Amazon Echo :: A Candid Review
We recently asked a team member for their opinion on the Amazon Echo. Below you’ll find a candid review.
The Amazon Echo is a success in the realm of home automation that begins a new era in home management and entertainment. The device may have started as a quick way to integrate Amazon with daily life and access music on demand through a powerful woofer and tweeter, but it has found a place that is truly awe inspiring, becoming an asset in every room.
When I got the Echo it had just been released and the features were slim. The number of “Easter Eggs” built in to the system actually outnumbered the add-ons but that isn’t really true anymore. Now the Echo, known as Alexa, has improved voice recognition and abilities to listen to more applications, listen to better news, recipes, home automation, and a host of other items that are continually updated in the cloud, making the system more useful each and every week.
When I got the Echo I was impressed with the sound, and it got really, really loud when I turned up the volume. The speaker and the actual device are solid, with the speaker weighing in as a heavy item that pushes air well. Tied with my music library I can hear the bass in a song and it feels really good.
That’s not all, the Alexa application can be a fun entertainer that can interact with people in spite of disabilities. A good game of trivia, a word puzzle, or just fun facts can make the Echo a part of daily fun, and keep you entertained even when you were not sure you wanted to be.
I rarely miss a day of asking Alexa for a joke, or setting multiple alarms to remind me of whatever I need reminding in a day, but have had even more fun asking stupid questions or saying silly stuff and finding that the programmers actually did put an answer in it. Ask Alexa how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood and see what you get.
Sure, there is room for improvement, but that’s what Amazon has done, improve. They continually make additions and make the Echo a better and better product. I have sent in several suggestions and some of them have eventually turned up, probably not from me, but for the good of the system. (I am sure I was not the only person who asked.)
So if you need a way to control your TV, a way to laugh a little, look up items quickly, order stuff, listen to music, listen to audiobooks, and generally be involved in a lot of stuff, the Echo is a good choice for you.
