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Siri, I’m leaving you for Alexa
I’ve always been intrigued by the Amazon Echo. It’s a bit like having the computer from Star Trek in your house but it’s taken forever to come to the UK and when it eventually did I wasn’t sure about forking out for the big boy just in case it was a duffer. So when the Echo Dot was reduced to 40 quid on Black Friday I had no option but to take the plunge.
The first thing you notice about the Dot is how compact it is. I know it’s basically just the top of the big Echo minus the speaker but when you unbox it and hold it in your hands it’s amazing that they can fit this technology in there. Looks-wise it’s lovely too. There is nowhere in the house where it would look out of place and the status lights on top are mesmerising and beautiful.
Our first experiences consisted of me and my daughter shouting ‘Alexa’ followed by a question much to my wife’s distaste. It’s amazing how responsive it is even when there is a lot of noise about which is something that constantly dogs Siri, although I will say she is much improved on the Apple Watch.
Setup is simple. Plug it in and download the Alexa app. You then connect to the Echo’s own wifi network from which you can point it at your home network. When I first connected Echo wanted to update and restart but this was not a prolonged process so no worries.
"The Dot is the future of accessible AI"
I then loaded some ‘skills’ such as the RadioPlayer app and the flash news briefings and I am sure as my use-case dictates more and more will be added over time.
Now as you may well know the Dot is the big Echo minus the speaker. I thought no worries as you can connect it to a speaker via Bluetooth and AUX and I have loads laying around. But when I first fired her up I realised that the sound that came out of its built in speaker is actually pretty good. I’m sure for listening to music (of which Amazon offer a very low priced service for Echo) I would need to jack it into something more powerful but for the general voice interaction it’s fine with what comes with it.
Now the question that I ask myself is why buy an Echo? Well one I’m a Prime user which does give you additional functionality such as music and being able to order from the store but you can use it with just with a standard Amazon account so don’t be put off.
On asking it questions there have been times when she says ‘hmmm… I don’t know how to answer that’ but we found if we re-worded the same question it then seemed to find the answer so it’s probably just a muscle-memory thing.
To be totally honest I’m pretty happy with my purchase. I am a regular Siri user so speaking to a machine is very natural to me and I’m sure I’ll find more and more ways to integrate it into my day especially in terms of home automation.
It’s gone back up to 50 quid in the Amazon Store but even at that price and in 2 colours, if you’d like a personal assistant for your home this is an awesome way to start. And remember this is a redesigned Dot from the original so a good time to buy. The Dot is the future of accessible AI.
Author
Paul Wright