[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by N.r.K

But the question is, since almost all the flagship phones and even some mid-range phones are always listening.

Actually they have made it very easy to control mic access at app level in the latest OS which is not the case with a Alexa or Google Home.

[libranof1987]

I have ordered the Echo but now have second thoughts.

I have been toying with the idea for quite a while but did not want a US-spec Echo. With Amazon launching it in India, I got unnecessarily excited, especially by the discussion around it, and ordered one.

I had strong doubts over the purpose then, and have them now.

What is the point of an Echo?

In today's world of smart phones and smart TVs and bluetooth speakers and lack of smart homes in India, Echo doesn't really solve any purpose.

What's worse, it has no in-built battery. It isn't a soundbar, nor is it a proper smart device.

I'm sure I don't want to call an Ola over an Echo, or order food from Zomato.

I bought mine wanting to be an early adopter but now that I've spent that amount, I'm wondering why I did

This connected home technology is very very nascent, if not non-existent in India, and I think it'll take a few iterations to make an impact.

I think I'm cancelling my order!

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I have ordered the Echo but now have second thoughts.....I think I'm cancelling my order!

You have put a spark in my mind...please elaborate and help another soul to cancel and save that money

[ranjitnair77]

I have an Echo which I bought as an early adopter. The only thing that I use it for right now is as a Bluetooth speaker. And occasionally for laughs when friends are around.

If you are worried that the device is not going to be useful, you are correct. It isn't.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I think it'll take a few iterations to make an impact.

For sure; although the reason I am getting one is to see how well it does voice control of my whole house Sonos set up. Even there, there will be bugs galore, but with the India launch other uses should be added on a lot quicker. One hopes.

As to always listening, what is said gets conveyed to the cloud only when the trigger word is uttered. But always listening is how it works, except when the mic is turned off.

[rdst_1]

So if you guys are not looking at home automation, then definitely Echo would only feel like a gimmick.
Most people like to use Alexa to interface with their smart devices via verbal commands. If you want to build cheap home automation devices. with Arduino, something I will be doing, then one can very easily run Home automation software on the home server and use that software to interface between Alexa and the devices.
A video door phone can be quite expensive, but with a home automation server also serving as a NVR, one can easily interface a simple, cheap camera feed with their smart TV over Wi-fi. Then when the door bell rings, instead of running over to your PC or opening apps on your phone you can direct Alexa by saying, "Show me who is at the door" and it will amalgamate all the steps and just show you the direct feed over the TV. You can then also use Alexa to transmit pre-recorded questions/messages if the camera chosen has 2-way audio.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by rdst_1

So if you guys are not looking at home automation, then definitely Echo would only feel like a gimmick...

Home automation is just one of the aspects of it and I don't believe its the main usage of these devices.

Here is my take on it. (Google home context)
If you have school going kids its a great encyclopedia available on tap.
be it formulas / spellings / thesaurus / GK / who is who / translation /Geography etc..

If you play a lot of music (at least in my case), I have subscribed to google play music @ 99/ month. And literally any album or song is available.
Given that I have a chromcast you can route it to the Amp and speakers.
(There is also Amazon Prime music / Amazon Music Unlimited .. though not sure of the India support never checked since I don't own an Echo)
Added to this Google Play music lets you upload upto 30,000 songs from your personal collection, so you can create playlists and ask it to play these as well.

Live traffic updates / what movies are playing in Inox xyz .. the list is long
recipe sites etc that let you click and "Send to google home" which then lets you playback on the home device when cooking.
its pretty easy with commands like next step / Prev step / repeat step

Youtube - can auto route to the chromecast, in fact it prompts. would you like to play this on your <chromecast> device ?

Though Youtube content is hit or miss, unless you are asking it to play something very specific like a movie trailer or something.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Home automation is just one of the aspects of it and I don't believe its the main usage of these devices.

Here is my take on it. (Google home context)
If you have school going kids its a great encyclopedia available on tap.
be it formulas / spellings / thesaurus / GK / who is who / translation /Geography etc..

If you play a lot of music (at least in my case), I have subscribed to google play music @ 99/ month. And literally any album or song is available.
Given that I have a chromcast you can route it to the Amp and speakers.
(There is also Amazon Prime music / Amazon Music Unlimited .. though not sure of the India support never checked since I don't own an Echo)
Added to this Google Play music lets you upload upto 30,000 songs from your personal collection, so you can create playlists and ask it to play these as well.

Live traffic updates / what movies are playing in Inox xyz .. the list is long
recipe sites etc that let you click and "Send to google home" which then lets you playback on the home device when cooking.
its pretty easy with commands like next step / Prev step / repeat step

Youtube - can auto route to the chromecast, in fact it prompts. would you like to play this on your <chromecast> device ?

Though Youtube content is hit or miss, unless you are asking it to play something very specific like a movie trailer or something.

Thats great. Seems like I should have bought Google Home instead of Echo considering all the Android usage we have.
I am guessing to each his own. For me, none of the usage you described above makes sense at this point of life just like the home automation stuff might not be everyone's cup of tea.
But this only goes to show that, if one wants, they can very easily inculcate the usage of these devices in whatever uses they can think of and this multifaceted ability is only going to grow in the future and might soon make these products as ubiquitous and indispensable as our smartphones.

[rajivr1612]

Slightly OT, just wanted your input on the privacy issue of mobile phones in general. Both my wife and me use Android phones. Now yesterday evening we were having a chat on the mosquito menace and planned to buy a mosquito net for the bed. Later in the night when my wife opened Amazon app in her mobile, the suggested buys included mosquito nets. I too have faced this few times in the past. This makes me wonder, are the devices secretly listening?
Your thoughts.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

....Now yesterday evening we were having a chat on the mosquito menace and planned to buy a mosquito net for the bed. Later in the night when my wife opened Amazon app in her mobile, the suggested buys included mosquito nets.

Someone please tell me it is not real ! Rajiv, could you repeat a similar situation and reconfirm ? Me and wife discuss about bank robberies, mass murders etc before going to sleep, both of us have 'Siri' on our phones always listening. But we never saw any "potential banks" suggested nor "potential murder venues" highlighted

[Sawyer]

LOL. The most often asked of Alexa question in the US is reported to be " Where should we hide the dead body?".

The police are never reported to have turned up to that one.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

What's worse, it has no in-built battery. It isn't a soundbar, nor is it a proper smart device.

I'm sure I don't want to call an Ola over an Echo, or order food from Zomato.

I bought mine wanting to be an early adopter but now that I've spent that amount, I'm wondering why I did

This connected home technology is very very nascent, if not non-existent in India, and I think it'll take a few iterations to make an impact.

I think I'm cancelling my order!

Thanks. I decided not to order one after reading your post. I too was getting tempted and almost convinced myself with the Echo calculating the 1 year membership thought that it would be a good deal.

However the points you mentioned like no battery and will we really order an ola or use some philips or syska lights to control them, got me thinking.

Instead I decided to order some nice Bluetooth headphones.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Thanks. I decided not to order one after reading your post......

Just cancelled my Echo order. Will reconsider it when they have a rechargeable battery built into it. All these years, I have been ordering 'unwanted' add ons after reading what members bought. For the first time, I have cancelled something and feeling proud about it

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Thanks. I decided not to order one after reading your post.

+1

I cancelled my order a few minutes after my post.

Once I told my friends/contacts about it, almost everyone who had ordered one mentioned that they had/were about to cancel theirs.

Imagine, if we feel about the Echo this was at the introductory price of 7k, what logic does Amazon have in pricing it at 10k (the regular price).

I'm sure Bezos is studying the alarming rate of order cancellations!

Absolutely agree on buying a bunch of good BT speakers instead.

[Sawyer]

Although Alexa still has to mature, there are some uses for it even now, although these need mains power and a stable WiFi environment to work. For instance placed in a kitchen, hands free use to start playing music on Echo can be very convenient while cooking, as can be the subsequent pause/restart/volume level changes via voice. It can serve as a bluetooth speaker for content on the phone as well. And as one gets used to it and vice versa, hands free use can substitute for looking up Google for information. Anyone that has a bluetooth speaker can look at the cheaper Dot for doing all of the above - or even for those without such speakers, if music isn't a requirement.

Anyone needing one with a battery ought to instead look for units like the UE Blast, particularly with the charging stand included. Expensive at this time, but in a year it should be at the USD 100 price point.

As I wrote, in my case that Sonos has integrated Alexa for voice control of its components is useful for me to use for my home audio systems that all run on Sonos front ends.

As part of home automation I am not seeing a lot of use because I am not a big user of that in general, nor do I intend to be. But for those that do, that is another interesting set of uses.