Echo Dot (Newest gen) | Big vibrant sound Wi-Fi and Bluetooth smart speaker with Alexa | CharcoalReducing CO2

What on earth do you need another gadget in your life that responds to voice commands for? I mean, seriously - in between casually saying 'Ok Google', 'Hey Siri' or 'Hey Cortana' (among others) to your Apple Google and Microsoft gadgets, what purpose could there be to adding a fourth one of these into your life?I was asking the same questions in response to big ol' Amazon releasing the Echo, but at the same time I was pretty intrigued as unlike the rest of these gadgets, the Echo is a proper household automation device and offers several features that could actually serve to make life easier, more fun and... Well, it's a gadget. I like gadgets! I'd been mulling over the idea of purchasing an Echo dot for a while, but it wasn't until the recent 'Prime Day' that I felt a sudden and very strong pull to getting one immediately after purchasing a 'Nest' smart thermostat - because the nest is controllable by the Echo.>>> What's in the box?When my Echo dot arrived in the post, I immediately set about removing it from its packaging. In the box, you just get the dot itself, its power cable and plug and a few little bits of instructions and stuff. I have to admit that I couldn't help but be both impressed and somewhat doubtful of its capabilities considering that it was much, much smaller than I expected it to be - at only 83.5mm wide by 32mm tall (barely any bigger than a hockey puck) how on earth could this little thing produce a decent sound and do all of the things it's supposedly able to do?>>> Is it easy to set up?Once the dot is plugged in, it's incredibly easy to set up. You'll be prompted to install the 'Amazon Alexa' app on your Android or Apple smartphone/tablet or log into the Alexa website from a PC/Mac and will need to know the username and/or password for your WiFi connection. If you're at all technically minded (skip this bit if not) it's worth bearing in mind that the Echo Dot will only see your WiFi if your router broadcasting in 2.4GHz mode. If it's is set to 5GHz only you'll need to log into it and change that before continuing. Once it (or 'she' as you will come to refer to it) is connected to your WiFi, that's it - you're good to go and will be able to start asking Alexa all sorts of stuff.>>> Asking AlexaSo what can you ask Alexa to do? Well, you can ask her basic questions relating to the time and date and the weather outside, but you'll soon find out that her talents are varied and many. You can ask her to tell you the current news headlines, ask the price of things selling on Amazon, ask her to sing you a song, tell you a joke, etc. Very usefully, you can ask her arithmetic questions and she will answer them right away, such as 'What's 67% of 2250?' or 'convert 229 centimetres into inches' and you can also ask her to set alarms, tell you what's on your calendar schedule and all sorts of other things.She also has a massive set of 'skills', which can be added to her by simply asking her to going into the app and adding them there. These range from reading you inspirational quotes, giving you recipe ideas, facts about ducks - there are literally hundreds if not thousands of them.>>> Impressive sound qualityAnother very cool ability that Alexa has is the ability to play music. If you're a prime or Music Unlimited subscriber, you can ask Alexa to play a song or an album by any of the artists available. Despite the dinky size of the Echo Dot, I'm actually pretty impressed by the sound quality that it's capable of - there's a decent amount of bass and the sound from it is very clear and balanced; not tinny or as 'small' sounding as I expected, so I've been having a great time listening to all sorts of stuff. Since my Echo dot is next to my bed, my partner and I have been enjoying listening to relaxing classical music and we both fell asleep to the relaxing sound of wind chimes the other night there, thanks to the 'Sleep sounds' skill which is just brilliant.Of course, since the Echo Dot is a home automation app, it can also connect to bluetooth speakers and other devices so you can have your music piped to them as well as from the dot's own speaker. With this little device, it would seem that the possibilities are endless.>>> Make your home a SMART homeAs I said above, my main reason for buying Echo Dot was to go with the 'Nest' smart thermometer that I bought on a stupendously good 'Prime Day' deal, but since the Nest hasn't actually arrived yet I've not had a chance to set it up and connect it with Alexa. Despite that, I'm finding the whole experience of using the Echo Dot a fantastic one and it's really opened my eyes to the possibilities it offers. There are many other gadgets that can work with Alexa, such as 'smart' lighting, webcams, TV's, Fridge-Freezers, and a whole host of other ones that connect to the 'Internet of Things', so getting the Echo Dot feels like a big step into having what's considered to be a 'smart' home and, of course, tempts me with the delicious opportunity of having even more toys to play with!>>>A little warningOne useful and potentially dangerous (to your finances) ability that Alexa offers is the ability to purchase things verbally from Amazon. You can literally ask her the price for something and she will ask you if you want to buy it, which could be useful but also quite infuriating if you've got kids running around your house who might have the propensity to buy things without maw or paw's permission. I would therefore recommend that you set a PIN on the ability to verbally purchase things, so it should lessen the chances of accidental purchases!>>> Summing upAfter only a few day's of use, I absolutely love, love, love my Echo Dot. Alexa is a constant source of amusement, information, entertainment and wonder and she seems to be a porthole into the future of how technology is going to integrate with our lives. The device is simplicity itself to set up and use, connects with other compatible devices and I'm genuinely excited about the possibilities it offers.I had set myself up to be underwhelmed by the Echo Dot, but in all truth it's absolutely exceeded my expectations. Even if you're not a gadget fiend like I am, I would heartily recommend getting one. I'll pop back and update this once my Nest (and no doubt other connected devices) is up and running.

The media could not be loaded. Kids like it. Wife loves it. I bought four as Christmas presents to everyone older than 5years in our household. Buying four of these was a major commitment. This gives the advantage of of it being useable from anywhere in our house. Two on the first floor and two in the ground floor.For my wife and I, Alexa was the first step to our home being automated. Alexa really works. I was not sure as I began. Set up was easy enough. Luckily I had a couple of Philips smart bulbs and a Philips Hue bridge to start with. Making Alexa recognise Philips hue was very easy and soon I was able to shout and turn lights on and off just from my voice command. The shouting part was what I was not sure about. I often found myself fumbling, and embarrassing myself attempting to talk to Alexa. Since Alexa always responded, slowly, this embarrassment diminished and I felt more comfortable speaking with it.By the end of the day, all the members of the family, and I, finally realised that there is really no need to shout. Reluctantly we also accepted that being polite was making things worse. So we stopped saying "Please" and "Thank You" to Alexa now. We are British and that does feel uncomfortable. Amazon, are you listening? Maybe the UK or the 'British' version should expect people to say "Please will you..." at the beginning as well as 'thank you" in the end. When my wife says "Thank you" after Alexa has completed a task, Alexa does not respond. Alexa does respond if you say "Alexa, thank you". Alexa then tries to give creative response by replying "That is what I am here for". In a British environment, that is rather patronising and a simple "You're welcome" would do. If you get my drift. It does sound a bit too American at times. It often feels too functional and I have resorted to just speaking key words like "Alexa entertainment light off" , well it is not even grammatically correct but it works and I have stopped saying "please will you" and "thank you". Since I get a patronising reply back. Or Alexa gets confused when my wife asks "Alexa please would you turn the entrant room lights on" :) I even heard her ask "Alexa, are you happy to turn all the living room lights off for me".. haha, well, for now such sentences don't work and Alexa has a blubbery upper lip.Well, not just turning lights on, but I can even set the brightness level, etc.Few things I noticed is, I was not able to tell Alexa to turn my lights off after 10 minutes. So Alexa is not a full fledged personal self-programming-computer-assistant yet. I am curious to see how this evolves. I understand that I am an early adopter. e.g. The switching the lights off after 10 minutes thing can be accomplished in a round about way using IFTTT website! In the future, I am sure that you can program Alexa by simply speaking to it.Issues: For example; my wife was thrilled on Christmas day, (as these were Christmas presents), to have it installed. In full combat mode my wife then asked Alexa to speak out the recipe for Yorkshire puddings while she was busy sparring to get Christmas dinner out on time. Alexa was miffed and was not helpful in that regard. My wife was compelled to tussle with an iPhone Siri who fetched a webpage with Delia recipe for Yorkshire puddings. However, she was not dampened by this; "Alexa, play Everlong by Foo Fighters", musing that if Alexa manages to do that then 'everything in life will be alright'.Well, Alexa played Everlong promptly, and won my wife's heart. My wife did not even have to repeat the command. It is a kind of cheating really. Alexa did not have to much at all to win over my wife. As for me, I am impressed at the way Alexa's capabilities are increasing day by day.It feels like the future is bright with Alexa, and everything will be alright.UPDATE 29th Dec '16: Now, just a few days since Christmas, I can do more stuff with Alexa through the 'Skills' option. I have learnt to use it better. It reads me snippets from Wikipedia on topics. I like that. I have got Smartthings now. If you see my video below, the fluorescent lights are being controlled through other smart devices from other brands but Alexa BRINGS THEM ALL TOGETHER INTO A SIMPLE VOICE COMMAND. Sorry for the caps, but that is the crux of my understanding so far and the summary of my review as of today. I shall update when I find out more.UPDATE:10th Jan '16: I have integrated Harmony, Philips Hue Bridge and several bulbs, and Samsung Smart Things to Alexa now. I have also added Yonomy to facilitate Harmony to work even better with Alexa. I have not yet found enough skills to enhance Alexa. The Prime Membership helps but it now appears that the Prime-Music membership is crucial if my wife needs to use Alexa for listening to more music. Echo dot is cheaper than many Radios in the market, yet listening to Radio One, or to Radio 3, or any other station is so clear, and so easy with just voice commands. I now have Alexa Echo Dots in almost every room. This is a fantastic convenience. It means that I can now switch on the bathroom lights before even getting up from the sofa. So I do not have to stand in front of the toilet and shout at the lights. It has all got very smooth. The lights automatically all switch off when we leave home and greet us by coming on when we reach home. Even the kids are used to speaking instructions to Alexa. Even my 3 year old girl manages to say "Alexei, turn entitinmint light on" ... and Alexa somehow manages to understand her and comply to shrieks of glee and thrilled giggles. The first time she managed to get a positive response from Alexa was so mesmerising as well as empowering to her that she just stood there repeatedly telling Alexa to turn it off and back on over, and over again. Gone is her concern that she cannot physically reach the switch yet!!! My wife uses Alexa extensively, naturally and constantly: updating calendar schedules, todo lists, setting countdown timer for the children's naughty naughty step, and so on. It is far easier to use, and even more practical to use than using Siri on her iPhone for these things. It feels more natural to just 'Think Aloud' and just let Alexa do the rest. There are some crinkles with home automation. Especially the integration with Harmony is iffy. This is more of Harmony's fault in my opinion. So controlling my TV is a bit touch and go and I often need to search for the tv remote. I am getting better at this. I have also learnt to write programs (similar to Java script) for my Smartthings. This helps me have customised behaviour of lights, appliances and switches and can code them to interact with each other. I can then control these interactions, overall, through Alexa! Cool isn't it?I enjoy sharing my experience. If you found this review helpful, please click the button below. Thank you for reading.