newaarondavidson

I got to use this over the weekend. Seemed pretty awful outside of adding grocery items to a list while in the kitchen.

The music was neat, but it seemed pretty useless overall.

mia

Out for delivery
Delivery estimate: Friday, January 23, 2015 by 8pm

jwhite4304

I am using my Echo as a Bluetooth speaker for my Mac Mini. Sound is awesome! Love the voice control.

dakuda

I actually just cancelled my order. You can thank me for your moved up delivery date.

If it just shipped right away, I probably would have tried it out. As it stands, the delay allowed me to think about it more and realize I don't really have too much use for it.

I thought about the purchase as primarily a bluetooth speaker, with some add ons (the voice operation). I already have two bluetooth speakers that I don't use really all that often. Those two can run on batteries as well, so they are more portable. The voice function could be useful, but this is something I see using a lot at first to try it out and then forgetting it is even there.

Dodge DeBoulet

Mine arrived this afternoon. So far I'm reasonably pleased, especially with its ability to play music from my Amazon library and to function as a bluetooth speaker. Sound quality is decent for a "casual" music source.

Some deficiencies I discovered fairly quickly, though:

• Its access to information is limited. No flight status information, for example. This is something that Google Now does very nicely.
• No support for "named" timers. For example, I'd like to be able to set a 10 minute timer for eggs, and a 30 minute timer for potatoes. It would be nice if I could say "Alexa, set a 10 minute timer for eggs, and a 30 minute timer for potatoes." At the designated times, the Echo would announce the timer name ("potatoes" or "eggs" in this example) and chime.
• It would also be nice if the timers had an option to count down for the last x seconds, perhaps by fives until 20 seconds remaining then per second to T minus 0.
• Alarms only offer the standard chime. No option to alarm with a different tone or music selection.

EDIT: I had previously stated that Bluetooth audio control, including pause/resume, skip forward/backward, etc. via voice command wasn't supported. That issue was apparently due to the specific app I was using (Doggcatcher, a podcast "podcatcher"). Not an issue for most apps.

On the plus side, It does calculations, unit conversions, provides distance information ("Alexa, how far is it from Portland Maine to Winchester, Virginia?"), looks up facts from Wikipedia, and for anything it doesn't understand, it logs the request to your phone and gives you the option to perform a Bing search (hope they'll provide other options someday).

Definitely worth the $99 price that my Prime membership afforded me. Not sure I would have jumped on it at $199, though.

boberonicus

I like your timer ideas. If you're cooking a meal of any significance having only one timer available on the Echo would be irritating. I have an ancient triple timer on my stovetop and it works fine, but I'm not always 100% positive: did I put the sauce on the second timer or the third?

ScottC

I'd also like the "shopping list" to be separate for my daily groceries AND my Amazon purchases. Surely they'd love to have some kind of wishlist for Amazon built in...

Mikity

The future is here

How would you folks say it compares to Siri's recognition rate (which I don't happen to think very highly of...)

Dodge DeBoulet

So far, quite good. Nearly all fact-based queries, calculations, conversions, music selection and play instructions are understood quickly and on the first attempt. As I mentioned in my post above, though, the Echo doesn't have the same breadth of data access as Siri or Google Now, so the things you can ask for are more limited.

For example, "What's a good place for lunch around here?" returned the following:

• Siri - "I found only one restaurant around here" with a map and link to a local sandwich shop (there are many more places to eat in the same radius, though)
• Google - No verbal response, but a list of web sites that offer restaurant reviews and searches . . . no specific restaurants though
• Echo - "Hmm. I don't understand the question I heard."

The Echo transcribed the question perfectly (based on what I see logged in the companion Android app), but the back-end data store doesn't currently include that sort of location-based data. I'm sure that will change as the feature list is enhanced, though.

Working back through the request log, it appears the Echo's voice recognition is nearly perfect; where it falls down is in its access to relevant data. It will give you a news briefing (pre-recorded from NPR or BBC News), but it won't give you news on a specific topic (Siri only appears to search Twitter, though, while Google will compile a brief list of topical news items along with some general information links on the subject queried).

I think it has tremendous potential to be the information and automation nexus for the home, but it still needs significant work. That doesn't mean I find it useless, though

mia

Agreed. Echo could tell me who was playing in the SuperBowl and where it was taking place, but not the time of the game, nor which network was televising the event. I rephrased these questions several times, but the information just wasn't available.

Mikity

Well put. Thanks for your reply!

ScottC

Much better than anything I've ever seen from either Siri or Google Now. Additionally, the microphone placement and circuitry in the unit even help make it work when it is already playing pretty loud music. Very impressive.

Dodge DeBoulet

Just got an email from Amazon regarding some (apparently) previously undocumented features of the Echo. Nothing too outrageous, but still fun (for varying definitions of fun, I'm sure):

Dear Amazon Echo Customer,

Staying inside this weekend? Echo will keep you entertained.

Game night!—We saw how much you enjoyed Simon Says, so here are a few new ways you can use Echo to keep the games going:

• Decide who goes first by asking "Alexa, flip a coin."
• Settle an in-game debate with "Alexa, rock, paper, scissors."
• And, in case things get really out of hand and pieces go flying, you can keep playing with "Alexa, roll the dice."

Dr. Seuss's Birthday—Celebrate the author's big day by trying these questions:

• "Alexa, do you like green eggs and ham?"
• "Alexa, one fish, two fish."
• "Alexa, why do you sit there like that?"
• "Alexa, what was the Lorax?"

Software Development Kit Beta—For those who want to help shape Echo's future, the team is working on an SDK to help hobbyist and enthusiast developers create new apps and experiences. If you're interested in building your ideas during a limited-participation beta ahead of the SDK's public release, sign up here (link removed, since it appears to be personalized).

As always, the Amazon Echo team looks forward to your feedback via the Amazon Echo App, and be sure to tag your social media posts with #AmazonEcho!

Note: I haven't played "Simon Says" with the Echo yet, so I'm assuming "you" refers to the communal "Echo Owner."

KRSW

Of course mine arrived exactly 2 hrs after I hit the airport last week. Finally got back to the home office to try it.

So... after a week... voice recognition is very good. BUT highly limited. Better voice recognition than Siri or Google, especially at longer distances.

Basically, I've found it to be an internet radio w/voice recognition and nothing more. Sound quality's acceptable to good.

A few things it needs immediately: Flight status! This was the first thing I asked it. I'd also like it to track flights and perk up if there were delays.

More user-definable lists. I'd love to have a packing list, a grocery list, a Costco list, etc.

I also wish it had an analog audio input. I also wish it would act as a Bluetooth speakerphone, so it could be used with Skype and mobile phones.

Overall, the hardware's good. Software needs help. But we'll see.

aztimm

Ours just arrived today. Yea, was very surprised it was delivered on Easter.