Community Chat

[silentgirl]

You're welcome @Mz iMac and @Moonchilde

It's certainly not for everyone and at first, I just stared at it while it collected dust- but honestly, it's more about just being unplugged than anything else--

I'm plugged in all day long--live and work between three states with our longest commute at 10 hours without traffic on the L.I.E and shortest 5 hours-

By the time I meet a deadline, I'm through searching, clicking, reading, typing, scrolling, tapping and thinking--burned out, done, but still have other obligations-

We just use the dots-they're perfectly sufficient-I don't need anything else and I agree with Moonchilde, I definitely don't want  another screen or keyboard-between the computers, tablets, phones, and smart TV's, it's enough...

We have about four-no raised voices necessary. It's pretty sensitive to being awakened and very accurate if you take the time to sit for a few minutes with the app and go through the voice recognition samples for it.  I've had very few misunderstandings-and have a difficult voice-

I'm done with paper clutter and lists too- I can barely hold a pen by the end of the day from carpal tunnel -I go through my cabinets and refrigerator, read a recipe and speak what I need in a second, it's added to the list on my phone, which is always with me-

For some of you now, depending on your carrier- you can send text messages via your dot as well- I'll like that feature as well when I can utilize it-

Surprisingly decent speaker actually-I have the one in the kitchen synced to my Bose mini for music.  I've not updated my playlists of late so, I just request that it shuffle whoever-Nancy Wilson lastnight for hours-nice- 

As mentioned-you can start slow, add light bulbs, plug connectors as you go-you don't need to be all teched out.

There's a positive safety aspect to it and why I've given it to my female friends-they say they feel safer when they can turn lights on without roaming-especially if they think they've heard something-

Voice recognition is where technology is going-it's in our cars, phones, Tv's, watches-the wave of the future-that little dot does new stuff every day-and it's pretty helpful-

Why not bring some ease to our lives if we can.

[Moonchilde]

I like the idea of the Phillips Hue lights, but since our household (of which I am just one member) already has an Echo and the Dot would be only for my room, $70 to have Dot turn one lamp off and on (though I'd love it) seems a bit steep when I think it costs $20 more than the Dot itself. But I'm sure that at some point the price of the starter kits will drop, and maybe then...

I think I'll be calling her Dot. That way, Alexa in the living room will never get confused.

[silentgirl]

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@Moonchilde wrote:

I like the idea of the Phillips Hue lights, but since our household (of which I am just one member) already has an Echo and the Dot would be only for my room, $70 to have Dot turn one lamp off and on (though I'd love it) seems a bit steep when I think it costs $20 more than the Dot itself. But I'm sure that at some point the price of the starter kits will drop, and maybe then...

I think I'll be calling her Dot. That way, Alexa in the living room will never get confused.

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ha ha- You know @Moonchilde you don't have to get the bulbs right now-you can just purchase the outlet plug-still a little pricey, but if it makes you feel safe, worth the 25.00 or something like that-

Eventually they'll come down-

They have the switch covers as well.

[Mz iMac]

I actually do not need to turn on & off smart light options. 

I have "The Clapper" & a "timer" for my lights.

The "Timer" I use in my bedroom.  The Clapper is used throughout the rest of my house.

I have a screw on motion light in my  bathroom.

That's about as smart as my home will get.

[gabstoomuch]

I just got my Dot in the mail today. Curiosity killed the cat, as they say

After hours and hours of watching the presentations (not every presentation, because there were so many),  just enough to see how often she screwed up, and is her information reliable, I caved and got one.

It is tiny! Much smaller than the TV camera made it look. I like the shopping list feature. I am always trying to remember to put something on a grocery list and just walking from the fridge to the list, I forget what I needed!! (thank you my dear thyroid for the brain mush).

That is one feature I liked. Just say it outloud and Voila!

I like the guy who did the presentations. I can't think of his name but he does a lot of the electronic presentations. He was pretty funny. Not very often a Q presentation is even worth watching. Him ordering pizza when he was on air with Dan Wheeler at midnight was very funny. Guy from Dominoes actually showed up and Dan had to pay him lol.

I am sure I will use her, and the price point is reasonable. I would not buy and Echo or anything fancier.

[Moonchilde]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

I actually do not need to turn on & off smart light options. 

I have "The Clapper" & a "timer" for my lights.

The "Timer" I use in my bedroom.  The Clapper is used throughout the rest of my house.

I have a screw on motion light in my  bathroom.

That's about as smart as my home will get.

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A lamp in my bedroom worked on one of the "As Seen On TV" clicker remotes. But there are several throughout the house, and my light would go randomly on or off (usually off when I didn't want it to) when someone clicked on something in another room. So, I disconnected that. Those things aren'supposed to have that happen, but it proves to me they don't have as many different codes/sequences/combinations as they want you to think.

[lilypadfrog]

I have an echo which I've used for music, weather,  lists etc for the past few months.  Last Monday I fell down the stairs and could not get up.  I used the "ask my buddy" app to call my daughter for help.  This app, by itself, is worth having an echo.  I have ordered a dot for my bedroom also.  And yes, I know I could wear an emergency alert button, but this app only asks for a donation if I can afford it.