Reviewing the Amazon Echo Dot I decided to take advantage of a Black Friday sale on the Echo Dot. In case you are not familiar with it, it is a device created by Amazon. The Echo Dot is defined as being a hands-free, voice-controlled device which uses the far-field voice recognition system which also appears in the Amazon Echo and has a built-in speaker. Originally, I was against this device as were some other people, because it is a listening device. The way it is designed to work is you tell it a wake word and then ask your question or give your command. The wake word makes it carry out what comes next. The idea of having something on, which could hear all my conversations bothered me. To be fair I have to tell you there is a button on the device which shuts off the built-in microphone, but like most people I never seem to remember to turn it off. So why did I want this device? I have to blame this on the new car I purchased. The car has Blue Link which means you can connect devices to it. I knew the Echo was capable of taking control of my car and starting it, setting a temperature and having it perform all sorts of other functions, so I thought this would be great for those cold winter days when I needed to go out. This way I could start the car remotely and make it nice and toasty on those cold winter days before I got into it. It worked nicely after a proper setup which taught me something I hadn’t realized and that was it had to go through my cell phone app. The app is the Alexa app from Amazon and it just so happens I could start the car directly from the phone using this app and also set the temperature and do many other things, who knew? At first, I felt I wasted my money since I could just use the cell phone for the same thing. I am the type of person who is interested in gadgets. I had one of the very first home computers, an early calculator and all sorts of electronics so as you can imagine why I began to tinker with the Echo. The company claims there is over 25,000 skills for the Echo. As I started to explore the capabilities of the device I was amazed at what it could do. Originally, I figured anything it did I could do better on my desktop computer, but as I experimented I began to realize how easily I could do certain things using the Echo. Let me give you a simple example. I do a lot writing and I use Microsoft Office and it has a spelling facility as everyone knows, but I found it was easier to just ask the Echo how to spell words. To use the Echo, you have a choice of 4 different wake-up words. I just use the one it is initially set up for which is Alexa. To find out how to spell a word you just ask “Alexa how do you spell …..”. There is so much more to the Echo however. Since Echo has access through your cell phone you can tell it to call someone and it will be using your contact list. If you want to call someone not on the contact list just say “Alexa call (phone number)”. Sure, you can call using your cell phone, but this is even easier as it is hands free and more convenient at least for me, since I have the Echo right by my computer and don’t have to move to make the call. For people on the cutting edge, the Echo can control their smart house. This doesn’t actually apply to me since my house is pretty dumb. If you want to shop with Echo you can ask “Alexa, what are the deals”. If you ask this question you will get a list of sale items and be asked if you want to buy each item. The Echo Dot has a small speaker, but since we are talking about a Blue Tooth connection you can easily connect other devices such as a bigger speaker. Are you leaving on a flight? You can ask the Echo about the wait times. This is much simpler than having to pull up the airport web page and looking for the correct link. You can ask the Echo to get you an Uber ride. There is just so much can be done with the Echo using Alexa. Do you want to listen to audio books while working on the computer? No problem, it is as easy as saying “Alexa read the Hobbit.” You will need a Wi-Fi network to use your Echo. You can even set up a Domino’s Pizza skill and easily place pizza orders. If you want to stream music, no problem. There are even smart light bulbs which allow the Echo to control the hue. The truth is Echo is just plain fun. A lot of people watch Jeopardy and the Echo will let you play it. It is a version with Alex Trebek. The Echo using Alexa can recognize who is talking to it after a tiny amount of training. Just ask the question, “Alexa who am I?” You can order anything on Amazon Prime by asking for it. An example of this would be, “Alexa order a chess set.” The Echo device can also be used in certain financial areas. There is a Capital One skill which will allow you to check your credit card balance and even make a payment. You have to be very careful with this since anyone who hears you can then use your info on the Echo to access you account. You can also check stock prices. So how does the Echo work using Alexa? This might seem a little strange to some of us, but it uses speech recognition in a special way. Inside the Echo Dot, this Echo has a small speaker, microphones and a small computer. The parts of code it uses to make it smart are mostly in the Cloud computing service run by Amazon. The built-in smarts do a few things however, like play back music and make the lights on the device blink. It will also recognize the name Alexa as its wake word and then starts recording your voice. When you have finished speaking it sends the recording over the internet to the cloud. On the cloud the recording is processed by Alexa Voice Services (AVS). The recording is converted into commands it understands. Picking up an Echo Dot is well worth the price just for the fun it gives. The rest is a bonus. |
