topic Re: Amazon Echo in Electronics

Amazon Echo

sallyann38 — Mon, 30 May 2016 12:26:06 GMT

I bought the Echo and have not yet decided if I like it or not. I don't think I will use it as much as I thought I would.

If you puchased one, what are your thoughts??

Re: Amazon Echo

peachfromga — Mon, 30 May 2016 12:41:35 GMT

I got one as a gift for Mother's Day. I like it but have not figured out what all I can do with it. So far I have mostly used it to listen to I ❤️ Radio and check the weather!

Re: Amazon Echo

ASTP — Mon, 30 May 2016 12:43:08 GMT

Love it. I use it to check weather, news, my alarm and if I need a question answered. Give it time and you will love it to. Ask it to tell you a joke.

Re: Amazon Echo

mima — Mon, 30 May 2016 13:31:05 GMT

I love it so much, I have 3! I have one in my open kitchen/living area, one in the bedroom and one at work.

My main uses are checking the weather, the alarm, the timer and the shopping list. I would be lost without her. I use my alarm at work to remind me of important appts. that are usually daily. Otherwise I'd totally forget! I also love the shopping list. I just tell her things and she puts them on a list. All 3 sync, so everything is on one list. It is always with me on my phone. I usually like to print the list out though.

The timer works great as a kitchen timer. I use that daily also.

Re: Amazon Echo

GCR18 — Mon, 30 May 2016 14:09:42 GMT

I bought one on Amazon last year. It's sitting in the closet.

Re: Amazon Echo

LexaMom — Mon, 30 May 2016 14:24:40 GMT

I'm wondering the same thing. I don't own devices that I can control (like a thermostat). I would probably be using it as a speaker mostly. I only have one - so I don't see myself using it to keep a grocery list (I am usually downstairs when I realize I need something - but upstairs when I listen to music. I use TV for news and my smartphone for weather. I did use it once for my amazon music library but is it really worthwhile as just a speaker?

Re: Amazon Echo

sammimae — Mon, 30 May 2016 15:58:42 GMT

We use our's to add things to our shopping list, add events to our calender, kitchen timer, ask fitbit how I'm doing, jokes, bluetooth speaker, ask trivia questions, measurement conversion, etc. You can say good morning to her and she has something different to say in reply everything day. When we first got it my husband said "Alexa, I love you". She responded "ah thanks. I like you to." I said the same thing to her and the was no response. Hubby thought that was hilarious!

Re: Amazon Echo

Nuttmeg — Mon, 30 May 2016 16:01:59 GMT

@anniebaby wrote:
I bought the Echo and have not yet decided if I like it or not. I don't think I will use it as much as I thought I would.
If you puchased one, what are your thoughts??

I use mine to check my Google calendar, and play Amazon Prime music. This "box" has improved a lot since it was brought to market. You may want to go to Amazon and see what is will do now.

Re: Amazon Echo

Goldengate8361 — Mon, 30 May 2016 17:46:47 GMT

I ordered one but - gasp - it still has not arrived! Shipping is soooooo slow. I think it should arrive sometimes this week. I can't wait to try it.

Re: Amazon Echo

mima — Mon, 30 May 2016 20:57:08 GMT

@GCR18 wrote:
I bought one on Amazon last year. It's sitting in the closet.

Why did you buy it? Why didn't you send it back? You "might" love it. You have nothing to lose but to get it out and try it.

Re: Amazon Echo

Kachina624 — Tue, 31 May 2016 06:18:06 GMT

I use it every afternoon to check the temperature, use it frequently to get the distances between cities, do quick math problems, spell words fast, listen to Pandora. I don't use it for grocery lists. I use it to time things. Check info on Wikipedia.

Re: Amazon Echo

NiteShade — Tue, 31 May 2016 08:57:25 GMT

Start by saying Hello Alexa. Ask her questions. At first she won't understand a lot, but she learns quickly

The timer function is great. If I want to exercise for a certain amount of time, need to stop what I am doing at a time to get ready to go out, need to make sure I get up and walk around every so often, Ask Alexa to set the timer for 30 minutes.

I have Amazon Prime, so should I be in the mood for a certain song, band or type of music, I can just say Alexa play "Never Gonna Give You Up" and it will play. (hahahaha) Then ask her what rickrolled is. (she knows)

In a hurry to get dressed and go, ( I run late), I ask Alexa what the temperature it is outside. She will tell me that and the forecast

Ask her to tell you a joke, Ask her about anything, serious or not.

I find Alexa great for information, and for entertainment. I have had the Echo since it first came out. I want to the Tap and the Dot. I havne't branched out to having it control my appliances, but I may get there.

If you read the reviews on Amazon, specifically click on customers pictures, Lots of information there.

Re: Amazon Echo

benzgirl — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:05:29 GMT

She finally arrived yesterday and I set her up immediaely. Gotta say - so far I absolutely LOVE her. She had ZERO issues recognizing my voice from the very start. I have three of my favorite radio stations programed in (Pandora, ITune and IHeart Radio), she tells me weather for my location and for the locations where my adult children are living, she has my "to do" list and my grocery list, I asked her assistance getting me to the closest Chic-fil-A, and have asked her caloric values. I used her last night as a timer in the kitchen and she was flawless.

This morning I greeted her with, "Alexa, good morning" and she not only responded but offered an unsolicided "did you know" fact from this day in history. I think she can only improve - and is playing my favorite talk radio station for me even as I speak.

If anyone knows - I would like to sign up for the free one month audio book trial, but wonder how easy it is to close it out if I should decide after a month's time that I won't get as much use out of it as I hoped?

Took her a while to get here, as she had to be shipped out of CA - but I sure think she was worth the wait !

Re: Amazon Echo

Nuttmeg — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 12:23:31 GMT

@Goldengate8361 wrote:
I ordered one but - gasp - it still has not arrived! Shipping is soooooo slow. I think it should arrive sometimes this week. I can't wait to try it.

Amazon's popular devices are always on backorder.

Enjoy your Echo.

Re: Amazon Echo

mima — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 14:02:51 GMT

@Nuttmeg wrote:
@Goldengate8361 wrote:
I ordered one but - gasp - it still has not arrived! Shipping is soooooo slow. I think it should arrive sometimes this week. I can't wait to try it.
Amazon's popular devices are always on backorder.
Enjoy your Echo.

I'm guessing Goldengate ordered it from QVC. I think Amazon has been caught up sending out Echos for a while.

Re: Amazon Echo

dfp90 — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:47:09 GMT

I just go mine last week and was worried also about justifying the use of it. Well I love it for playing all my prime music or just my favorite radio station. The reception for the radio is so much clearer since it runs through the internet, it puts my Bose to shame. Glad I purchased this. I also like being able to ask it to look something up for me without having to run to the computer and do it myself.

Re: Amazon Echo

dfp90 — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 13:50:20 GMT

I also forgot to ask if anyone else had a problem getting your free skinit coupon to work. Mine said it was not a valid pincode and I called the 800 customer service number only to get a recording to leave my name and phone number. That was several days ago and still have not received a return call

Re: Amazon Echo

libbyannE — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 02:33:07 GMT

Can't figure out what to do with it. Got it as a gift. If I dictate a grocery list, how do I get the list out if it? by the time I dictate a list and, I don.'t know, print it out, isn't it faster to jot it down as usual? Yes, I am clueless. I like my kitchen timer better, I get weather on iPad and news in lots of places. Don't see how to get a radio station on this, but why would I need that when I have satellite radio and tv? Play music? why?. Not putting down the little toy, but as you can tell I am totally not into it. If you love playing with such things, that's great. I get that, but I don't find it fun. I suppose if you are lonely, it would be good to have the Amazon thing to talk back to you. I am putting mine out at our annual garage sale next month because walking by and asking it the temp or forecast just isn't exciting or helpful to me. I thought of giving it to an elderly blind friend, but she doesn't have a computer or wifi, so i don't think she can use it. Demos on QVC emphasized toylike fun but didn't really explain the product well to me. I had already received mine but watched several QVC demos in hopes of learning why I needed this, but they never really explained it well.

-- Still clueless and I own one!

Re: Amazon Echo

Nuttmeg — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 06:01:32 GMT

@libbyannE wrote:
Can't figure out what to do with it. Got it as a gift. If I dictate a grocery list, how do I get the list out if it? by the time I dictate a list and, I don.'t know, print it out, isn't it faster to jot it down as usual? Yes, I am clueless. I like my kitchen timer better, I get weather on iPad and news in lots of places. Don't see how to get a radio station on this, but why would I need that when I have satellite radio and tv? Play music? why?. Not putting down the little toy, but as you can tell I am totally not into it. If you love playing with such things, that's great. I get that, but I don't find it fun. I suppose if you are lonely, it would be good to have the Amazon thing to talk back to you. I am putting mine out at our annual garage sale next month because walking by and asking it the temp or forecast just isn't exciting or helpful to me. I thought of giving it to an elderly blind friend, but she doesn't have a computer or wifi, so i don't think she can use it. Demos on QVC emphasized toylike fun but didn't really explain the product well to me. I had already received mine but watched several QVC demos in hopes of learning why I needed this, but they never really explained it well.
-- Still clueless and I own one!

@libbyannE I found the"box" a bit of a challenge to setup, but well worth the effort. Here are a few links to help. This "box" works with an app, either for an Apple device or Android.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Echo

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201399130

Re: Amazon Echo

gardenman — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:51:08 GMT

I have my entire music collection uploaded to Amazon's cloud and my Echo let's me listen to any song at any time in a second or two. I find it a great gadget. I also love using it for my custom iHeart radio stations. It's pretty neat to just be able to say, " Alexa, play my Eva Cassidy iHeart radio station" and have it come on a second later.