Amazon - Echo Dot (2nd generation) - Smart Speaker with Alexa - Black

I have met the future and her name is Alexa. Most of us know Amazon for their great Amazon Prime shopping feature. I mean who doesn’t love free two-day shipping. However, today I’ll be talking about Amazon’s foray into the future of voice activated technology. The Amazon Echo Dot. Specifically the second generation model. Due to the success of the first model and competition from Google Home, Amazon introduced the second – gen Amazon Echo Dot back in October of 2016. What is the Echo Dot? Simply, it’s a hands-free, voice-activated small device with a built – in speaker. Dot can do all kinds of cool things, it can play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather and more – instantly. In the Box: Packaging for the Dot is as simple as the device itself. Inside you get the Dot, a power adapter (9watt), a USB charging cable and basic instructions for setting up your new Echo Dot. Setup for the Dot couldn’t be easier. Just download the free Alexa app which is available for Fire OS, Android, IOS and desktop browsers. Once that’s done, open the app and follow the instructions to connect Dot to your Wifi network. Now you’re ready to say hello to Alexa. Alexa is actually one of four “wake” words you can use to activate your Dot. You can also use Echo, Amazon, or if you’re a Trekkie you can now use your computer. A friend of mine actually had to use a different wake word because they have a daughter named Alexa, which you can imagine caused some interesting problems. Speaking of kids, they will also love Alexa. I have two young nephews and when they come over they love asking Alexa questions or have her tell them corny jokes. Like most young kids they love Sponge Bob and got a real kick when they asked Alexa “who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” And she responded “Sponge Bob Squarepants.”

At first, I was skeptical about buying the Amazon Echo Dot because of being "locked" into an echo system ran entirely through Amazon. It's great to know that the Echo has a large following of companies that support it. I personally got it to see if I can integrate into stuff to convert my stuff into smart appliances (like my lights and space heater, and certain switches throughout my home.). Once I had these features setup, the Echo became more and more useful as more and more stuff came out (you add "skills" to your Echo to add features) I was blown away to know that I can order pizza (dominos and Pizza Hut so far), play music via Amazon Prime Music (free month trial and only $3 bucks afterwards), use Bluetooth to pair your phone to it, have it tell you news/weather/traffic and even play games via skills. My only major gripe about it is the speaker on it is very quiet but it does have an auxiliary jack to connect it to a bigger sound system or via Bluetooth speaker as well (mine is actually connected to a compact JVC mini shelf system.

I got this Amazing echo dot gen 2 on sale for $30 right before gen 3 was released. I already knew about the new echo dot when I bought this but wanted to save some money. I haven’t listened to the newer dot to compare the two. The built in speaker is not very loud for music and is really only good to hear Alexa assistant or talking in general. This is great however that it allows you to pair this with any Bluetooth speaker to send the audio to much better speakers. I am also using this with the 3.5 mm line out cable to hook this to my non Bluetooth Sony alarm clock that is way too old to have built in Bluetooth. I really like being able to send audio via Bluetooth to my sony sound bar by voice command! Google cast with that same sound bar is very cool also. I also have the Insignia smart portable google Home speaker that goes on sale for very cheap prices all the time! I like the Insignia speaker better even though it doesn’t have a 3.5 mm line out jack and is not as versatile in working with any Bluetooth speakers as far as I can tell so far. The google assistant seems to answer my questions more often than Alexa. Also google assistant is much more chatty in general than Alexa. Kind of like a digital friend than a cold robotic assistant. For the price I paid though I think this is a good assistant to add to your smart home along side google.

I truly enjoy my Echo Dot! I am new to home automation and virtual assistants and I feel as though the Echo Dot is an excellent choice to get anyone’s foot in the door when it comes to home automation! I ended up going with the Dot over the other Alexa/Echo devices mainly due to the affordable cost and its standard features. I own a few high quality Bluetooth speakers which I paired with the Dot therefore helping me in my decision to buy the Dot rather than the standard Echo as I am using my Bose Soundlink Mini II with it rendering the standard Echo overkill for my purposes with its main distinguishing feature between it and the Dot being a built in speaker with the standard Echo. The second reason I bought the Dot is it’s very small form factor which I truly enjoy to this day as I don’t like clutter and the Dot is easily hidden while still being able to hear my voice at impressive distances and fulfill my commands. Overall, if you have your own external speaker and want a small, but effective device, then I strongly recommend the Echo Dot to fulfill all of your home automation needs and wants!

I have both the Amazon Echo Dot and Google Home. There are pros and cons for each. The Dot is more mature with about a two year head start on Google. More connected home devices work with the Dot than the Google Home. For instance my WEMO light switches work with the Dot but not with Google. The Dot is very app dependant. I have to go into the phone app and turn on skills or apps to obtain various types of information or features. You then have to remember the name of that app when you want that information. Here is an example. My parents have an Echo Dot. I wanted it to be able to alert me if they were in distress. To do that I had to enable a "skill" called "Ask Buddy". If my parents have a home accident they have to remember to say, "Alexa, have Ask Buddy alert and say my name". That is not practical. They should simply be able to say " Alexa, alert (name). I prefer the way I can ask Google on my phone any question and it usually gives me the correct answer. Google home is more like the phone app but for some reason is not as good. Questions my phone can answer the Google Home cannot. I was able to connect my Dot to a blue tooth speaker but seem unable to do so with the Google Home. As with other Amazon products like their tablet, the Dot is geared toward driving you to purchases through Amazon. I believe that Google has the capacity to overtake Amazon over time with a device more configured for the user's convenience and less toward apps and purchases. If you are on the fence, my gut says go with the Google Home. It will probably be better than the Dot in the future. Right now, the Dot seems better.

As mentioned, we have it as an add-on to echo...in Master. But, frankly, it's capable of being a stand alone....and a great deal, only $50... Wow!!! My advice is take advantage of all its capabilities. Don't just ask time and weather, get the skills(apps). I didn't give it a five, yet. I will return. I say that because it seems like Amazon can still add so many abilities to it. I don't know if I'm right or his right I am, but seems like sky's the limit. As of now....I can control, lighting, tv, music in all rooms, fast food orders, traffic updates for my most common route, weather, news, sports, cooking recipe assistance....and more. I almost love it...I play hard to get. P.S. it's a great gift, too. $50 entry, great price, family and good friends $179, those you really love, bundle stuff up. So yeah, I like it.

This Amazon Dot is a welcome addition to my Amazon Alexa. Because so many times I've wanted to ask Alexa a question or settle a friendly argument with my boyfriend about a movie or actor. Well sometimes that meant getting out of bed, walking down the hall, hanging over the banister and yelling downstairs to Alexa. But now that I have The Dot "Dottie" all of my answers are just a few feet and sometimes only inches away. Because it lives on my night stand and I can ask her questions through out the entire upstairs. It's smaller but as effective and useful as the full size Alexa at 1/3 of the price. I love it!!!

This echo dot is a great little device with a lot of expandability. It can play your music as is, or can connect to home theater with a standard audio cable. I use the dot connected to a better sounding bluetooth speaker. It's always on and always connected. Alexa plays what i want and when i want. I use 3 wemo light switches. Alexa turns on Lamp, Living Room Lights and Kitchen Lights. She'll turn on/off one at a time on my command or she'll turn them all on/off at once as a group of Lights. Even my wife loves it and uses it a lot more than i thought she would!