Amazon Echo

[anxious_ant]

Just got the new 4th Gen echo dot as there was a nice deal.
One thing I noticed is that I have to shout if music or anything is playing, otherwise my voice won’t be picked up.

Anyone noticed this?

[Hoofy]

anxious_ant said:

Just got the new 4th Gen echo dot as there was a nice deal.
One thing I noticed is that I have to shout if music or anything is playing, otherwise my voice won’t be picked up.

Anyone noticed this?

Might be because you're playing it loud and it's therefore echoing off stuff which will cover your voice if you are speaking at normal levels? I might be talking broscience, though.

[LordHaveMurci]

21TonyK said:

Is the sound quality from the Echo 4 (not the Dot) actually good enough for music/radio in a kitchen?

Yes, had mine for a few days now, replaced an original Echo & the sound is pretty decent. My kitchen is a reasonable size & it fills the room.

[LordHaveMurci]

My original Echo keeps stopping when playing radio, annoying when I work from home & the only way to re-start the radio is re-booting the Echo - GRRR!

It has an internet connection as all other functions work fine, it tells me it's playing radio (or music) but no sound?!

Now replaced it as my main device with an Echo 4 but this one is still in regular use in another room so it's still annoying!

It's only started doing this in the last couple of months, my cynical teenage son suggested it was due to the release of the the new Echo 4...

[bristolracer]

LordHaveMurci said:

My original Echo keeps stopping when playing radio, annoying when I work from home & the only way to re-start the radio is re-booting the Echo - GRRR!

It has an internet connection as all other functions work fine, it tells me it's playing radio (or music) but no sound?!

Now replaced it as my main device with an Echo 4 but this one is still in regular use in another room so it's still annoying!

It's only started doing this in the last couple of months, my cynical teenage son suggested it was due to the release of the the new Echo 4...

Yes mine has been doing this for a while.
As somebody suggested a page or two back, the best work around is to use your phone and bluetooth over to the speaker. Seems to be more reliable.
Your son may be somewhere near the truth, its probably an error that needs a software patch, but as its an old speaker they may be in no hurry to roll a fix out whilst they are busy with new product patches.

[Hoofy]

bristolracer said:

LordHaveMurci said:

My original Echo keeps stopping when playing radio, annoying when I work from home & the only way to re-start the radio is re-booting the Echo - GRRR!

It has an internet connection as all other functions work fine, it tells me it's playing radio (or music) but no sound?!

Now replaced it as my main device with an Echo 4 but this one is still in regular use in another room so it's still annoying!

It's only started doing this in the last couple of months, my cynical teenage son suggested it was due to the release of the the new Echo 4...

Yes mine has been doing this for a while.
As somebody suggested a page or two back, the best work around is to use your phone and bluetooth over to the speaker. Seems to be more reliable.
Your son may be somewhere near the truth, its probably an error that needs a software patch, but as its an old speaker they may be in no hurry to roll a fix out whilst they are busy with new product patches.

I found that this can happen as well as getting stuttery sound when you just change channels without telling her to stop. So if I forget, I just spend a moment repeating "Alexa, stop" 3 or 4 times. It feels like it's loading stuff up, buffering it then reloading the replacement... then loading the new replacement or something.

I am suspicious that this is the case because occasionally, it plays two different selections if I'm too impatient and ask for something else before my new selection has started playing. Also, sometimes when I'm playing a game, I'll hear LBC or some music that was previously playing in the background to the game sounds.

<shrugs>

[anxious_ant]

Hoofy said:

anxious_ant said:

Just got the new 4th Gen echo dot as there was a nice deal.
One thing I noticed is that I have to shout if music or anything is playing, otherwise my voice won’t be picked up.

Anyone noticed this?

Might be because you're playing it loud and it's therefore echoing off stuff which will cover your voice if you are speaking at normal levels? I might be talking broscience, though.

Could be, however even on Classic FM on volume 3 it struggles to pick my voice up.

Will have a play, other it's pretty nice kit (upgrading from 1st gen dot). Love how it pairs with my BT speaker bar too for even louder music

[Hoofy]

anxious_ant said:

Hoofy said:

anxious_ant said:

Just got the new 4th Gen echo dot as there was a nice deal.
One thing I noticed is that I have to shout if music or anything is playing, otherwise my voice won’t be picked up.

Anyone noticed this?

Might be because you're playing it loud and it's therefore echoing off stuff which will cover your voice if you are speaking at normal levels? I might be talking broscience, though.

Could be, however even on Classic FM on volume 3 it struggles to pick my voice up.

Will have a play, other it's pretty nice kit (upgrading from 1st gen dot). Love how it pairs with my BT speaker bar too for even louder music

That's very strange. At volume 3, it has no problems picking up my voice even for louder music. (Classic FM broadcasts a little quieter doesn't it?)

Yes, I only use the built-in speaker when I'm in bed as my main speaker is a bit loud for waking up to.

[K50 DEL]

So I've had an Echo in my kitchen now for almost a year and apart from occasionally playing Chris Country radio and setting a countdown timer for when I'm cooking, I've yet to find any other use for it....

Are there others like me, or am I missing something that actually makes this gadget worth having and not something "for the sake of it"

Over to the PH massive - help me out here?

[B'stard Child]

K50 DEL said:

So I've had an Echo in my kitchen now for almost a year and apart from occasionally playing Chris Country radio and setting a countdown timer for when I'm cooking, I've yet to find any other use for it....

Are there others like me, or am I missing something that actually makes this gadget worth having and not something "for the sake of it"

Over to the PH massive - help me out here?

Most of our house lights are wifi enabled and controlled via Alexa

[LordHaveMurci]

K50 DEL said:

So I've had an Echo in my kitchen now for almost a year and apart from occasionally playing Chris Country radio and setting a countdown timer for when I'm cooking, I've yet to find any other use for it....

Are there others like me, or am I missing something that actually makes this gadget worth having and not something "for the sake of it"

Over to the PH massive - help me out here?

Use it all the time for music, radio, setting timers while cooking, making my shopping list which I then use the app when shopping.

Other uses include checking tide times, asking her random questions & my lad plays qu3stion if the day & a few others.

Wouldn’t be without ours after 3-4yrs

[jodypress]

K50 DEL said:

So I've had an Echo in my kitchen now for almost a year and apart from occasionally playing Chris Country radio and setting a countdown timer for when I'm cooking, I've yet to find any other use for it....

Are there others like me, or am I missing something that actually makes this gadget worth having and not something "for the sake of it"

Over to the PH massive - help me out here?

We have many smart lights and plugs that Alexa can control. Plus Hive heating.
I too was sceptical when my wife bought me one for Xmas 4 years ago. Once we moved to our house in 2017 and had a new born telling Alex to switch this or that on when your hands are full is a godsend.

Watching my now 3.5yr old hold conversations with Alexa is hilarious. Although the 35 day countdown to Xmas might soon start to grate and there's only so many times I can hear the Mince Pie song.. lol.

[AstonZagato]

I'm now wary of technology and young children. Many years ago, we had a phone system installed in the house (we have a very large house). One of my wife's requirements was a "page all" button - one could walk up to any phone, press a button and broadcast your voice to all the rooms. No more having to shout to call people to dinner or a question could be asked without needing to know where the person was.
However, our kids immediately realised that it was the modern equivalent of the servants' bell and would demand snacks and drinks from us whilst sitting with their feet up.
I see these as another opportunity for kids to be far more inventive than their parents when it come to using the features these have - and you can bet you won't like it.

[K50 DEL]

Interesting you mention about Hive, I have the full Evohome system, but once I put it in and programmed it 2 years ago I've not needed to touch it since.

I wonder if it's the fact that I live alone that makes this type of thing less useful to me.
I mean I suppose I could turn my lights off vocally but I've never had an issue with using the switch and all these extras seem to cost a fortune as well.

[jodypress]

K50 DEL said:

Interesting you mention about Hive, I have the full Evohome system, but once I put it in and programmed it 2 years ago I've not needed to touch it since.

I wonder if it's the fact that I live alone that makes this type of thing less useful to me.
I mean I suppose I could turn my lights off vocally but I've never had an issue with using the switch and all these extras seem to cost a fortune as well.

Totally agree. When I lived alone I had Hive thermostat installed and for me it was great. Took it with to new home and fitted it to current boiler. I'd love something like a full evohome setup for my new house but other priorities came first.
Having smart bulbs and plugs are great when you start doing routines with them.
E.g. I set up a simple one called "showertime" for when we wash my little one. It turns on heated towel rail, landing lights and bedroom lights.

Surprisingly when the Internet went down you realise how much you've started to rely on this smart house technology.
We'll all end up like those people on the space cruise ships in Wall-E.....lol

[otolith]

Reviewing the voice commands in the app, today I have told various Echo devices to turn lights on and off, dim lights, play radio 4, play music, pause TV, play TV, tell me the house temperature, boost the heating.

[Chozza]

otolith said:

Reviewing the voice commands in the app, today I have told various Echo devices to turn lights on and off, dim lights, play radio 4, play music, pause TV, play TV, tell me the house temperature, boost the heating.

Ours started the same .. but now with 3 of us in the house we appear to have
lights changing scenes
music in 3 different bedroom
sleep sounds in the background
searching for tv and playing it across different fire sticks
various homework questions
handfree calling across vodafone
sync'd music across the whole house ( didnt even bother with sonos when we moved)
cocktail recipe searches
started the robots cleaning ( havent been able to use schedules as WFH means someone is normally in the house )

window blind control in a couple of rooms
and i pre-heated my car this morning from a command to alexa


What we are running into is what to name everything ! by the time you have echo and fire tv and multiple lights in each room .. plus a few other devices and routines , it gets difficult to come up with unique names.
( and one for the first world problem thread ... do you reuse the same names in second home )

[Tony Angelino]

Evening all, I posted a question on a separate thread and didn't get any reply so I thought I might take my chance and drop it in here on the offchance somebody can help please? Apologies if this isn't the thread but I do have 2x Echo dot so somebody may be able to offer help.

I have a mixed bag of a few different ‘smart’ items and for various reasons I have ended up with the following:

Hive Heating Home
Nest IQ Cam Outdoor Home
Various Smart Bulbs Home
Various Smart Plugs Home
Echo Dot Home

Next Heating Holiday Flat
Echo Dot Holiday Flat

I am also wanting to add the following:

External Camera x1 Holiday Flat
Couple of Smart Bulbs Holiday Flat (to turn on and off for security)
Leak Detection Holiday Flat
Smart Front Door Lock Holiday Flat

My objective is keeping an eye on the holiday flat remotely and not having to mess with keys if friends of family let it from us. My question is, is there any way to integrate all these things together or have I messed things up by having too much of a mixture of different brands and systems. Ideally I’d want to tailor alerts for the 2 different properties depending on the times etc. I have tried looking at IFTTT but the Next stuff doesn’t seem to work with this, I am far from an expert but I have a basic understanding of things so am happy to attempt if it’s possible.

Can anybody offer any advice please or should I bite the bullet and look to replacing some, obviously I would be keen to avoid this cost.
Thanks

[21TonyK]

Tyre Smoke said:

21TonyK said:

Is the sound quality from the Echo 4 (not the Dot) actually good enough for music/radio in a kitchen?

Yes, easily. I think the sound quality is one of it's best features.

With regards to the BBC and Tunein radio, I set the routine to play BBC Radio Devon on Tunein radio at 0615 this morning to see what would happen. I was woken up to Radio DEvon bang on time this morning. What's that all about?

Cheers, ordered. Radio Devon? Lived here all my life (bar 5 years) and they still make I laf!

[Origin Unknown]

Being lazy rather than read the whole thread. Wife wants an Echo for her office. We have a few first generation dots around and they are st, in audio terms. She wants to listen to music and use it as an assistant, which Echo should I look at?