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Are you looking for a friend who can tell you the answer to anything? Maybe Alexa can help you out! Amazon Echo, aka Alexa, is the voice assistant that can answer questions you have by using a wake word. Most people use Alexa as their wake word, however, if someone in your household is named Alexa you may want to choose a different word! ? Alexa can also help you order things online, call your friends, play music and more. We review Alexa to see if she’s really as helpful as the hype suggests.
Oct 08, 2021 When you're ready to disconnect the speaker from the TV, just say, 'Alexa, unpair.' If you tried this at home and the setup was different for your TV, let us know in the comments.
Amazon Echo
- .you can use for your family on the speaker, but this means that Cortana and Skype will only have access to the information and contacts you’ve set up.
- You can also ask Alexa for specific artists and albums. However, because Amazon Echo also serves as a Bluetooth speaker, you can use it with Apple.
Pros
- Use your voice to control it
- Can answer questions, read audio books, give weather and news reports, sports scores
- Can order products from Amazon Prime without getting out your phone or computer
- 1 year warranty
- Constantly adding new functions
Cons
- Voice control is not supported for Mac OS X devices
- Complaints of it using Bing instead of Google as its search engine
- Have to buy other gadgets to use all the features (e.g. lighting control)
- If you don’t have Amazon Prime it won’t offer as many features
- Voice control is not supported for Mac OS X devices Complaints of it using Bing instead of Google as its search engine Have to buy other gadgets to use all the features (e.g. lighting control) If you don’t have Amazon Prime it won’t offer as many features
Pricing
- Amazon Echo Dot: Check Amazon for availability
- Amazon Echo: Check Amazon for availability
- Amazon Echo Plus:
- Amazon Echo Spot: Check Amazon for availability
- Amazon Echo Show: Check Amazon for availability
- Amazon Tap: Check Amazon for availability
Key Features
- Alexa app is compatible with Android, iOS and Fire OS and accessible via web browser
- Plays music from Prime Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn and more
- Answer questions, reads audiobooks and the news, reports traffic and weather, gives sports scores and schedules and more
- Alexa – cloud-based voice service
- Compatible with WeMo, Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Wink, Insteon and more to control lights and other smart switches
How Does It Compare Against Others?
Amazon Echo vs Siri: Answering Questions
Alexa requires that you order your words specifically and ask a question in a specific manner. Siri doesn’t always understand or answer your question. So really there are cons to both. But, if we had to pick one over the other, we’d pick Amazon Echo. Alexa seems to do a great job at answering questions overall and Amazon is continuing to update its features.
Amazon Echo vs Google Now: Answering Questions
Both Alexa and Google answer questions well. It’s honestly up to you and what your preference is as to which device’s answer you’ll prefer. From what we’ve learned in our research, it seems that Alexa answers questions more literally and direct while Google answers questions that may sometimes be a little more detailed or not exactly what you wanted. Both have pros and cons and do a great job at answering questions, but we can’t determine which is better from our research.
Amazon Echo vs Bose: Sound Quality
Amazon Echo is designed to deliver 360° sound while Bose delivers sound straight out of one side of the speaker. If you’re looking for a speaker alone, we suggest going with Bose. You can get the Bose Soundlink for less money than the Amazon Echo and the sound quality is better too. However, if you’re wanting “smart” capabilities then we suggest going with the Echo.
Amazon Echo vs Dot vs Tap vs Plus vs Spot vs Show vs Buttons
Amazon is coming out with more products in its smart home line-up regularly these days. To keep up, we’ve written brief paragraphs to help distinguish the difference between some of the key Echo devices.
Amazon Echo Review
If you want a device that is hands-free and can provide answers quickly, Amazon Echo may be great for you. Ask Alexa about the weather forecast, how to spell a word, what the tallest building is, etc. She always has the answers for you. She can also provide hands-free recipe assistance and a timer. The Echo has a woofer and tweeter, so the sound is better than what you find in Echo Dot. If you want to fill your home with Echo products, you may want to start with Echo or Echo Plus and then add on Echo Dots for other rooms.
Echo Plus Review
The Echo Plus is the only Echo product with a built-in smart home hub. It supports ZigBee, WiFi and Bluetooth. It has seven microphones and dual speakers by Dolby. The Plus can do anything Echo does and can also connect your smart home devices.
Echo Dot Review
Echo Dot is a small, discreet cylinder with one speaker. It’s essentially the top 1.6 inches of the Amazon Echo device but it costs much less, only Check Amazon for availability . Echo Dot must be plugged into a wall outlet and connected to an external speaker. It is always on and always listening for the key phrase “Alexa”. It can stream music, control your smart devices and can do everything else Echo does. The main difference between Echo and Dot is that Dot doesn’t have a full size speaker. The small speaker in Dot doesn’t put out much audio, so you will want to connect Dot to existing speakers.
Can You Use Alexa As A Speaker For Mac Os
Amazon Tap Review
Amazon Tap is a wireless Bluetooth smart speaker that uses Alexa. It requires a WiFi connection to work, so unless you have a hotspot, you won’t be able to use this on the go. This smart speaker provides up to nine hours of playback and streams music from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn. Unlike Echo and Dot, Amazon Tap is not hands free. You must tap the microphone button before you ask it to do something.
Echo Spot Review
The Echo Spot is like the Dot and Show mixed in to one device. It is a smart alarm clock for your bed side. It has Bluetooth capabilities and a two-watt speaker for music listening in the bedroom. It has a touchscreen and camera for video calls. If you want a smart alarm clock, this is a cool option.
Echo Show Review
The Echo Show has a seven inch touchscreen that allows you to interact with what’s displayed. It has two two-inch speakers and eight microphones, so it can hear you from across the room. It has the best audio compared to other Echo devices, so if you plan on listening to a lot of music go with this one. It’s a bit more chunky than other Echo devices and has to be plugged in. It can show you the time, weather, calendar, etc. without you pressing a button. You can watch Amazon Prime or YouTube but no Netflix, Hulu or Sling capabilities. It can remember multiple timers and you can manage your grocery list or pull up a recipe, so it’s a great addition for a kitchen. (I can’t tell you how many times I have had to wash my hands before looking at my phone for a recipe, this would be super handy to have in these instances.) Similar to other Echo devices, you can ask it a question and it will respond with an answer. It allows you to make video calls to mobile devices or other Echo Shows. The “Drop In” feature is a little creepy because it lets anyone see what you’re doing without answering a video call. Fortunately, this feature is disabled by default. If you’re looking for a hands-free, visual smart assistant this is a great option.
Echo Buttons Review
If you want to interact with your Echo in a different way, take a look at the Echo Buttons. They pair with an existing Echo device and you can use them to play a game like trivia. Unfortunately, they aren’t available yet (ETA: 2017 holiday season), but they will cost $19.99 for a two-pack. View the video below to see how they work.
Should You Get Echo Devices?
Although Amazon Echo products are more expensive than some of the competitors, it’s worth it if you are looking for a system that is seamless and can be integrated into a smart home easily. It’s really the only smart speaker capable of these types of things at this time. Read about how Amazon Echo holds up against Google Home.
What are you most excited to try out with the Amazon Echo?
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There can be several reason for this
1. Your Alexa device must on the same network as the computer running the My Media server software. If this is not the case, please go to the Settings menu and choose one of the options to allow your media to be streamed via the Internet
2. If your computer is running a software firewall, then you must have a rule configured to allow inbound TCP network connections on port 52050. The My Media for Alexa installation program will automatically create this rule for the standard Windows Firewall however if you are using any third party firewall or host intruson protection software then please check the software's instructions on how to create a similar firewall rule.
3. If your computer has multiple network connections, then please check that My Media has automatically picked the IP address that's in the same network as the Alexa device. You can do this on the Settings page. If it has not, you can override this IP address - this must be the IP address of the computer running the My Media server
4. The Sonos One does not currently support all the Audio Player API interfaces that My Media for Alexa requires; we hope that Sonos resolves this in a future software update.
Can You Use Alexa As A Speaker For Mac Computers
5. Alexa streams your music from your music library therefore your computer must be on whilst you play your music. This also means your computer must not be sleeping or hibernated.