Amazon Echo FAQ

Zascar · 21-10-2016 07:17PM

That's very disappointing, they are supposed to be the same...

Nuttzz · 21-10-2016 07:41PM

I got my dot today but it tells me it is having problems with IFTTT in my region, any ideas?

BobbyT28 · 21-10-2016 08:14PM

Nuttzz wrote: »

I got my dot today but it tells me it is having problems with IFTTT in my region, any ideas?

No support for IFTTT yet. In development I believe

Cabaal · 21-10-2016 08:26PM

v10 wrote: »

I got the Echo a couple of weeks ago and the Dot today, I'm finding the Dot not nearly as responsive to the wake word as the Echo !

Anyone else with both experiencing the same ?

Yep, but only when playing anything... Even at low volume. Is say its because the mics are so close to the speaker compared to the echo

Stoner · 21-10-2016 09:14PM

Zascar wrote:

That's very disappointing, they are supposed to be the same...

I thought it was better . It has a more advanced speech processor.

Stoner · 21-10-2016 09:48PM

I'm not getting on with Alexa ATM. She keeps calling me Neill and telling me about the news in London.

Tune in works over the app. Just like my aldi WiFi speakers . But I can't get tunein radio to operate via voice.

It tells me the time though

jay0109 · 21-10-2016 09:54PM

Well, I read all 43 pages and am not too impressed by the Echo/Dot. As someone who'd use this mainly for TuneIn, it seems very hit and miss...more miss even. The issues with this have been flagged for ovr 6 months now and look to be getting worse.
There seems to be no comment from TuneIn on the problems at all. And Amazon don't look like they had much focus on Ireland when desiging their product.

I'm guessing Google Home will have the same issues.

Cabaal · 22-10-2016 08:14AM

jay0109 wrote: »

And Amazon don't look like they had much focus on Ireland when desiging their product. .

Why would they though?
It's not advertised towards Ireland and they specifically set it so they won't deliver it to the Irish market. Of course they didnt focus on Ireland, it would be a waste of their time.

Anyone buying these expecting a device that will work perfectly in Ireland has failed to do research

adox · 22-10-2016 08:23AM

I presume the lack of response from the Dot is when using the internal speaker only?

Haven't had a chance to set mine up yet but I will be going external speaker/s whatever set up I go with.

bk · 22-10-2016 08:53AM

I have both the Echo and the Dot and I find them roughly the same.

Positioning is important, you need to make sure to position it somewhere that is more likely to pick up your voice then not. It certainly isn't something to hide away behind books. For the Dot it is also a good idea to put the dot as far from the speakers as possible so that it can continue to hear you over the music.

jay0109, yes if your main use for this is TuneIn, then it currently isn't great. If you are mostly using it for Spotify or Amazon Music and for Home Automation control, then it is really quite good. Certainly not perfect, it has improving to do, but I wouldn't be without it now.

BTW I never bought this idea that the new Dot has better voice recognition then the Echo. Smaller device (thus less room for mics) and cheaper, it just wasn't going to be true. Maybe it is better then the first gen dot, but it certainly isn't better then the Echo.

mrcheez · 22-10-2016 08:53AM

adox wrote: »

I presume the lack of response from the Dot is when using the internal speaker only?

Haven't had a chance to set mine up yet but I will be going external speaker/s whatever set up I go with.

This is what I think they are saying as well, that the Dot doesn't respond when playing audio from the internal speaker (which isn't really the way its supposed to be used)

Go with the approach I'm taking (if connecting via 3.5mm) and get a long 3m cable to ensure voice receiver is far enough away from speaker

bk · 22-10-2016 08:58AM

BTW I posted the following on the Netatmo Thread in the Bargain Alerts forum yesterday. Might be of interest to folks here.

=================

Got miy Netatmo Thermostat yesterday. Was a breeze to install, just drop in replacement for my two wire old wifi thermostat.

I'll probably hook the relay up to the Boiler some day so that the thermostat can go wireless, but that will require an electrician, so I'll leave that for another day.

I've gotten it working with Alexa, but was tough work and Alexa seems a little dumb about it. Here are the commands I've working (Thermostat is called "House"):

- Alexa increase House temperature (increases it by 1c)
- Alexa increase House temperature by 2 (increase temp by 2, etc.)
- Alexa decrease House temperature
- Alexa decrease House temperature by 2
- Alexa set House temperature to 21

I've also set it up with Apple Homekit / Siri and wow it is far smarter then Alexa.

I can ask for the current temperature by simply saying:
"What is the temperature at home"

And I can change the temperature by simply saying:
- Increase temperature
- Increase temperature by 2
- make it hotter
- make it colder
- set the temperature to 20

Notice how I don't have to say Home or House every time. Much more natural.

mrcheez · 22-10-2016 09:04AM

bk wrote: »

BTW I never bought this idea that the new Dot has better voice recognition then the Echo. Smaller device (thus less room for mics) and cheaper, it just wasn't going to be true. Maybe it is better then the first gen dot, but it certainly isn't better then the Echo.

There's no idea to buy, its Amazon themselves that say the 2nd gen Dot has improved mics which will be brought across to the 2nd gen Echo later (or upgrading existing ones via firmware update perhaps)

The Dot unit is the same size as the Echo unit, just sans the speaker underneath. There isn't more elaborate tech in the Echo than the Dot.

The price difference is that you are paying for the mono speaker in the Echo.

shellyf12345 · 22-10-2016 12:16PM

Was thinking of buying the Echo I have an iPhone and Spotify account will this work in Ireland?

How do I get the app on my iPhone?

Does Spotify work ok on the Echo?

v10 · 22-10-2016 12:21PM

adox wrote: »

I presume the lack of response from the Dot is when using the internal speaker only?

Haven't had a chance to set mine up yet but I will be going external speaker/s whatever set up I go with.

Yeah, I've since connected a Bluetooth speaker and it's much better alright, so the issue is obviously the proximity of the mic and speakers.

22-10-2016 12:57PM

shellyf12345 wrote: »

Was thinking of buying the Echo I have an iPhone and Spotify account will this work in Ireland?

Yes

How do I get the app on my iPhone?

You can simply go to http://alexa.amazon.co.uk

Does Spotify work ok on the Echo?

Brilliantly. Best thing about it at the moment.

Thelomen Toblackai · 22-10-2016 12:59PM

Anyone managed to set their location to Ireland on the echo dot ?

adox · 22-10-2016 01:01PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes

You can simply go to http://alexa.amazon.co.uk

Pretty sure you will need to set up a UK App Store account to get the app.

22-10-2016 01:05PM

Yeah I only saw the "i" in front of "Phone" after I had posted!!!

marcusmaximus29 · 22-10-2016 01:09PM

Hey all,

Just received my Echo Dot last last but it's a bit of a pain getting it set up. I've browsed a lot of the previous 40 odd pages but no joy so far. Looking to set up on iOS, have tried alexa.amazon.co.uk, which then tells me I need to set up on the US App Store. Doing this will mess up any other existing downloads etc etc as far as I can make out. Anyone got any pointers on how to get set up as painlessly as possible? Any tips appreciated, thanks

adox · 22-10-2016 01:23PM

marcusmaximus29 wrote: »

Hey all,

Just received my Echo Dot last last but it's a bit of a pain getting it set up. I've browsed a lot of the previous 40 odd pages but no joy so far. Looking to set up on iOS, have tried alexa.amazon.co.uk, which then tells me I need to set up on the US App Store. Doing this will mess up any other existing downloads etc etc as far as I can make out. Anyone got any pointers on how to get set up as painlessly as possible? Any tips appreciated, thanks

Set up a Uk iTunes account and download the app from there(a quick Google will tell you how to set one up if you are unsure).

Once you have the app downloaded you can sign out of your UK account and back into your Irish one to get your updates. If there's a update for the Alexi app showing in the future just sign back into the UK store to update it.

I still haven't taken my Dot out of the box but downloaded the app through iOS a couple of weeks ago so I was nearly ready to go when setting up. Linked my Amazon account of course and Spotify etc.

Headshot · 22-10-2016 01:36PM

Thanks adox

Stoner · 22-10-2016 02:02PM

mrcheez wrote:

There's no idea to buy, its Amazon themselves that say the 2nd gen Dot has improved mics which will be brought across to the 2nd gen Echo later (or upgrading existing ones via firmware update perhaps)

Doesn't the gen 2 echo dot have a speech processor. That was my understanding if why it was supposed operate more accurately that the gen 1 dot. That's why I held out for it.

The echo dot gen 1 matches the full size echo.

They have the same mics etc but a new processor is added to the gen 2 devices.

http://beebom.com/amazon-echo-dot-2-vs-echo-dot-1st-gen/

marcusmaximus29 · 22-10-2016 02:04PM

Lifesaver, thank you!Up and running now, love it!

22-10-2016 03:28PM

Possible stupid question but can this play audio files stored on a NAS?? Could have sworn I saw something ages back when I was first researching the Echo. Although after using it I doubt there is such a feature.

Dr. Dre · 22-10-2016 04:07PM

Stoner wrote: »

Doesn't the gen 2 echo dot have a speech processor.....[/url]

It's a software thing, not a hardware thing. It will roll out to existing echo's

v10 · 22-10-2016 05:02PM

Semi-related question .. are any philips hue users here using 3rd party bulbs ? If so, which ones ? I'm looking for a E14 type bulb solution.

PreCocious · 22-10-2016 05:35PM

v10 wrote: »

Semi-related question .. are any philips hue users here using 3rd party bulbs ? If so, which ones ? I'm looking for a E14 type bulb solution.

I've a lightify E14 connected to the Hue. Works fine. When pairing you need to turn it on at the same time as searching from the Hue app. (The firmware was updated via the lightify gateway)

chriski · 22-10-2016 05:44PM

I have just got my Echo and it won't let me set my address - I think due to the postcodes.

I have it set as north wales now as that's the closest UK address I can think of! (I'm in Dublin)

Anyone have a workaround?

loughrey · 22-10-2016 05:56PM

chriski wrote: »

I have just got my Echo and it won't let me set my address - I think due to the postcodes.

I have it set as north wales now as that's the closest UK address I can think of! (I'm in Dublin)

Anyone have a workaround?

There doesn't need to be a workaround, you can just set it to Dublin. Just type in Dublin into the app and they give suggestions like Dublin 1. Even though mine is officially set to Dublin via the app you can't just ask for the weather and it gives you the weather in Dublin. Setting the address to Dublin doesn't seem to give traffic or weather. Some Irish users say theirs does but mine doesn't. That's probably because I'm using a UK server to avail of Amazon Prime Video.

Amazon Echo FAQ

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