It seems like one of the main reasons to get a voice assistant is to increase productivity. Is it worth the cost?
Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
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Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#2No, I only use it to check the weather (Alexa). Haven't really found many uses for it (however, I haven't really explored either).
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#3I only use my Echo Dot for a few things:
- checking the weather/time
- settings a timer
- having Alexa read me a bedtime story (Audible)
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#4I know three people with them, two of them now have them sitting in a box somewhere the other one said he doesn’t use it for anything other than the weather or time but is now seriously concerned about it’s privacy implications so is considering unplugging it. Personally I use Siri on my phone probably more than 20 times a day on average and find it very useful, it helps me set reminders, events, send quick messages etc... without the full cost of mental context shifting.
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#5I'd say it's more about convenience. Not having to open your phone/PC to play music, videos, search, etc.
There's a learning curve to the features and ideal audio conditions. Not great initially. But I work remotely and it's quite useful for timing breaks & lunches, reminders, music, and broadcasting.
There are far better ways to improve your productivity.
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#6Don't get it (yet) if you're looking to achieve some kind of ROI on it. They're still toys for now.
Probably the main thing I can do faster with Alexa than other things is check the weather, which I do maybe once or twice a day. Things like turning lights on and off I can do faster by just walking to the appropriate switches. Otherwise I just use it as a speaker for playing music.
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#7It was for us. Things we use it for:
- Using it as a timer for cooking in the kitchen. - For music at home. - Listening to weather reports and news in the morning before we head out for work.
Before Alexa, we used our phone for all the above, but we found it to be much easier using a voice assistant. I wouldn't say it's a massive gain in productivity, but we are pretty happy we got it.
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#8We use our Echo in the following ways:
- “set a timer for X minutes”
- “play the latest planet money podcast”
- “play the album Moana”
- “pause the firetv”
- “what’s the weather tonight?”
- “what’s the news?”
It saves us a ton of time but also is a huge entertainer for our kids.
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#9Weather, news nippets, timers.
I pick up food ordered on time these days so that’s good.
Re: Ask HN: Does your Alexa or Google Home make you more productive?
#10It’s a toy.