What is an echo/ a dot / and an Alexa

[onedayatatime73]

And what do they do / not do

And why do people have more than one?

[Bluntness100]

Alexa is the name you call the echo or the dot when you interact with it. The echo is the one with bigger speakers, the dot the small version. The reason to have more than one is to connect them via different rooms or use them in those rooms.

Ours is just in the kitchen, it’s the dot, and hooked up to blue tooth speaker, she does everything from tell me thr weather, the news, keep my shopping list, play games, tell me train times, traffic conditions, cinema listings, act as a calculation, do forex adjustments, tell me jokes, read my kindle books, tell me a poem, burp, fart or insult me. But mainly she plays music, radio or any song, album or play list I ask for.

[onedayatatime73]

So helpful. thank you. And how does it / she "know" all this - is it connected to a pic? iPad?

[ihatethecold]

I stood in amazement at all these products in John Lewis yesterday.
No idea what they all are.
Still don’t 😬

[strongandlong]

She's connected to the internet. Like a voice operated iPad.

[parietal]

Also, these gadgets listen to everything you say (to hear the magic word Alexa) but some people worry it transmits everything to Amazon which could use your conversation to advertise to you etc. I won’t get one cos I want my privacy

[buckeejit]

I bought DH one & my fave thing is having it linked to a smart plug in our lounge which the lamps are plugged into so I just say 'alexa lamp on/off' & it's done.

Great for lazy people & those with impaired mobility. I've bought 2 for both my family secret santas this year

[BertieBotts]

Yeah - it's a voice operated ipad. With no screen. That's literally what it is. Anything that you could imagine an ipad could do, this device could do except it's designed to be interacted with by voice.

One of the big selling points currently is that it's compatible with lots of the smart home devices like smart lightbulbs, smart heating thermostat etc, so you can control other things by talking to this device, which feels even more futuristic than doing it on a screen.

[DerelictWreck]

Guys this is a terrible thread! Because now I need one!

[Bearsinmotion]

Quick question - is it a Bluetooth speaker? Or does it connect to one? I am confused!

[ilovekitkats]

Can you just have a Dot or do you need to have an Echo first? That is the bit I am confused about.

[HappydaysArehere]

This thread makes me feel very, very, very old