Amazon Echo

Author
Discussion

Bigkahonies

293 posts

122 months

Monday 5th June 2017
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ajprice said:
GetCarter said:
Getting sick of Alexa ads on TV... waking up mine and trying to answer the question.
Mine lights up but doesn't do anything or try to answer.
Same as this...

Puggit

48,355 posts

247 months

Monday 5th June 2017
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Stupeo said:
I want a battery pack for my Echo, so I can it in the garage/garden.

Any recommendations?

I quite fancy one of those that has a USB for charging up my phone too. It must be white.
Ordered one of these on recommendation. It comes with a carry case too. Don't know if it comes in white!

768

13,602 posts

95 months

Monday 5th June 2017
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ajprice said:
I just asked Alexa to "set a timer for 15 minutes", it must not have quite understood what I said and asked straight away "Timer for how long?", I repeated "15 minutes" and it was done. Never had that before and I use the timer quite often for cooking smile .
Might be related to being able to set named timers now.

e.g. Alexa, set a spaghetti timer for 10 minutes.

hab1966

1,094 posts

211 months

Monday 5th June 2017
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I bought an Echo last week and my daughter has been asking Alexa to play a host of songs that she knows. Sometimes she gets the full song, though on occassion she only gets a snippet.

The Echo is linked to my Amazon Prime account which gives me access to Prime Music, i currently dont pay for Music Unlimited.

Am i correct in thinking the songs we only get a snippet from are streamed from Music Unlimited and as a non-subscriber this is why we dont get the full song? Any song we get in full is taken from Prime Music?

If i were to subscribe for a paid for streaming service, would we need to change how we request a song to be played? Currently my daugher just asks "Alexa play <song>". Would we need to request it as "Alexa play <song> from <service>"?

Is it best to subscribe to Music Unlimited or should i consider one of the others ie spotify?

Russ35

2,491 posts

238 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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Just took delivery of a TP-LINK 'Smart Wi-FI Plug'

So now I can power off my hi-fi gear via the Echo instead of having them on stand-by all the time.

Dead easy to set up. Although I did have one issue - don't have your Echo plugged into the same extension that you now control via the Echo! bit awkward to turn back on.



Tycho

11,554 posts

272 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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hab1966 said:
I bought an Echo last week and my daughter has been asking Alexa to play a host of songs that she knows. Sometimes she gets the full song, though on occassion she only gets a snippet.

The Echo is linked to my Amazon Prime account which gives me access to Prime Music, i currently dont pay for Music Unlimited.

Am i correct in thinking the songs we only get a snippet from are streamed from Music Unlimited and as a non-subscriber this is why we dont get the full song? Any song we get in full is taken from Prime Music?

If i were to subscribe for a paid for streaming service, would we need to change how we request a song to be played? Currently my daugher just asks "Alexa play <song>". Would we need to request it as "Alexa play <song> from <service>"?

Is it best to subscribe to Music Unlimited or should i consider one of the others ie spotify?
In the app you can set the music service to be either Amazon or Spotify. There isn't an option for any others. I moved over from Google play music and I don't like Amazon music as much it is still good.

tedmus

1,883 posts

134 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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New boiler being fitted next week and I'll be looking to link it with Alexa. I have Hue lights and have read of issues with WiFi using Hive. Would Nest be best way to go?

Digger

14,591 posts

190 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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What commands are people using for Hue? All I've tried so far is Set lights to maximum, and Set lights to minimum., Switch lights on and off. How do you tell Alexia to switch one light off?


Also anyone know when Sonos integration is expected?

768

13,602 posts

95 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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Digger said:
How do you tell Alexia to switch one light off?
Alexa, lounge lamp off.

Think I've named it lounge lamp in the Hue app to make that work.

tedmus

1,883 posts

134 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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I have a group of lights (named living room) and each light is individually named. Main light is turned off in the group so when I ask for living room to be on only the lights turned on in the group come on. I can ask for each named light to be switched on by asking for that light name (side light, floor lamp etc). I set the level of each light in the app but I think if you set a light by voice the next time you ask for it to be turned on it will default to the last level.

Digger

14,591 posts

190 months

Wednesday 21st June 2017
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Thanks chaps, I'll have a play with my Dot! Quite like it for £50.

tankplanker

2,479 posts

278 months

Thursday 22nd June 2017
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Make sure your group name doesn't overlap with the names of the individual bulbs as she can get confused between the two otherwise. So don't call your room lounge, and the lights lounge 1, lounge 2, and so on, go with something like lounge for the group and living room 1, living room 2, instead.

gr1340

975 posts

202 months

Thursday 22nd June 2017
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tedmus said:
New boiler being fitted next week and I'll be looking to link it with Alexa. I have Hue lights and have read of issues with WiFi using Hive. Would Nest be best way to go?
I cannot recommend Tado enough.

Had it for nearly a year on a rental agreement as I wanted to try before buying it outright and it has been fantastic.

Geo-fencing works great so turns it off when you are out and works out of the box with Alexa. I just say 'Alexa, set heating to 21' and that's it.

https://www.tado.com/gb/

http://www.trustedreviews.com/tado-smart-thermosta...

gr1340

975 posts

202 months

Thursday 22nd June 2017
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gr1340 said:
I cannot recommend Tado enough.

Had it for nearly a year on a rental agreement as I wanted to try before buying it outright and it has been fantastic.

Geo-fencing works great so turns it off when you are out and works out of the box with Alexa. I just say 'Alexa, set heating to 21' and that's it.

https://www.tado.com/gb/

http://www.trustedreviews.com/tado-smart-thermosta...
I forgot to add, the fitting instructions are like nothing I have seen before, very concise.
You enter the boiler make and model online along with your current heating controls then it gives you step by step instructions based on what you have selected.

smn159

12,448 posts

216 months

Thursday 22nd June 2017
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gr1340 said:
I forgot to add, the fitting instructions are like nothing I have seen before, very concise.
You enter the boiler make and model online along with your current heating controls then it gives you step by step instructions based on what you have selected.
Yep, another happy Tado customer here. I can't remember the last time that I fiddled with the heating - it just sits there doing it's thing and we always have a warm house to come home to.

Puggit

48,355 posts

247 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Surprised the recent 'intercom' feature hasn't been discussed. We live in a 3 storey house, looks like the kids' rooms in the loft will be having at least one dot!

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/amazon-turns-ec...

Tycho

11,554 posts

272 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Puggit said:
Surprised the recent 'intercom' feature hasn't been discussed. We live in a 3 storey house, looks like the kids' rooms in the loft will be having at least one dot!

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/amazon-turns-ec...
It's not available in the UK yet but looks like a really good idea. You can limit it to devices in your own household only which would be great as an intercom. Not sure how much I'd like to be summoned from the study in the attic by the wife to get her a cup of teat though...

weeboot

1,063 posts

98 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Tycho said:
It's not available in the UK yet but looks like a really good idea. You can limit it to devices in your own household only which would be great as an intercom. Not sure how much I'd like to be summoned from the study in the attic by the wife to get her a cup of teat though...
Bitty?

Tycho

11,554 posts

272 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
quotequote all
weeboot said:
Tycho said:
It's not available in the UK yet but looks like a really good idea. You can limit it to devices in your own household only which would be great as an intercom. Not sure how much I'd like to be summoned from the study in the attic by the wife to get her a cup of teat though...
Bitty?
bks.... rofl

ross-co

411 posts

184 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Is there anyone on here using there Echo/dot with the lightwave RF switches? If so how is it working? quite fancy this over HUE etc due to the amount of lights as well as the types of fitting in some rooms.