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Amazon Echo Spot

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Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#21

Post by SimbaOnSteroids »

colechristensen wrote: post #12
bigethan wrote: post #3

The speed of iteration on the Alexa product line is really impressive. Nine months ago, Alexa and Google Home seemed like two sides of the same coin. But now it feels like there's almost no comparison, Alexa is gonna do more and get the skills and features that fit my needs faster. I'm a Google Home owner, so perhaps it's a case where the grass is always greener :-)

I just see it as adding vanity features to a mediocre product. People are espousing real fear of artificial intelligence, but since I can't get my echo to play the right radio station more than half the time, quitting after 5 failed tries ("The Current" sounds nothing like "Berlin", I'm fairly sure you could train a dog to recognize the difference) I'm not too worried about robot overlords any time soon. Get me voice…

Serious suggestion, try putting on an accent.

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#22

Post by ProfessorLayton »

I snagged a free Echo Dot when Amazon accidentally had a 100% discount a few weeks ago (Which they honored!).Its an interesting piece of hardware (I wish I could say the same of the required setup app).

Ultimately, I'm not too interested in using voice interfaces as they currently are. I'm not trying to knock the product, I feel the same about Siri and Google's assistant. Lots of improvements have been made, but its just not for me yet.

At least it makes a good bluetooth receiver for my car, though it does whine to me about not having an internet connection at the beginning of every drive.

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#23

Post by olympus »

nateguchi wrote: post #20

Ah, this reminds me of the Chumby ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumby ) from 2008, I'm sure with voice recognition and video call capabilities, the Echo is hopefully a bit more useful.

One thing the Chumby had going for it was that it was pretty hackable. Had/has a small community around it. The Echo devices don't have that (AFAIK).

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#25

Post by bau5 »

olympus wrote: post #23
nateguchi wrote: post #20

Ah, this reminds me of the Chumby ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumby ) from 2008, I'm sure with voice recognition and video call capabilities, the Echo is hopefully a bit more useful.

One thing the Chumby had going for it was that it was pretty hackable. Had/has a small community around it. The Echo devices don't have that (AFAIK).

Depends on what kind of hacking. 591 questions here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/alexa

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#26

Post by bau5 »

jonknee wrote: post #6
ldonley wrote: post #4

Maybe I'm just wearing a foil-helmet, but the presence of a front-facing camera on an always-on device is concerning to me when there is no real good reason to have it.

Tape is cheap.

Tampering with devices you own is already a crime in some circumstances. I'm sure they can extend it to these.

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#27

Post by wvenable »

bigethan wrote: post #3

The speed of iteration on the Alexa product line is really impressive. Nine months ago, Alexa and Google Home seemed like two sides of the same coin. But now it feels like there's almost no comparison, Alexa is gonna do more and get the skills and features that fit my needs faster. I'm a Google Home owner, so perhaps it's a case where the grass is always greener :-)

I have an Echo and I feel like the voice features are not as a good as Google's offerings. You can do a few things really well with the Echo but once you go outside of what it can do, it's dumb as rocks. You can't ask it basic questions that Google assistant has no problem with.

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#28

Post by cptskippy »

nateguchi wrote: post #20

Ah, this reminds me of the Chumby ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumby ) from 2008, I'm sure with voice recognition and video call capabilities, the Echo is hopefully a bit more useful.

Does it have a camera? I didn't see it mentioned in the specs or anything about video calling.

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#29

Post by cptskippy »

wvenable wrote: post #27
bigethan wrote: post #3

The speed of iteration on the Alexa product line is really impressive. Nine months ago, Alexa and Google Home seemed like two sides of the same coin. But now it feels like there's almost no comparison, Alexa is gonna do more and get the skills and features that fit my needs faster. I'm a Google Home owner, so perhaps it's a case where the grass is always greener :-)

I have an Echo and I feel like the voice features are not as a good as Google's offerings. You can do a few things really well with the Echo but once you go outside of what it can do, it's dumb as rocks. You can't ask it basic questions that Google assistant has no problem with.

The Google Assistant is spotty at best. It does do some things Alexa can't do but the opposite is true as well.

I can ask the Google Assistant to call anyone in my contacts and it happens, if I ask for a map to their house it fails horribly.

Re: Amazon Echo Spot

#30

Post by mustacheemperor »

bigethan wrote: post #3

The speed of iteration on the Alexa product line is really impressive. Nine months ago, Alexa and Google Home seemed like two sides of the same coin. But now it feels like there's almost no comparison, Alexa is gonna do more and get the skills and features that fit my needs faster. I'm a Google Home owner, so perhaps it's a case where the grass is always greener :-)

I'm an Alexa owner, and wish to god the two companies could get along at all. It feels like I'm punished regardless of the ecosystem I choose - if I use the Google Home, I miss out on the Alexa product line upgrades and there's no option comparable to the Dot for sprinkling around my home.

On the other hand, on Alexa I can't say "play fleetwood mac in the living room" (via chromecast). That single feature is nearly enough to send me to Google Home, except for the reasons I mentioned above...but I feel hesitant to stick with Alexa when I know the only reasons it can't do what I want are stupid.

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