[quote=“hmspain, post:60, topic:183970”][quote=“TC1, post:59, topic:183970”][quote=“hmspain, post:57, topic:183970”]Amazon hit paydirt (early adopter heaven) with this demographic! LOL
Amazon tends to under promise and over deliver as a rule; we will have to wait and see.[/quote]
Really now? How do you explain the Fire Phone? Or Fire Tablet?[/quote]
I think I hit a nerve… backing out of the room slowly LOL. I’m a long time Amazon Prime user, and they always hit their delivery dates for my “normal” stuff :-).[/quote]
Same here, I love Amazon Prime. Being in a major metro market, I can order stuff on Friday and get it delivered on that Sunday.
One has to realize though that being to able to execute well on retail logistics and eCommerce has zero correlation with being good at hardware product development. The Fire Phones and Tablets are ho-hum products, they were done ultimately to be portable POS systems to increase Amazon’s sales of other products.
[quote=“Pseudomizer, post:62, topic:183970”]Let’s stick to the actual product “Echo” please and post any integration process here instead of discussing Amazon in general.
Thanks.[/quote]
It will kinda be difficult to not talk about Amazon & delivery etc since most are still waiting for their invitations with a few actually waiting for their orders. I’m sure there will be more technical talk once more people have them in use. I know I have been waiting & wanting 3 since they first announced them but I at least have one on order now.
What can I check out and report back on when I have it in my grubby paws?[/quote]
Anything, and everything. An unboxing video would be nice :-). Seriously, everything you learn about the device; the things that excite you, and the disappointments.
Got mine right after Thanksgiving. Either I was lucky, or Amazon knows I spend way too much on electronics with them. I have been a prime member since the very beginning in 2005. She was the hit of party on Christmas.
My impressions overall is quite positive knowing that it is a very early product. The voice detection, fidelity, build quality, and ease of use is very good for a 1.0 product. This has amazing potential and its ability to easily create shopping lists, todo lists, timers, alarms is fantastic. The tie in to Bing is annoying. I almost feel like Dave with HAL telling me how I should search for things.
Her intelligence is limited, but what she does, does well. Weather, news, playing music… and my kids favorite… tells jokes and helps them with spelling and math. If the API can be opened up and be tied in to Vera or other HA system, I would consider getting multiple Echo’s for my house. The utility and lack of dependence on your mobile device really improves the utility. If Amazon opens up Echo API and continues to advance, they have a real winner. Already, my family has started to querying it first before they go to their tablets.
I mostly compare her to “Ok Google” capability. In many ways, my Nexus tablets ability to always be ready for a search or integrate with Vera makes it more useful for control, but since Google is so wrapped around search, commands mostly default to search entries.
Echo seems oriented around doing things. Playing music, finding basic facts, todo/shopping lists, basic problem solving, alarms, timers etc. The search function is used when something goes wrong. So it is a different programming focus.
[quote=“jasperpants”]Just stumbled onto this thread. Mine get’s delivered tomorrow.
What can I check out and report back on when I have it in my grubby paws?[/quote]
Everything. Everything. mine won’t be here till May. There is a spoof of the echo commercial on YouTube. I showed that video to the Wife and she almost nixed the procurement.
Anyone have a Sonos Play:1 to compare the sound to? If they ever allow Pandara and Goigle Music (doubt it) it would be a good option instead of the Play:1.
I ordered it though.
mine won’t be here till May. There is a spoof of the echo commercial on YouTube. I showed that video to the Wife and she almost nixed the procurement.