Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsHandy and Helpful - except when it's absolutely infuriating
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2022
Purchased 12/20/2019, this review 08/09/2022 -
When I got my first Echo Show, I was so delighted that I bought two more to cover the living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Yes, I like music when I'm showering, and the ability to skip songs or adjust volume without having to dry my hands first is awesome! I've also upgraded to the Fire Cube devices for my two TVs, and they also serve as Alexa devices with their own microphones and activations words. So currently I have: 1x Alexa Show 8", 2x Alexa Show 5", 2x Fire Cube. This should tell you that, for me, despite the aggravation when they fail, overall I'm very content with the functionality and features.
Overall, pretty pleased with the device(s). They control all my "Alexa-enabled" devices, and I have set up "routines" for multiple tasks often repeated. For example, when I say "Alexa, Shut down the living room" (usually because I'm going to bed), the things turn off the living room lights, computer monitors, TV, bug zapper, fan, air cleaner, and everything in the kitchen (for safety). It's also pretty good about playing music I like and the "My Soundtrack" is a wonderful feature, playing songs you've "liked" and occasionally tossing in one or two that it thinks I might like, based on my likes, so exposing me to some new music as well.
Amazon wisely gave us four options for "activation names" You can name them "Alexa", "Computer", "Echo", and "Amazon". Unfortunately the "Computer" and "Amazon" options were not well thought-out, because those words are used often on TV, causing the device(s) to trigger.
Amazon claims that Alexa can differentiate between voices, so for example, one person in the house asking for their upcoming appointments would get a different answer than someone else in the house asking for theirs. Great concept if it worked.
The speakers in the Echo Show devices are much better than expected, and are perfectly adequate for the bathroom. The others I have external speakers plugged into, giving me a decent audio experience. On a side note, I tried upgrading the Echo Show 8" in the living room about six months ago, and they had removed the audio port. So I gave it to a friend, because it's useless to me without a speaker port. The old one works fine, I just like checking out the "latest and greatest" (and was going to give the old one to my friend anyway - until I found out about the missing port, then she got the new one instead!)
My two favorite features? The shopping list and the clock. The shopping list is great, because when I'm cooking and I see I'm low on something, I don't have to wash my hands, grab a pencil, and add something to my paper list - which will probably be at home on the fridge when I'm in the store. But the Shopping List on Alexa goes with me wherever I take my phone. That's right, she's on my phone too! :)
The Clock is wonderful. I have mine set to display big clocks I can easily see from across the room, in 24-hour format, which I prefer. However, that's not the main reason I love the clocks. The main reason is that I can vocally set reminders or count-downs, negating the need for alarm clocks and kitchen timers. And where I used to have to set a calendar event to remind me of something a week from now, Alexa now does that for me. And yes, the reminder appears on my phone if I'm out of the house when the time arrives! Beware though - it's far too easy to just say, "Alexa, wake me in five minutes" as a form of snooze button. But it IS great for that fifteen-minute mid-day power-nap! Since they usually don't happen at the same time daily, it makes setting an alarm quite convenient. (However, my primary "daily wake-up for work" alarm stays on my phone, as it will still go off if the power's out.)
Pro tip: Get a IoT plug, hook it up to a light that's pretty bright, and have Alexa turn that on five minutes before your wake-up alarm goes off. I find it MUCH easier to wake up when the room's all lit up brightly. When it's dark, I just want to keep sleeping.
WHERE THEY FAIL:
1. Amazon refuses to acknowledge that I will not every buy an Amazon Music subscription. I BUY my music, and have ripped it all to MP3s and put it on my Plex Server so it's always available. I see no reason to pay a monthly fee for something I already own, and in many cases, have bought SEVERAL copies of over the years as old media fails (records scratch, tapes stretch, etc.) Consequently, when I ask it to play some music, it often "reminds" me to subscribe, which is highly irritating. It's like having a car collection you love, and being told daily that you can LEASE a car! Not. Gonna. Happen. So get OVER it Amazon! Once you've told me something 50-100 times, I think you can stop nagging!
2. There are MANY times where these devices respond to, for example, the TV. Referring back to the part where Amazon claims it can differentiate between voices, I call shenanigans. If it could differentiate between devices, then when I ask Amazon to play some music, and it gives me that infuriatingly repeated "Amazon music has a zillion songs, you should subscribe" crap, the one in the other room hears "Amazon" and activates - usually leading toward a purchase of an Amazon Music Subscription. So if it can recognize voices, why can it not recognize it's OWN voice, and ignore activations from other devices? Right. It can't. So the whole "we can differentiate between voices" is either a lie, or Amazon Corp is too stupid to put in code to stop it from looping to another machine. I strongly suspect that I could create routines which would activate other Alexas, keeping it going back-and-forth forever. Seriously.
NOTE: There was one instance where I was watching TV, and one of the devices in another room thought it heard it's activation word. I heard it faintly responding, but couldn't hear what it said, and assumed it was either answering a question it thought I asked, or something equally mundane. A few minutes later, my sister called me, quite worried. Apparently it thought I needed help, and texted my emergency contact number (my sister) with a message saying something about how I might need help and wasn't responding. It's a nice feature, but when mis-triggered by, for example, the TV in another room, could cause problems.
3. Even though I'm the only voice in the house, and they respond MOST of the time, it's that last 5-10% that is infuriating. Especially when I'm sitting a couple feet away from the device and it completely ignores me several times, until I literally SHOUT "Alexa" to get her attention.
4. When playing my music via the Plex "skill", I usually have to say "Alexa, ask Plex to play some music" (which randomizes all my songs on Plex) at least twice and often three or four times before it will work. And then, when it finally does, it's a good bet that it will stop after only a 1-3 songs. And there are times when it will require a reboot in order to start working with Plex again.
5. There is no option for rebooting the device without pulling the plug. IMO, I should be able to voice-activate a reboot. Reboots are needed often enough that this is a real issue, not just laziness. Not only is it very inconvenient to have to dig out the device, which is not placed for accessibility to the plugs, but it also causes "plug wear".
6. The entire Internet-of-Things is still in development. So when you buy IoT devices like plugs and lights and whatever else, you end up with several apps on the phone because "Plug A" was manufactured by someone else than "Plug B" was. Eventually that may get ironed out. In the meantime, Alexa does a pretty good job of tying them all together (through "Skills" you install) so you can usually control everything by voice instead of the many apps. USUALLY. When it works, it's great. When it doesn't, it can be infuriating. I have a WiFi fan that worked great for a month or so, then stopped, and I fiddled with it off-and-on for about six months before working it out - with help from that company's customer support. Turns out they needed TWO "skills" installed, in the right sequence, for it to work. VERY counterintuitive.
MORE INFO:
Sometimes Alexa will realize there's a problem and "helpfully" reminds me that I can give feedback on the issue by saying "Alexa, Feedback" then explaining the problem. Presumably there's someone who reviews these. However, I've NEVER seen anything change on anything I've given feedback on. Granted, it's only been two years, but still! Some of these things NEED fixing!
Advertising-wise, PREPARE YOURSELF. At first you may be disgusted with all the ways they pack ads into these things. The screen will show you tons of crap you don't want, don't need, and are not interested in. Alexa will often "suggest" this or that. All-in-all, it's a disgusting amount of advertising. But you CAN reduce it to (barely) tolerable levels by digging into some settings & such.
From time to time, Alexa will "suggest" something to me. Like when I turn on the lights, she might remind me that I can set up a routine to do that at a specific time every night. Things like that. Things I already know, and either have already done, or have no interest in setting up. I suspect she will "write" the "routine" for you, but I've never put it to the test.
In case you're wondering why I'm only giving it three stars when I love the device(s) so much, it's because the flaws - especially the lack of different "attention words" or "names" - are very irritating. ESPECIALLY because the choices are so often used in conversation or on TV. Even "Alexa" gets triggered every now and again because it's on TV a lot. For example, the South Park "Covid" movies use it a ton - I had to turn off the mic to watch them! So it's a case of the few problems being significant enough to counterbalance much of the good features. Also, because I really haven't seen any improvements, or even company acknowledgement that these issues exist.
