Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsDid Alexa get stupider or is it just me?
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2023
The product looks quite sharp. The design look is quite pleasant and the volume and sound quality are remarkably good for a unit the size of a softball. The WiFi range is lacking, severely. My office is the farthest room away from my router but she is the only device with connectivity issues. I have a 2012 laptop that gets 4 bars in the same spot. She gets about 2. The voice recognition software is very impressive. She can distinguish my voice clearly from others with a room full of several chatting people and music/tv going in the backround. I have a very odd accent as I've spent each quarter of my 40 years in a different corner of the United States but she seems to have adapted rather easily and rarely fails to understand a command on the first try. I pulled stars because despite all her new bells and whistles she seems to have lost quite a bit of her playfulness and more basic commands. When she misunderstands a command, she does not even get it close and I get a lot of the defacto "I'm sorry I can't do that" responses to simple queries. When I was younger I remember sitting having an hour long smart-alec b.s. trash talking session with my uncle's Alexa. This one is boring and no fun to joke around with. She also cannot retain instructions and preferences by voice. Some can be done via the app. But if I wanted to interact with the app on my phone, I wouldn't have bought the pod. I've told her endless times that Spotify is my preferred music player, but unless I specify Spotify in the command she defers to Amazon music. Overall she's become more Amazon's than my own product. Much less independent. Amazon should be giving these away for free for the amount of permission and intrusions needed just to use her. It claims she can integrate with any Bluetooth audio device. This is a lie. She can scan and find her own products no problem but my expensive non-amazon Bluetooth audio devices are invisible to her. The Alexa accessories like light switches, cameras, speakers, thermostats are fairly cheap and basic and allow little to no user customization or expansion. The level of integration is also very basic. About as complex as simply getting a "clap-on/clap off" light switch. Now if there was a smart plug hub where I could plug in all my office devices and instruct her to power on my workstation upon entry to my office(meaning activate my computer, desk light, air conditioning, and interactive display) but leave the rest of my electrical devices plugged in there deactivated unless instructed otherwise, that would be neat. I'm also somehow quite uncomfortable with giving her access to any cameras in her home as we know Alexa has behaved as a spy and unauthorized gatherer of personal information in the past. This model has a "privacy mode" based on the honor system and a very reassuring red light to designate this. Yeah, trust is a hard thing to get back once you've betrayed it. She does not have a battery. This is a major design flaw. My 20 year old clock radio has a backup but my brand new Alexa does not. So every single time we lose power or I have to unplug her to move her, I have to go through the ENTIRE process of putting her back into setup mode, reconnecting her to my wifi. An absolute insufferable pain. Also, she does things for no apparent reason, which again makes me nervous. Normally when idle or not in a set mode, her base black out. Occasionally I will be watching her and she will just begin to pulse a color at the base for random periods of time for no explainable reason. I've asked her to explain herself and she plays dumb. Sometimes a song will come on in shuffle play that I will like and I will ask her afterwards to identify the last song she played. She cannot do this. I ask her to identify the last task I had her perform, she cannot do this. I ask her why she is blinking, she cannot do this. She can adjust her volume up or down one small phase at a time verbally, but mutes the music while executing the command but does not pause it. To go from very quiet to very loud is a process of about 30 seconds, 10 requests, and a starting over of the track. Overall she is limited, does not learn. Little to no AI, and is mostly an exercise in frustration rather than convenience. Another MAJOR design flaw, she cannot be made to respond only to my voice or to refuse a specific voice. We learned this the hard way with my young nephew who spent a good 20 minutes playing hit or miss demanding calls to names he was guessing from my address book and even our local police. A 5 year old is going to stupid things. A 5 year old is going to talk to and play with damn near anything that will play with it. How in god's name did no one at Amazon think it a good idea to put a "parent" or "owner" mode where she answers only to my voice, or uses that amazing voice recognition software to single out and restrict a voice. Does anyone at Amazon have children? Or do they simply not like Amazon products either? If you are willing to do things her way, she can be an asset. If you want something that can adapt to and work with you, she's a frustration and a liability. If you want an attractive centerpiece for your livingroom to impress your friends with your "smart house", shes perfect. I thought newer would be better. Overall I'm dissapointed with this product and miss my echo dot.
