Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsHardware is decent, but software is lacking in a number of respects, and customer wishes are ignored
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2023
The device is generally okay, but the software is frequently annoying. When I'm not actively using it, I want it to be just a clock. To do this, I have to turn off a LOAD of crap Amazon wants to push to the screen. I get it to mostly be the way I want, then some months later Amazon adds a TON of new junk to push to the screen, all defaulting to on. Why?! Stop forcing me to jump through hoops to just have a clock I can reliably look to for the time without ads on it. I paid for the device, LEAVE ME ALONE! I've no interest in sports scores, knowing I can have you tell me a joke, seeing some pots and pans that are on sale, or any of many other wonders you want to shove in my face. No means NO! If you're going to add anything else, Amazon, add a "Disable ALL" toggle to the home screen settings.
In addition to regularly pooping unwanted content onto my home screen, Alexa is plagued with hearing and comprehension problems. I am known for having a clear and unaffected speech pattern and have been told I should do radio, audio books, voice over, etc. Alexa, however, often ignores me until I repeat myself a few times. On other occasions it hears things I didn't say. Sometimes it's perhaps an acceptable misunderstanding, if, for instance, there's a fan running that could throw it off, but other times it pipes up with some comment for no apparent reason at all. Did it hear an exceedingly faint dog bark in the distance and decide it said, "Alexa, where is a parts store?", because out of the blue it starts telling me about the closest Advanced Auto Parts, completely unprompted by me, nor is there any device within earshot playing audio. Maybe Alexa hears ghosts? At any rate, it's a pain sometimes, and though it managed to hear some otherworldly whisper it makes me shout two or three times to make it stop rattling off the reply to the query it seems to have tuned in from the aether.
I've had more issues, but I'll pare it down by closing with this gripe: It can't do event the most basic things without an internet connection. If the internet drops, suddenly I can't turn off the lights. Why not? The router is functioning, I can see all the devices on the network, but Alexa has no brain whatsoever without an internet connection, and can't send a basic command to a device without it. Google Nest can query and command devices without an internet connection, but Alexa will only whine about not being connected to the internet. You can't even tell it to stop the excuse, because it can't even process "Alexa, STOP!" without phoning home. Pathetic, really.
Bottom line; hardware is decent, but software is lacking in a number of respects, and customer wishes are ignored.
