Amazon Echo...do want.

[Bob the Coder]

Neat - a phone that doesn't fit in your pocket. Or make phone calls.

 

[Rakehellion]

There's a review up here:

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...mazons-echo-a-cylinder-of-fun-and-frustration

So it's just a way to sell you more Amazon services, like the Kindle or the Fire Phone or everything else they offer.

 

[LucJoe]

Just got my invite, est. delivery May 27 - July 2.

Going to pass, would rather add to Sonos system.

This thing won't integrate into anything I have and will ONLY play music when streamed from Amazon Prime.

 

[Kaido]

Just got my invite, est. delivery May 27 - July 2.

Going to pass, would rather add to Sonos system.

This thing won't integrate into anything I have and will ONLY play music when streamed from Amazon Prime.

I'm curious to see how good the microphone technology is. I think the first two issues to overcome are:

1. Excellent whole-room microphone capture
2. Natural language input

The rest can come later, once they get those two things figured out. Honestly, Siri stinks. I turned it off. Google's Now is better, but is still frustrating to really use...it's not like a Star Trek communicator yet, I still feel like I'm fighting it more than I need to. I have an Android tablet that I use for my kitchen recipes & whatnot and sometimes use it to do a google search, but it can be such a pain that I'd rather just pull up the information manually.

So good mics for vocal capture & better usability for spoken input are the current hurdles. Once they get that nailed down, integration can follow, whether that's from Amazon's Echo or from a Google copycat or whatever. I think the next obstacle after that will be using voice authentication, so if you want to save a note, it saves it to your account, but if your wife wants to save a note, it saves it to her account.

There definitely needs to be an initial setup phase as well, for programming the data input paths, like if you want a calendar entry to go on your personal Google Calendar rather than your wife's work calendar, that sort of thing. I'm very particular about what apps I use, like Evernote for notes, Gmail for calendar, and so on, so I'd really want the ability to customize where that data goes since those are systems that are already well-established & already exist in my personal workflow.

Nice to see SOMEONE working on stuff like this, at any rate :thumbsup:

 

[bradly1101]

Why wouldn't you want Mr. Bezo's personal portal into your life?

 

[drbrock]

Mine comes in May. I hope that they integrate more features into it. If it were to ship now I would cancel it. Just not worth it.

 

[yhelothar]

Could I get my android to add stuff to my schedule? I asked a bunch of questions that were asked in the video and my android phone (lollipop) just looked most stuff up on google. Not too smart.

 

[JTsyo]

Placed my order, should be delivered late February. The two feature that will be used for sure is the shopping list and bluetooth speakers. As more features are added, the hardware can stay the same.

 

[clamum]

Ah, what the hell. Just ordered mine; I got an email this morning that my invitation would run out today so I figure why not. If I decide not to use/keep it I'll just put it on eBay I guess. Estimated delivery: June 1, 2015 - July 7, 2015. Quite the wait time!

 

[Aikouka]

Placed my order, should be delivered late February. The two feature that will be used for sure is the shopping list and bluetooth speakers. As more features are added, the hardware can stay the same.

My invite is going to run out, and it sounds like a possibly interesting device for the kitchen. I considered putting speakers in the kitchen and tying them to my main AVR (for use with AirPlay), but I ended up not doing it. This could work out well, but my main hang up is that I only have a somewhat small portion of my library available on Amazon MP3. I do buy songs from Amazon, but not a ton.

Although, your post did just make me think of something. I have a computer in my kitchen that's hooked up to a 23" touch screen. The biggest complaint about the monitor is that the built-in speakers are awful, and the complaint is 100% valid. The speakers are puny and back-firing (like most monitors). This is bad for me since it's in an open space, which means there's no wall for the sound to bounce off of. So, I ended up using some cheap USB-powered speakers. They're okay, but if I could use the Echo instead, that could be a nifty secondary application.

 

[Ichinisan]

My invite is going to run out, and it sounds like a possibly interesting device for the kitchen. I considered putting speakers in the kitchen and tying them to my main AVR (for use with AirPlay), but I ended up not doing it. This could work out well, but my main hang up is that I only have a somewhat small portion of my library available on Amazon MP3. I do buy songs from Amazon, but not a ton.

Although, your post did just make me think of something. I have a computer in my kitchen that's hooked up to a 23" touch screen. The biggest complaint about the monitor is that the built-in speakers are awful, and the complaint is 100% valid. The speakers are puny and back-firing (like most monitors). This is bad for me since it's in an open space, which means there's no wall for the sound to bounce off of. So, I ended up using some cheap USB-powered speakers. They're okay, but if I could use the Echo instead, that could be a nifty secondary application.

If you have Prime, you have unlimited Amazon Music.

 

[AdamK47]

I applaud Amazon for pursuing disruptive innovation. I'm just hoping this particular product never catches on.

 

[Spike]

I had an invite, but I let it lapse without ordering. Now I'm kinda kicking myself... might request a new one. I'm in no hurry, as long as I can still get it for $99

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Got mine today. Keep it or eBay it?

 

[WelshBloke]

Got mine today. Keep it or eBay it?

Try it out first?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Try it out first?

It would fetch more money unopened. I'll read some reviews and other forums, but I think they're still going for around $200 on eBay.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Was supposed to show up this month and received an email stating it wouldn't ship until May. Cancelled my order.
2 days later amazon sent me a $10 credit for the shipping date being delayed. HA. Easy $10.

 

[notposting]

Got an invite back at the end of December and ordered on New Years. They missed the shipping estimate, gave me $10, then got it to me two days later. Between the CC points, Prime, and the $10, got it for around $72.

So far, very pleased with it a bit over a month in. We have a ranch and it sits in the central hallway, closer to the kitchen and living room.

Music from Amazon Prime (can add songs/albums/playlists to your library, as well), TuneIn, and iHeartRadio, plus direct Bluetooth playback (can control things like Spotify as well) from mobile devices.

Timers/alarms, weather, news, are all pretty basic but effective. Coin toss - handy. Having the different forms of input is nice -- the voice control is really good, but the remote is handy (have it on the fridge, usually just tap next track or hit the volume button now and then), the app on the Kindle tablet, and I can access it from my Windows Phone through the browser...over LTE. Not even restricted to being on the same wifi network.

The kids were weirded out for about two days. The wife was challenged by her new tubular rival and refused to speak to her. Then she didn't believe that a timer was actually still going, and I told her to just ask about it. Boom "two minutes and forty seconds", evidently I did a terrible job not smirking.

The real test is whether Amazon has the stomach to stick with this and keep developing it. We will see -- have an original Kindle Fire as well that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in that department. Just got an email today though -- they are developing an SDK for it. If they can open it up to have as much flow through it as possible, well it will be more useful to me, and more useful to them. I'm okay with that arrangement...

Finally, completely hands free voice control is totally spoiling me. Little things like wanting to turn the TV off with voice control. And then the last few weeks of freezing cold have left me going out to the car and wanting to talk to my key fob and say "Alexa*, come pick me up at the front door."

*that, or KITT

 

[notposting]

I forgot to mention just walking by and turning the volume control.

The voice recognition is pretty good, especially considering the kids seem to think that "Alexa" is a code word for them to start shrieking as much as possible. There is no need to wait to give the command either, simply say it all in one request.

The microphones are pretty good, it can pick us up from around the house surprisingly well. It does do things a little differently than Google Now/Siri/Cortana in that there is no attempt at conversation. Each input has to use the input word first. I assume this helps with accuracy.

One place it would be nice to see them expand is "satellite" Echo's so you could have a network through the house. Even better if they could do different things (different music choices, for example).

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I got mine yesterday. After briefly toying with selling it on eBay I decided to crack it open and play with it instead. I find it pretty neat so far. The voice detection is very impressive and it can do a fair array of interesting things. I have used it for playing both Prime music and for streaming from my phone by BT. One niggle is that it doesn't seem to stay paired/restore the pairing if I bring my phone out of the office and come back. In any case I find it a worthwhile addition to my office and intend to keep it.

 

[notposting]

I got mine yesterday. After briefly toying with selling it on eBay I decided to crack it open and play with it instead. I find it pretty neat so far. The voice detection is very impressive and it can do a fair array of interesting things. I have used it for playing both Prime music and for streaming from my phone by BT. One niggle is that it doesn't seem to stay paired/restore the pairing if I bring my phone out of the office and come back. In any case I find it a worthwhile addition to my office and intend to keep it.

Odd. Ours is pretty clingy. If I have to power cycle a device weeks later, as soon as it starts up it pairs and I have to disconnect. Maybe check in the settings or something...

("She" can pair with multiple devices and will play musical chairs shacking up with every device that's been linked to her. Little trollop.)

They keep adding little features. Slowly working their through sports scores/schedules (I'm not really interested, myself), traffic (though, obviously a bit cumbersome -- have to set up your commute ahead of time), the weather and news of course.

I use the timers and alarms a lot. And music. Wheeeeeeeeeee :whiste:

 

[soulcougher73]

Odd. Ours is pretty clingy. If I have to power cycle a device weeks later, as soon as it starts up it pairs and I have to disconnect. Maybe check in the settings or something...

("She" can pair with multiple devices and will play musical chairs shacking up with every device that's been linked to her. Little trollop.)

They keep adding little features. Slowly working their through sports scores/schedules (I'm not really interested, myself), traffic (though, obviously a bit cumbersome -- have to set up your commute ahead of time), the weather and news of course.

I use the timers and alarms a lot. And music. Wheeeeeeeeeee :whiste:

I havent figured out a way to set a permanent alarm yet. It seems it only keeps the alarm for 1 day. Id love to use it as my alarm clock but i havent figured out what commands to say to achieve a 5:40am wake up alarm M-F.

 

[clamum]

Man I forgot about this thing. I'm looking forward to mine coming in sometime in June or early July. I may just sell it on eBay if I can get at least $200 for it but I have a feeling I'll just keep it. It sounds like a neat product and from the reviews and videos I've read and seen, it works pretty well.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Ugh I hate speaking to machines

And get off my lawn

 

[ImpulsE69]

I know I'm getting old when even as a techy type person I can't imagine why anyone would actually want this...