What can I do with an echo dot?!

[WelshMoth]

I've been given 2 echo dots for my birthday. Can someone explain to me in very childlike language what I can do with 2 echo dots?! I'm a self confessed technophobe and have no idea what to do with them.

Can you do that if you're out of the house by logging into the Alexa app? Get the dot to make an announcement to those in the house while you are out?

Yes you can message when out of the house. (And change the music to annoying people)

You can play Spotify and Amazon music without a subscription but you get adverts. And can't chose particular songs.

You can also play normal radio stations.

Drop in on teenagers, use them as calculators, ask them random facts, to spell words, tell you jokes, set alarms, reminders and lists

I only used to use mine for music but then it stopped playing requests so I got rid of it.

Say the following to alexa

What is Boris Johnson carrots coffee bean 100 in Welsh?

i found the above when searching on mumsnet the other. I had heard it before and it still made me chuckle even if the language is rude 🤣

I’d ask for the receipts, take them back, and get something useful.

We used ours with a smart bulb and smart socket (for bedside lamp) for an elderly visually impaired relative who came to stay so they could switch the lights on and off at night. Once they'd mastered that we told them they could play the radio on it if they woke up early. They were so impressed that they bought one as they now have easy access to the weather forecast, podcasts, news etc which was not easy for them to access previously due to poor eyesight.

I use mine all the time. Bluetooth from phone, playlists, podcasts, audible and radio.

Music, alarms/timers/reminders, talking to others in house, weather/news check.

With additional equipment:
turning lights on/off with voice
Opening/closing curtains and blinds
Tells me when my doorbell is ringing
Makes my heating voice activated
Makes my robot vacuum voice activated
Tells me if my fridge or freezer door, or window or regular door has been left open.

I frequently make use of the "find my phone" function

We have Alexa things all over the house - you have to download Alexa app, create an account and then it’s dead easy to set up. You go in the app and “add device”. It talks you through it.

i use mine for turning on the lamp, answering the doorbell, playing music, radio, doing my shopping list.

But mostly, I have an Echo Dot in the living room so when I’m watching something on telly, I can say: “Alexa, how old is.. xxx actor?” without having to get my phone and Google. So satisfying.

We too have Alexa all over the house. We use her/it to control our sound system (Bose speakers in most rooms), to program smart plugs (lights on and off at various times), routines (“Alexa Good Morning” tells me what the weather will be and turns on the radio to the station I prefer in the morning: “Alexa Good Night” turns on my alarm and starts playing white noise in my bedroom). I tell my teenage DS when dinner is ready. DS uses it for podcasts and alarms. I add to my Ocado order while cooking. I set timers. I can control my heating (eg put hot water onto boost if I fancy a bath outside if “normal” time or turn it all off I forget when we leave for holiday). I tell her what to do from my phone too… we were getting home after 1am a few weekends ago and I knew all the lights would be off so from my phone I turned on the hall lamp so we didn’t walk into a dark house. Personally I think they are brilliant especially when linked to other smart devices like plugs and sound equipment.

I find it ok, I have 2 for music upstairs as they are quite cheap, sound is nowhere near as good as Apple HomePod though but they are much more expensive, they are not ever so user friendly for smart plugs, I find Hive much better for those. As a cheap and cheerful music player and alarm and if they are only £20 at the moment they are probably a reasonable buy though

@PuttingDownRoots How do you message people via the dot when out of the house please?

Alexa app on my phone.

I use mine for Spotify (music and podcasts) and radio mainly.

Alarm, radio, music playlists, tells me the weather , answers random questions I would otherwise Google..
I also play Pointless every day.
Also I can type a message into the Alexa app from work to say when I’m coming home or can ‘drop in’ on any of the Echo dots to have a chat to whoever is in the kitchen when I’m out at the shops.

My 8 year old loves asking Alexa to fart, particularly because he has worked out how to delay it so Alexa suddenly does a massive fart noise out of nowhere and it scares the life out of me.

On the downside I know it’s collecting all sorts of consumer information about me every time I speak to it but to be honest Google etc are doing that anyway so I’m not sure it’s any worse than them.

Yes, I often drop in on the dog . It tells me when he's barking

And I tell him to pack it in 🤣

I also have 2 of the echo shows so I can drop in and see what him and the cats are up to

Oh I love mine, I have 4 around the house. Use it for all the lights in the house, music, radio in the office, cooking timer, general info e.g. last night I asked her to convert American cooking measurements whilst reading a recipe on my phone. She can also set off the roomba and the alarm clock with radio and lights come on. Also to remind me to do certain tasks in the morning once a week which I always forget. There's probably loads more that I just don't know about.

Oh a made a packing list with her which was handy as she would read it out to me.

We have one in the living room and one in each bedroom. I use it for

announcements to tell DD when tea is ready etc.

alarms/reminders of appointments, ie doctor, or to collect DD from somewhere

shopping list, you keep adding things and then it will read it back to you

to play music when I go to bed (Sleepwell Station)

DD plays music on hers from spotify, amazon etc

radio when working

daily quizzes, Friends, Harry Potter, Disney etc (not every day but when we are bored)

searching for tv "Alexa play Friends on Netflix" - although it only ever seems to go to series 1 episode 1 not where you left off watching it

to sing Happy Birthday/say Happy Christmas etc

timer for cooking

daily news/weather etc

Alexa can be a bit stupid though as my DD's name ends with an "ah" so often when I say her name, Alexa will pipe up instead. We did change Alexa's name, but that just caused confusion, "Alexa, no Dot, no Alexa!!" and so on, so changed it back. It is a shame that you can't choose the name, there are only 3 to pick from

I also use the Alexa app and am thinking about getting an Alexa tv but not sure on that one yet.

My house was so quiet before. I have the radio on all day now. Alarms, white noise, games and shopping lists mostly