Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo
The Amazon Echo is a great addition to any home especially if you are implementing IoT (Internet of Things) devices into your home. The speakers on these are not bad considering their size but the biggest asset they have is more then just music. Sure they can play your favorite music but that is actually just the beginning. I personally rarely play my music on it. I find many songs are unavailable unless you pay for Amazon Prime Music. I instead use it as a controller. “Alexa turn living room lights to 50%” and hearing the “OK” as the lights dim. This why for me I prefer the Echo Dot and click here to see that review. Focusing on the Echo itself, it does sound nice and its hard to say if its better than the Google Home or not. Want to have a fitness expert keep you on track? It can help. Want to try a new recipe? It can do that. Forget to take your pills? It can remind you. The list goes on and on and many more features are added constantly with 3rd party apps. Voice control is decent but I do find the Echo Dot is slightly better at picking up my voice.
The Amazon Echo does a good job of control IoT devices but keep in mind they must be compatible or might need a hub or controller to be the middle man. For the lights for example, I use Z-Wave switches with a Vera controller and its the Vera controller that is being told to turn my lights to 50%. One problem I have found so far is that the Echo is not very good with things like turn the light to blue. Now I have found a solution for this. I had made a scene with my controller that when called on it will turn the light to blue. So it is doable just not directly and I am sure this will be fixed in a matter of time.
I am constantly finding new features and I am happy with the amount of devices that are added all the time. I have not personally used the purchasing features as I am outside the US so most of them are unavailable. Additionally, the Amazon instant purchase doesn’t seem practical to me, similarly the Amazon dash buttons. Why would I want to order 1 thing at a time? I do however like putting things into my cart so then I don’t forget to order something. This is my opinion and you may find it more convenient for your situation but thought I would mention it.
Overall, it is a decent table top speaker. Voice response is not too bad but I do wish it was better. In general, this is nice to have sitting in the kitchen as this is probably the most efficient location for what this unit does. If you combine this with some Echo Dots and some smart home devices you will be more than happy with what you can do.
I give it a 3.5/5 mostly because other than the speaker the Echo Dot is overall a better product. If you are wanting it for the speaker then I might give it a 4.25/5 but its still not fully there for me.
http://amzn.to/2qfGp0v – $179.99 (as of 20 April 2017)
