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Old 03-12-2016, 12:04
Z Stardust
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Is the Dot OK for listening to speech radio in a kitchen/bedroom without external speakers?
Absolutely fine for talk radio I would say.
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Old 03-12-2016, 13:05
derek500
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It sounds to me like a 'nice to have' but not essential bit of kit yet. I already have a Chromecast audio that links to £600 worth of hi-fi and a decent sony portable speaker. And because they legally can't put football radio commentary on-line I even have a digital radio sitting next to the sofa.
I've just tested Tune-In Radio on my tablet and the Man City v Chelsea match is working.
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Old 03-12-2016, 13:13
GDK
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Is the Dot OK for listening to speech radio in a kitchen/bedroom without external speakers?
I would say, yes it is. Echo Dot's speaker is fine for reproducing Alexa's own voice responses, for example. The quality of reproduction, while definitely not hi-fi, is perfectly good for talk radio. Better than the average alarm clock radio.
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Old 03-12-2016, 14:25
derek500
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Thanks for the help. Ordered a black Dot, coming tomorrow.
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Old 03-12-2016, 15:10
grahamlthompson
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What is the difference please, other than the price, between the echo dot and the Alexa? Is the sound vastly inferior? Looking to buy as a Christmas present but not wanting to spend over £100 ! Be grateful for honest feedback, thank you.
The dot has a tiny speaker inside OK for speech but hopeless for music, On the other hand it can connect by bluetooth or cable to speakers that are much better than the built in ones in the full size version. Incidentally the dot is less than £40.00 at the moment.
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Old 03-12-2016, 16:06
derek500
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The dot has a tiny speaker inside OK for speech but hopeless for music, On the other hand it can connect by bluetooth or cable to speakers that are much better than the built in ones in the full size version. Incidentally the dot is less than £40.00 at the moment.
Where from? £49.99 was the best I could find.
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Old 03-12-2016, 16:51
koantemplation
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Where from? £49.99 was the best I could find.
It was £10 off in the Amazon Cyberweek deal. Over now though.
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Old 03-12-2016, 17:03
derek500
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It was £10 off in the Amazon Cyberweek deal. Over now though.
Darn!! I cancelled my Amazon Prime order on the back of Graham's post. Missed tomorrow's deadline now, have to reorder and get it Monday.
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Old 03-12-2016, 21:04
ney
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I've got my Dot connected to some Logitech 2.1 speakers. A must "do" if music will be a big part of what you use it for (like me).

I actually switched my music subscription from Apple Music to Amazon as it doesn't currently integrate directly with Apple Music.

I can come in from work now and just say, "Alexa, play some Joy Division" and will be playing whilst I get washed and changed out of my grubby work gear. I love it. It was worth the £50 to me just for the instant, hands free control of my music library. But Alexa can do so much more of course.

I couldn't decide between Harry Kane (home to Swansea) or Aguero (home to Chelsea) as my captain in the Fantasy League today. I asked Alexa to flip a coin. She said "heads" and that was Kane so it's Alexa's fault if it goes badly!
My sister has Apple Music so its a shame that the Amazon Echo dose not work with that as yet. As I got her an Amazon Echo for her Christmas.
It also a shame that the Echo dont also link to Apple Calendar as I have not used Google Calendar since getting an IPhone 5s back in April to replace my 3 year old Nexus 4.
The add to my shopping list is very handy as I used that the other night with the Alexa app on my IPhone 5s while I was in Asda.
Have beenusing the Amazon Echo over 2 weeks now and I do love it.
I still find though that it still only 95%/96% understands what you ask it.
The Amazon Echo is one of the top 5 most selling Christmas gifts in the UK this year.

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Old 03-12-2016, 22:51
David (2)
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I don't get it tbh, especially as I have seen on my iPad (smart phone would surely be the same) a feature called "hey Google" which if switched on will listen for voice activation. U could shout stuff across the room to it, just like the echo.
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Old 06-12-2016, 11:51
derek500
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Got my Dot yesterday and am very impressed.

Easy to set up and connect and sound quality in kitchen and bedroom fine.

Great being able to listen to talkRADIO (it's not on DAB here in the South West), but I can't seem to get it using verbal commands (5Live, LBC and talkSPORT work fine).

I have to use the Alexa app and get it by doing a search in Tune-In.
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:16
grahamlthompson
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It was £10 off in the Amazon Cyberweek deal. Over now though.
John Lewis matched the offer as well. I bought one but it's a xmas pressie from the better half so not able to test it yet
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:18
grahamlthompson
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I don't get it tbh, especially as I have seen on my iPad (smart phone would surely be the same) a feature called "hey Google" which if switched on will listen for voice activation. U could shout stuff across the room to it, just like the echo.
The echo is designed to work in a noisy environment.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/aud...1328595/review

If you have a google there are some novel easter eggs when you ask specific questions
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Old 07-12-2016, 20:47
koantemplation
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John Lewis matched the offer as well. I bought one but it's a xmas pressie from the better half so not able to test it yet
Yes Argos was also doing the deal at the same time.

Amazon are doing 3 Dots for £20 off the total price at the moment.
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Old 09-12-2016, 19:33
Tiwttmos
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Bought mines for £119, with a £10 gift voucher. I took out a months trial of Amazon music unlimited, the sound is good for a small speaker.
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Old 09-12-2016, 21:57
ney
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Bought mines for £119, with a £10 gift voucher. I took out a months trial of Amazon music unlimited, the sound is good for a small speaker.
I agree I'm also impressed with the sound from the Echo. I got it liked to my Spotify Premium account.
Over 3 week I have been using it and so far I'm very happy with it and its improving all the time in knowing what you say to it. Just now and again it don't understand what you say or if you got the volume very high while listening to music it don't also understand you or hear what you say.
The Alexa app has also improved since I first got it as I find I now not having to sign out and back in to it as offen as I was the other week to get some of it to work.
The TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug that I got to go with the Echo works 99% fine.
Glad I also ordered one for my sister to go with the Echo that I'm giving her for Christmas and got it the other day as the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug is now out of stock. Guess people have been buying them to go with the Echo and TP-Link have not had enough stock to keep up with the demand.
I'm was going to buy myself another one of the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plugs to.

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Old 14-12-2016, 09:20
derek500
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Email from Amazon this morning:-

Coming soon—Amazon Echo Dot will support IFTTT (If This, Then That), a third-party service that allows you to create rules (or "recipes") that automate how your devices, apps and websites work with each other.
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Old 14-12-2016, 09:42
edwinbot
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that's good. Nice to see functionality available for US customers is making it's way over here.
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Old 16-12-2016, 17:45
HHGTTG
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I was perhaps keen on this device but then realised it would keep my BT HH3 from powering down occasionally when all my other devices are turned off or hibernated. I refer here to my tablets, laptops and phones etc. Even on my Smart TV WiFi is only turned on if I want to use its Apps.
This Amazon product, whether Dot or Echo keeps the Hub always 'full power' so to speak unless un-plugged of course, which defeats its purpose - so not for me and apart from a few rather banal questions and answers it can provide (so can Siri, Cortana and Google, then there's nothing else I can see it doing for me, who does not want to have home automation on lights etc and access to pop music on Amazon at a cost.
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Old 18-12-2016, 21:49
ney
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About a month now I been using the Amazon Echo and it's improving every week.
I just love it. Got it to give me train times to Edinburgh yesterday afternoon as I was going to Edinburgh for the evening.
It still don't always know that you say but it's slowly improving.
I can't wait till next Sunday when I give my sister an Echo for her Christmas plus one or two other small gifts. For she seems to like what she's seen of the one that I have.
The Amazon Echo still seems to be the second most selling Christmas gift of the year.
Just a shame the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug to go with it is now hard to get,
I guess TP-Link never thought there smart plugs would sell so well and are now low or out of stock in most places.
I guess most like me have been buying a TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug to go with there Echo and TP-Link and most shops have run out of stock.

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Old 22-12-2016, 11:06
testcard
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About a month now I been using the Amazon Echo and it's improving every week.
I just love it. Got it to give me train times to Edinburgh yesterday afternoon as I was going to Edinburgh for the evening.
It still don't always know that you say but it's slowly improving.
I can't wait till next Sunday when I give my sister an Echo for her Christmas plus one or two other small gifts. For she seems to like what she's seen of the one that I have.
The Amazon Echo still seems to be the second most selling Christmas gift of the year.
Just a shame the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug to go with it is now hard to get,
I guess TP-Link never thought there smart plugs would sell so well and are now low or out of stock in most places.
I guess most like me have been buying a TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug to go with there Echo and TP-Link and most shops have run out of stock.
Darren
Argos seem to have the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug available in some stores.
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Old 22-12-2016, 22:18
ney
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Argos seem to have the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plug available in some stores.
Have been on the Argos website and the 3 nearest stores in my area don't have the TP Link Wi-Fi smart plug. Its not even available for home delivery.
I got my sister one from Amazon to go with her Amazon Echo that I got for her Christmas but was thinking of getting her another one but the TP-Link Wi-Fi smart plugs now seem hard to get. Glad I managed to get myself two from Amazon the other week.

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Old 23-12-2016, 21:47
ShaunIOW
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I've got both versions, and generally i find them both very good, and the sound quality fine - I do have Amazon Prime as I got it half-price and British Gas sent me a free Hive unit so I have one light connected, and its very jandy for listening to music, audio books and the radio, especially laying in bed.

But there are a few things that could do with improvement.

Voice recognition: Mostly OK, but does ned some work as some requests can take up to 15 attempts, and it sometimes totally misunderstands what I want to listen to eg, asked for Blue Oyster Cult and got Justin Bieber.

Music Streaming: The launch of Amazons new pay music service has seen less content on the free one with some albums i had boookmarked, now pay ones and the limit of uploading just 250 of your own tracks free is piss poor, as is not being able to stream from a NAS drive.

Audiobooks: Only plays from Audible so ones bought elsewhere can't be used (annoying if you have audio books on CD ripped to MP3 and the only way to use echo to listen to them is buy again from audible), and the navigation needs a fair bit of work as it's impossible to rewind/fast forward and the best you can do is go to a chapter number, which doesn't help in some books as things like prologues are counted as chapters eg. In Lord of the Rings, Chapter One, is actually Chapter 4 if you want echo to go to the first chapter, and as the book is split into two parts, later on there is a second chapter one, thats actually chapter 19 for echo purposes, so fall a sleep while listening and you either have to miss lots or replay whole chapters (if you can find the right chapter number), which is annoying if its a long chapter of say an hour and you only missed the last 15 minutes.
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Old 24-12-2016, 14:31
ags_rule
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I think it's a great piece of kit - as an earlier poster said, not yet essential, but fun to play around with.

One feature though that is sadly missing is better integration with Google Calendar. It can tell me what my upcoming appointments are and add things etc., but it can't tell me what I have in a particular month. EG. I knew I had an appointment in March but couldn't remember when. I asked "Alexa, what's on my calendar in March?" and it said "Sorry, this feature isn't supported" However I knew it was a Friday so I went through all the Fridays in March, asking it what was on my calendar then, and it was able to do it. Strange.
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Old 28-12-2016, 10:47
Lincs_Imp
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Bought my wife the Echo for Christmas. Agree that sound quality is very good but please don't bother trying the search facility. Stay with "OK Google" because this device can tell you nothing.

My daughter even asked it when is twelfth night this morning and all we got was the stock answer "I cannot help with that". Two seconds later I had the answer on OK Google.

Very disappointing to be honest.
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