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The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

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Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#311

Post by lev99 »

wmeredith wrote: post #248
notahacker wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The aggressive price cuts in competition with Google also put it at the perfect price for "novelty electronic good that may or may not be useful" (We bought one for a pretty tech savvy 89 year old who we thought might actually get practical benefits from IoT plugs as well as enjoy the novelty value of something that interacts vaguely like a human since he doesn't go out so much these days. But that's something of an…

> But that's something of an edge case The Baby Boomers are retiring in droves right now. It's becoming less and less so (in the USA).

I have retired baby boomers for parents. I can confirm that they are both somewhat tech savvy and enjoy the dot.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#312

Post by dionidium »

untog wrote: post #126
dilap wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having to say "OK, Google" instead of just "Google" (or "Alexa") is a deal-breaker. Google's products don't feel like they are designed by humans.

I feel the exact opposite. "Alexa" feels like a very clunky attempt to humanise something that isn't human.

And "OK, Google" is a really clunky attempt to convince me that I'm having a conversation, when I'm clearly not. It's cringe-worthy, even. It sets off all kinds of, "a programmer nerd made this and thinks this totally abnormal phrase is how real people talk" alarm bells. It's actually embarrassing to say out loud, even if you're alone.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#313

Post by IgorPartola »

k__ wrote: post #207
IgorPartola wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smart home control: “Alexa turn the lights on.” News. Kitchen timers. Music control. These are my most popular uses.

The timers seem good, also music. Light seems to slow instead of just hitting a button

Decent switches are relatively quick. It's not instant, but in my house close enough that I open the door, say "Alexa turn on the lights" and lights turn on before I close the door behind me.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#314

Post by michaelbuckbee »

JulianRaphael wrote: post #121

Very revealing discussion. Most of the participants just argue about Amazon vs. Google here, some fear surveillance, some consider the devices useless, a few want to understand if the HN crowd finds it useful. This is something I notice here on HN in product-related discussions more and more: people just say what THEY think about product X (typically a negative opinion or complaint), rather being creative, constructi…

The Echo Dot feels like a device from the future to most people outside of our bubble.

I have a 76 year old auntie. After setting it up and explaining to her how to use it, she was able to request that Alexa play her favorite pop song from when she was a teenager and it worked.

It worked despite:

- This was her first time using it and she's wildly not a computer person

- Her having a thick tagalog accent

- It was some fairly obscure song that hasn't been played on the radio for forever

She's blown away and assumes that it costs $1000s of dollars, because nothing else works like this so it must be horrendously expensive, but no it costs about what a decent alarm clock/radio costs.

Similarly, my young kids love it as well b/c they can request music, etc.

While the primary use in our house is music, a close second would be timers+alarms (for cooking, leaving the house, taking turns, waking up, etc.) they're so quick and easy to set up.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#315

Post by lev99 »

adjkant wrote: post #47
lgas wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why Goole before Amazon?

A level of trust from past actions and comparing each, the branching out of Amazon and Bezoz with media, grocery stores, tech with AWS, and more is scary as well as how many industries they have killed / absorbed. I realize Google is doing this a bit as well, but it feels much less sinister. A friend of mine walked past a brick and mortar Amazon bookstore, which is really surreal to me. Amazon's work culture philosop…

Both companies have questionably trustworthy executives, aggressive expansions, and a cloud computing platform.

To me, the biggest difference is Google's biggest successes (Search, Gmail, and Android) come from giving something for free in order to increase ad revenue. Amazon's biggest successes (Amazon.com, AWS) come from selling things to me and profiting from the margin.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#316

Post by kenjackson »

touristtam wrote: post #144
JulianRaphael wrote: post #121

Very revealing discussion. Most of the participants just argue about Amazon vs. Google here, some fear surveillance, some consider the devices useless, a few want to understand if the HN crowd finds it useful. This is something I notice here on HN in product-related discussions more and more: people just say what THEY think about product X (typically a negative opinion or complaint), rather being creative, constructi…

General public has probably been sold on the potential & novelty of the device, without realizing how little there is to it (feature wise). It feels like it is similar to VR and personal drones; it sounds exiting, but it isn't that practical in everyday setting to replace other activities, and setting it up can feel tedious.

I think you underestimate how useful it is. After our phones our Echo is probably the second most used consumer tech gadget we have (laptop is used more for work, but less at home).

We have a Harmony remote, so we turn on/off our entertainment center and lights with the Echo. While I make breakfast I get my news update from it. My son plays music with it while doing little projects.

I'm actually surprised at the number of people who have them who really like them.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#317

Post by kenjackson »

jimmaswell wrote: post #291
JulianRaphael wrote: post #121

Very revealing discussion. Most of the participants just argue about Amazon vs. Google here, some fear surveillance, some consider the devices useless, a few want to understand if the HN crowd finds it useful. This is something I notice here on HN in product-related discussions more and more: people just say what THEY think about product X (typically a negative opinion or complaint), rather being creative, constructi…

I truly don't understand how so many people could buy something that literally does nothing their phone couldn't already do. Maybe it was marketing.

The same reason people bought smartphones that literally did nothing their laptop couldn't do. Ease of use.

I can turn on my entertainment system or turn off my lights with my phone, but its a lot easier to just say it, versus getting my phone out of my pocket, turning it on, finding the app, launching the app, going to the screen to turn on the thingie, and then pressing the right button.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#318

Post by mwexler »

3 months from now, let's see how many of those purchasers or recipients use it for something more than "play a song", "what's new", and "timer, 2 minutes". I hope it's a lot.

Otherwise, we can imagine the next headline: "The Echo Dot was the most-returned product on Amazon this post-holiday season."

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#319

Post by tkxxx7 »

coolso wrote: post #299
tkxxx7 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of the point of such phrasing is to stop letting what has been typical, stay typical.

I'm all for that, but the parent/GP took it a step further by stating a niece - the non-"typical" - would do it for "most", and I just don't think that's an accurate implication for most at all, based on anecdotal experiences in real life & on the internet, and also based on statistics.

I suppose that's a valid interpretation, but again, the purpose of the phrasing is to (slightly, help) change the status quo, so most of us are not batting an eye if it doesn't 100% reflect the status quo; the commenter may or may not have meant to collude 'most' with the non-typical, but it literally makes no difference.

Re: The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this holiday season

#320

Post by figgis »

MikusR wrote: post #130
figgis wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I resent the fact that Amazon has done everything in their power as a company to make it so I cannot stream amazon prime to my chromecast. That alone has tarnished my opinion of the company.

It's Google not Amazon.

No that's on Amazon. Chromecast is open and free to use. On top of which Amazon has shutdown any homegrown solutions sooo.

https://developers.google.com/cast/

Amazon is the one banning it.

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