Picked up 3 Amazon Dots last night at $40 (2 black and 1 white) for upstairs - nightstand and maybe hallway linen closet and office. Kitchen/family room has the big one already. Have been wanting some at discount but didn't want to get the 5 +1 offer. None of the other offers are tempting me. Happy Thanksgiving to you and the fam.
I've owned the Amazon Echo since last year's Black Friday (bought @ $149) Got it to primarily control my Insteon HA system. The fidelity of the speaker SUCKS & I'm not happy with the search capabilities. The tie-in with Google calendar & time /weather is ok.
I like the Alexa app tie-in on the cheap Kindle & the Amazon Prime ecosystem. Free Pandora's good too.
But I'm going to buy Google Home @ $99 and dip my toe into that. I want to see if they get 3rd party Home Automation/IoT API as well done as Amazon.
I think I'll have BOTH going. "Alexa, brighten Bedroom" "OK Google, Play some Chilling on the Couch, but not so loud, right?"
Echo audio is largely dependent on placement. It does better in an open area. We originally had one in a corner of our kitchen counter and the sound was awful. It won't replace my Sonos or Bose, but it performs much better when the sound doesn't bounce our nearby surfaces. The voice interface could use some work - they've added so many partners and skills that it has become a bit cumbersome. But it ties into things the Google doesn't (yet?) and the Amazon ecosystem is a strong draw. I do prefer the looks of Google and think "OK Google" would prevent fewer misreads of "Alexa" - it creepily interjects when we're not talking to it. Although, it's been much better since changing the wake word to "Echo."
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Picked up 3 Amazon Dots last night at $40 (2 black and 1 white) for upstairs - nightstand and maybe hallway linen closet and office. Kitchen/family room has the big one already. Have been wanting some at discount but didn't want to get the 5 +1 offer. None of the other offers are tempting me. Happy Thanksgiving to you and the fam.
I've owned the Amazon Echo since last year's Black Friday (bought @ $149) Got it to primarily control my Insteon HA system. The fidelity of the speaker SUCKS & I'm not happy with the search capabilities. The tie-in with Google calendar & time /weather is ok.
I like the Alexa app tie-in on the cheap Kindle & the Amazon Prime ecosystem. Free Pandora's good too.
But I'm going to buy Google Home @ $99 and dip my toe into that. I want to see if they get 3rd party Home Automation/IoT API as well done as Amazon.
I think I'll have BOTH going. "Alexa, brighten Bedroom" "OK Google, Play some Chilling on the Couch, but not so loud, right?"
Echo audio is largely dependent on placement. It does better in an open area. We originally had one in a corner of our kitchen counter and the sound was awful. It won't replace my Sonos or Bose, but it performs much better when the sound doesn't bounce our nearby surfaces. The voice interface could use some work - they've added so many partners and skills that it has become a bit cumbersome. But it ties into things the Google doesn't (yet?) and the Amazon ecosystem is a strong draw. I do prefer the looks of Google and think "OK Google" would prevent fewer misreads of "Alexa" - it creepily interjects when we're not talking to it. Although, it's been much better since changing the wake word to "Echo."