Itâs basically a speaker with a Siri type functionality on it.
So you can ask it questions like âwhat is the weather like today in Dublin?â and it will read out a weather forecast. You can ask it for news and it will give you the news (though itâs all US based so the best you can get is a broad international news bulletin). You can ask it âwhatâs the population of Ireland?â and it will tell you.
But more importantly it syncs to audio services, most usefully TuneIn for radio and Spotify for music. So you say âAlexa, play the Euro 2016 Workout playlist on Spotifyâ and it will play @briantinnion and @bandageâs curated Spotify playlist of the same name. You can ask it to play specific songs, specific albums or playlists and it will play away. All done without touching your phone, or needing your phone nearby or anything. Itâs all over Wifi, you just need a Spotify account. TuneIn operates the same way for radio but you donât need any account. So just âAlexa, TuneIn RTĂ Radio 1â and it will play the radio. Speaker is really good for this type of device. Itâs not Sonos but itâs pretty damn good for general listening.
And then thereâs home automation stuff you can configure. If you have a Nest thermostat you just say âAlexa turn on the heatingâ and if you have Hue light bulbs you say âAlexa turn on X lightsâ or whatever you want. Nice and handy, though you wouldnât buy it for that functionality alone. Handy when your hands are full though, so if youâre cooking or holding a baby or whatever you can control devices and play your music etc.
Can only get them from the States at the moment so a little bit awkward to get one but theyâre excellent. Had a few people whoâve seen mine since I set it up, including people who ate gadgety stuff normally, and it impresses everyone. Itâs the future.
Philips Hue. Itâs bulbs, not wires so no wiring to be done. You get a Hue bridge which connects to your router and then you can put up to 50 bulbs on that one bridge. You give each bulb a name (e.g. kitchen lamp) and then you set up groups (e.g. kitchen, downstairs) so you can control them together.
The Philips Hue app lets you adjust the lights then from your phone, so you have the lights always powered on but the bulbs are just turned on or off. You can dim them, change colours, have the colours sync to background light from a tv, have them sync to music etc. All a bit gimmicky apart from the dimming and some basic colouring but no harm.
Adding the Echo though is what makes it better. Youâre then controlling with your voice instead of with the app on your phone. So you have the functionality and also the ease of control. The colour changes donât work from the Echo at the moment. There are ways of doing it using other home automation protocols with the Echo but I havenât bothered doing that yet. Itâs enough to be able to turn lights on, off and set a brightness % by voice.
The other useful thing that I forgot above is shopping list management. It sounds shit but anytime you think of something you need you just say âAlexa add whatever to my shopping list.â It adds a list to an app on your phone that you can tick off when you get to the shops. (Big win for Amazon there in other markets is that you just go and buy your list straight from Amazon).
Same applies to todo lists but the shopping list is more useful than I thought it would be.
As you say the microphones seem to be ultra sensitive and listening all the time, so you can pretty much take it that everything you say within range of the device will be analyzed with keywords sent to Amazon so they can market you stuff.
Fucking hell. The same fella who made a plywood holder for a mop out of a large kitchen cabinet space now has a futuristic media system like something out of Demolition Man.
The complexities of the human mind never ceases to amaze me.
Iâve got one of those for free, and she actually does the shopping as well then. I should say that while there was no initial outlay the on going maintenance is tough work.
Borrowed a dragonfly red to try. Basically improves quality of music from your phone/Apple music etc
No idea how it works but it does. Can hear more, clearer notes.
Burn the Witch is a good song to try with it.
They used it on some review.
Not sure it is 190 euro improvement though but it will get cheaper
Heating products. Anyone try a nest or a hive. Iâve three heating zones here so would have to get 2 nests via electric Ireland. Cost 400 euro. Be surprised if that was worth it. Looked at a gadget that would link up with your phone and tell you how much oil was in your tank âanywhere in the worldâ. Cost 225 euro plus 32 euro per annum versus cost of a broom handle 3 euro and the satisfaction of dipping a tank - priceless
Mate has a hive. It went batshit over Christmas. Heating on full blast at night and kids all awake absolutely sweating even with windows open. Was unable to adjust it at wall until they managed to get callout the next day.
