Hello everybody I’ve been silently watching this one for about 5 months now, and tonight I placed an order for one. It isn’t just a speaker that you can listen from, it’s a “Listener” that you can talk too. You add all your commands verbally, and you can now have it do quite a wide range of tasks for you. It’s the first step along the way towards a “Smart” home; read on:
Amazon's voice-activated smart home speaker is undeniably futuristic, but it's also practical and accessible. With a rapidly growing slate of features and integrations, it's easy to get excited about the Echo's potential. THE BAD The Echo's sound quality is uneven at times, with weak bass at high volumes. The growing list of "Skills" in the Alexa app could also benefit from better organisation. THE BOTTOM LINE More than a year after its debut, the Echo is smarter than ever, and one of the best connected home products money can currently buy. Autumn 2016 update Since introducing the original Amazon Echo in November 2014, Amazon has continued to refresh and expand its lineup of hands-free, voice-enabled speakers. In April, the company introduced the Echo <https://www.cnet.com/products/amazon-echo-dot/>Dot, which is a smaller version of the Echo, and in September returned with an updated version of the Dot, simultaneously cutting its price almost in half to $50(US) or £50 (UK Sterling). This new Echo Dot, has a slightly sleeker design than the original, though it comes equipped with the same array of seven microphones and advanced noise-cancelling technology. Amazon says that the new Dot features a more powerful speech processor, which delivers improved far-field speech recognition accuracy. It's currently available for preorder and will ship on 28 October. The original, more expensive Echo can fill a room with sound. The Dot features much of the same functionality as the Echo, just with a less powerful speaker and a line-out plug on the back. In April, also Amazon introduced the $130.00 Echo Tap. Because it runs on a battery, you need to hit a button to initiate interactions; it's less convenient than the always-listening Echo and Dot, but it's also portable. And once you do push the button, you can issue voice commands to Alexa, play music from your phone or stream it over Wi-Fi, check the weather or news, and issue commands to control your smart home. I can’t wait! I’ve ordered the full Echo, so if there’s interest I shall produce an extensive audio demonstration to show it off in all its glory. ======================================== My compliments and kindest regards Gordon Smith: <gor...@mac-access.net <mailto:gor...@mac-access.net>> Accessibility & Information Technology Support Specialist. Mobile/SMS: +44 (0)7907 823971 ————————————————————
smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
