone works for you. there's nothing wrong with that. not trying to argue you out of that.) Call Me Charlie fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Apr 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2016 23:20
|
|
|
Call Me Charlie posted:It's one of those things like an e-ink Kindle where you need to use one for a bit to understand why it's a different experience. You didn't need to clarify I'm not in constant need to defend my purchase! Anyway, I'm not sure that's a valid comparison. So far no one has mentioned anything that my phone cannot do unlike with eink which you can read for hours without melting out your eyeballs. The best argument seems to be that the microphone setup would be better on the Echo, but I don't have any problem with the microphone setup on my phone...likely because it's always within 2 feet of my face instead of across the room. I mean, I'm sure the Echo is amazing at what it does, but I haven't been convinced it provides any value to someone with a good Android phone with always-listening (as long as you're not tied to the Amazon ecosystem).
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 00:18
|
|
|
I'm not defending my purchase. You asked a question. I tried to answer it. If you don't want one, don't buy it. (It's even the thread title! On paper it doesn't seem like a giant difference but in practice there's a bunch of people that have phones and also use their echos. That's why I made the e-ink comparison. There's a ton of people out there happy enough with their phone because it does everything and it's in color for their comics and it's always in their pocket and it doesn't hurt their eyes to read and...that's ok. Some people dig the omnipresent nature of the Echo. Some people are fine with pulling their phones out.) I tried to clarify because I know my writing style can come off a little strong. Call Me Charlie fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Apr 3, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 00:41
|
|
|
For my uses, I'm considering selling my Echo and just keeping a Dot. I use Sonos for music, so I don't use the Echo speaker that much. My Dot arrived today, and it seems perfect for me: home automation, weather and commute info, grocery list.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 00:48
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:You didn't need to clarify I'm not in constant need to defend my purchase! for me... Echo is always in the same place ready to go. My phone is not.. Also the ability to turn up the heat, hands free order diapers and have the daily news read to me is also very nice. The biggest difference in the two systems though is that Amazon lets people develop for its API so you can always add new "skills" as they're available where as Siri/Google now is limited to their in house development cycle. The only thing I wish it did different is be able to distinguish who is talking to it and let me assign permissions for known users vs guest.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 00:53
|
|
|
That's the thing. I don't have pockets in most of my clothes, so my phone lives in my purse or on the nearest flat surface. When I'm in the kitchen up to my elbows in bread dough, Echo is right there, ready to reorder flour, play some music, or set a timer for 30 minutes, all of which I can do in rapid succession while kneading. That's why I use it; it's entirely reasonable to decide that it doesn't work for you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 01:14
|
|
|
Call Me Charlie posted:I'm not defending my purchase. You asked a question. I tried to answer it. If you don't want one, don't buy it. (It's even the thread title! On paper it doesn't seem like a giant difference but in practice there's a bunch of people that have phones and also use their echos. That's why I made the e-ink comparison. There's a ton of people out there happy enough with their phone because it does everything and it's in color for their comics and it's always in their pocket and it doesn't hurt their eyes to read and...that's ok. Some people dig the omnipresent nature of the Echo. Some people are fine with pulling their phones out.) I wasn't saying you were. I was saying I wasn't. I didn't even consider that you were. Anyway, FWIW, I don't usually pull my phone out. it hears and responds just fine in my pocket.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 01:55
|
|
|
benisntfunny posted:
Yes, I was hoping some people would tell me some neat things people have made with this. doesn't really sound like there's been much done with it that doesn't revolve around smart home stuff, though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 01:59
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:Yes, I was hoping some people would tell me some neat things people have made with this. doesn't really sound like there's been much done with it that doesn't revolve around smart home stuff, though. Nah there is tons of nonsmart home stuff I just don't care or think to care about it. People have got creative with the IFTTT integrations too. http://lovemyecho.com/2016/03/04/complete-listing-of-alexa-skills-as-of-3416/
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 05:07
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:I'm still really fighting with myself about buying one of these things. I mean, I want one, but that's more just because of the new and cool factor. I've heard this question being asked hundreds of times by many people but ultimately there is no point in answering it. Amazon already does a pretty good job in describing what the Alexa devices are capable of, so usually what people are really asking is "What Alexa will do for me that I can't do with google now?" and that is something only you can answer. I could say that Alexa is probably a bit faster than Siri or Google now in coming up with a response, and you could respond "Pfft, so what if I have to wait a couple extra seconds?". I could point out that it's unlikely that Google Now could read you books purchased from Google Play Books like how Alexa could read kindle books, and you could respond "Pfft, I don't buy e-books and if I did I can read them myself thank you very much". I could note that you could use the echo to repurchase stuff you already bought from Amazon by just asking, and you could respond "Pfft, I don't use Amazon.". The point is if you can't answer that question yourself then we aren't going to be able provide a satisfactory answer either.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 06:26
|
|
|
benisntfunny posted:Nah there is tons of nonsmart home stuff I just don't care or think to care about it. People have got creative with the IFTTT integrations too. Jeopardy's a fun novelty for guests. It asks a series of six questions a day and it has the chime noise from the show. Always impresses despite people naturally talking over each other which registers as a wrong answer.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 06:41
|
|
|
It's got a bunch of stuff to keep kids occupied for 5 minutes. Choose your own adventure, 20 questions style stuff, jokes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 13:39
|
|
|
mikemil828 posted:I could say that Alexa is probably a bit faster than Siri or Google now in coming up with a response, and you could respond "Pfft, so what if I have to wait a couple extra seconds?". I could but I wouldn't because that's an idiotic response. mikemil828 posted:I could point out that it's unlikely that Google Now could read you books purchased from Google Play Books like how Alexa could read kindle books, and you could respond "Pfft, I don't buy e-books and if I did I can read them myself thank you very much". Well, I would say that I'm not interested in having ebooks read to me, but that's not a ding against the Echo it's just that it's something I don't care about. But, it's a very valid and useful answer to my question so I'm not sure why you're dismissing it. mikemil828 posted:I could note that you could use the echo to repurchase stuff you already bought from Amazon by just asking, and you could respond "Pfft, I don't use Amazon.". The point is if you can't answer that question yourself then we aren't going to be able provide a satisfactory answer either. That seems useful. I'm not sure why you're so eager to dismiss these valid and useful responses to my question. In fact every answer in this thread that highlighted things that I can't do with Google Now are valid and interesting responses. You seem to be coming from a place where you feel the answers have to be a form of arguing me into buying one, whereas I just asked for cool things that Alexa can do that Google Now can't. The biggest problem so far is that like 75% of the responses to the question "what can Echo do that Google Now can't" are literally things that Google Now can do...but that's hardly the fault of the Echo or the people responding who don't know what Google Now can do. Thermopyle fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Apr 3, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 16:42
|
|
|
Personally I have an iPhone and it doesn't do listening when it's not plugged in. So Alexa isn't really competing with my phone.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 16:50
|
|
|
smackfu posted:Personally I have an iPhone and it doesn't do listening when it's not plugged in. So Alexa isn't really competing with my phone. Yeah, if your phone requires that it's definitely not going to compete. A large part of the appeal is minimizing the extra work you have to do get answers.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 17:01
|
|
|
We also find it useful just for low friction ambient music. Like while cooking or cleaning, it's just one command to get something playing and the speaker is perfectly fine for that purpose. We have Bluetooth speakers and a proper stereo but it's just more work to use them, especially for the less technologically adept in our household.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 17:04
|
|
|
Well a main obvious difference is that the Echo can be used by more than one person, whether that's your partner, friends over at your house, etc. It also has far better microphones so it picks up commands from across the room fairly effortlessly. Many people don't want to be married to their phone at all times especially if they're relaxing in their house. Like, when I turn off our Hue lights, many times I'm in bed. I don't want or need my phone in my bed with me. Or if I'm laying down without my phone and want to play music on Spotify. If you're a single dude, don't care if your friends can use voice controls, and have your phone on you 100% of the time at home (and also simultaneously don't see the benefit of being able to command your home without your phone next to you), then fine, I guess they're kind of the same. That's kind of a niche demographic though when you get down to it, IMO smackfu posted:We also find it useful just for low friction ambient music. Like while cooking or cleaning, it's just one command to get something playing and the speaker is perfectly fine for that purpose. We have Bluetooth speakers and a proper stereo but it's just more work to use them, especially for the less technologically adept in our household. This is specifically why I got the Dot, effortlessly controlling Spotify through our main sound system is so good, especially when cooking, lounging, etc.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 17:08
|
|
|
smackfu posted:We also find it useful just for low friction ambient music. Like while cooking or cleaning, it's just one command to get something playing and the speaker is perfectly fine for that purpose. We have Bluetooth speakers and a proper stereo but it's just more work to use them, especially for the less technologically adept in our household. I use mine a ton just for listening to radio through tune in.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 17:19
|
|
|
smackfu posted:We also find it useful just for low friction ambient music. Like while cooking or cleaning, it's just one command to get something playing and the speaker is perfectly fine for that purpose. We have Bluetooth speakers and a proper stereo but it's just more work to use them, especially for the less technologically adept in our household. This is a good idea, I'm just not sure if its worth transferring dozens of playlists from Google Play Music All Access to Amazon, but it's tempting... Taima posted:Well a main obvious difference is that the Echo can be used by more than one person, whether that's your partner, friends over at your house, etc. Unfortunately the wife has zero interest in voice commanding anything. It's certainly a checkbox in Alexa's favor for some. But really your post sounds like you feel the need to defend the Echo as if someone was critiquing it here. I'm certainly not. How does the Echo handle the fact that both my wife and I have different tastes in music and each of us have completely different playlists? Are they all just in one big pile and you have to make sure they're named uniquely?
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 18:10
|
|
|
Somebody on the Echo subreddit got creative.   Thermopyle posted:How does the Echo handle the fact that both my wife and I have different tastes in music and each of us have completely different playlists? Are they all just in one big pile and you have to make sure they're named uniquely? Pretty much. Just add the name of the person in front of it. Or, if your MP3 tags are in order, you can just ask for a genre of music instead of using a playlist. Like I'll ask mine 'alexa, play funk music' and it will shuffle all my music in the cloud with funk as the genre. Call Me Charlie fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Apr 3, 2016 |
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 18:46
|
|
|
Thermopyle posted:I could but I wouldn't because that's an idiotic response. Tell that to the last person I told that to. Like I said I see this question a lot, mostly by threadshitters in other forums. Thermopyle posted:I'm not sure why you're so eager to dismiss these valid and useful responses to my question. In fact every answer in this thread that highlighted things that I can't do with Google Now are valid and interesting responses. You seem to be coming from a place where you feel the answers have to be a form of arguing me into buying one, whereas I just asked for cool things that Alexa can do that Google Now can't. Because like I said there is no point in answering the question. If the 25% of responses you've gotten that are valid haven't convinced you to dump google now and go with the Echo, then there isn't any point in elaborating any further.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 19:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 21:17 |
|
|
Thermopyle posted:Unfortunately the wife has zero interest in voice commanding anything. It's certainly a checkbox in Alexa's favor for some. If her only experience right now is talking to your phone in your pocket than I can understand why she doesn't have any interest. I think it's a little different when it's a really simple kitchen appliance. I don't know why it's different, it just is. There's very few other ways to interact with this device, and talking to it works very naturally and seems kinda normal.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2016 20:25
|
|