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Amazon Echo FAQ

Dr. Dre

Any fellow Irish users of this device?

It should be top of your list if you're into gadgets

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degsie

adox wrote: »

One more question when I'm at it. Is line in preferred to Bluetooth if both options are available and practical on a speaker?

At first I was connecting by Bluetooth and keeping the speaker well away from the dot but I have it beside it now and the voice sensitivity seems roughly the same so was thinking of running a 3.5mm jack between the two.

Wired is less susceptible to interference and lag.

Stoner

degsie wrote:

Wired is less susceptible to interference and lag.

I'd always use wired but I've the Bluetooth speaker on top of the fridge and wireless is working well.

jobless

Anyone manage to get it to play 98fm...always plays an American station for me

torrevieja

i tried safari says its not compatiable

i tried setting up a itunes .co.uk keeps putting me back to american version

adox

torrevieja wrote: »

i tried safari says its not compatiable

i tried setting up a itunes .co.uk keeps putting me back to american version

You need to set up a UK App Store account if you want the app.

To be honest the app is pretty crap. The desktop site works much better.

Not sure what isn't compatible with Safari for you?

torrevieja

adox wrote: »

You need to set up a UK App Store account if you want the app.

To be honest the app is pretty crap. The desktop site works much better.

Not sure what isn't compatible with Safari for you?

Hi adox can u run me through how i get the desktop site thanks

yea it said im on an ios device and amazon appstore is only for android smartphones an tablets

adox

torrevieja wrote: »

Hi adox can u run me through how i get the desktop site thanks

yea it said im on an ios device and amazon appstore is only for android smartphones an tablets

Just go to http://alexa.amazon.co.uk

I meant the Apple App Store not Amazon.

Edit: fixed the link.

givecredit

For anyone with spotify premium the dot is a must buy. My dot arrived today. Connected it to my WiFi, set spotify as default music player and connected dot to my HiFi receiver. " Alexa play Queen " Alexa play David Bowie... Alexa play 80s..... Just brilliant!!!

uck51js9zml2yt

torrevieja wrote: »

Hi adox can u run me through how i get the desktop site thanks

yea it said im on an ios device and amazon appstore is only for android smartphones an tablets

There is a link a few pages back from stoner to the apk for me. It works easily on the phone.

degsie

Sebastian Damaged Herb wrote: »

There is a link a few pages back from stoner to the apk for me. It works easily on the phone.

Don't think apk's work on iOS

adox

If you really want the app on your iPhone just google how to set up a UK iOS App Store account. It will take 5 minutes max. Download the app.

degsie

adox wrote: »

If you really want the app on your iPhone just google how to set up a UK iOS App Store account. It will take 5 minutes max. Download the app.

One stumbling block is that you may be asked for a UK issued credit card.

torrevieja

they dont work on ios download cyberghost

degsie

torrevieja wrote: »

they dont work on ios download cyberghost

Eh?

adox

degsie wrote: »

One stumbling block is that you may be asked for a UK issued credit card.

If you try to download a free app first it won't ask for payment details when registering. So basically try to sign up for a U.K. account. Then cancel when it asks for payment details. You then aren't logged into an account but still on the UK Store. Search for the Echo app and go to download it(free)and then sign as prompted. When it gets to the payment screen there will be an option not to enter any details as you are purchasing a free app.

adox

torrevieja wrote: »

they dont work on ios download cyberghost

You don't need cyberghost?? The IOS app stores don't check your location.

Basq

Spent a good chunk of time trying to get Hue lights working to no avail last night.. disconnected bridge, reconnected bridge. removed lights, re-added lights. Work fine with Hue app but Alexa just won't do anything with them frustratingly.

Gonna try a factory reset on bridge this evening and hopefully get somewhere with it.

No-one else have issues?

yabadabado

Can a mod edit #1 and add a FAQ?
It's the same few queries getting asked repeatly be no harm having it on first page and add it into thread title.

setanta1984

Hue lights working 100% fine for me.

Only thing that I've noticed is that chnaging scenes requires very specific syntax:
"Alexa, turn on <Scene> in <Room>"
- works every time perfectly. Saying it slightly differently, in a different order or whatever won't work, unlike with switching on/off/dimming etc. which I've found many different ways to say.

TempPeck

Am I correct in saying the Hue lights are self contained wifi blubs and you need a bridge to get it all to work?
I've ceiling spot lights in most rooms that wouldn't take that kind of bulb.
I suppose I need some sort of smart switch to use with my existing blubs?

Anyone any experience with this?

On a separate note
- setup was easy using a laptop and the online 'app'
- spotify works like a dream
- cant get anything to work on tunein via voice control (but fine through the 'app')

setanta1984

TempPeck wrote: »

I've ceiling spot lights in most rooms that wouldn't take that kind of bulb.

Hue do GU10 spotlight bulbs if that is the kind you mean.
And yes you need the hue bridge for them to work. The starter kits tend to come with a bridge and 3 bulbs.

TempPeck

Thanks setanta.
Would it just be easier to get a smart switch then replacing 10 or 12 bulbs per room (and cheaper)?
If such a thing exists!

yoshimitsu

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/25/amazon-echo-logitech-harmony-skill/
Just read this article so havent had time to go home and test it on my set-up (which includes an Echo, Harmony and Hue hub/lights).
This could be a workaround to IFTTT not working in Ireland yet for such things as activating Hue scenes (rather than just on/off/dim) and other activities controlled by the Harmony ecosystem (plenty of stuff including XBOX, Android TV box, my Roomba vacuum cleaner, non-Hue LED light strips... basically anything operated with an infrared-sensor).

setanta1984

No idea about the switch to be honest, but I did (briefly!) consider buying some spotlights for the kitchen (8 bulbs) but at £50 a pop I quickly knocked that on the head and stuck with the lamps.

I looked into just replacing 2 or 3 spotlights with Hue ones but as they are all controlled by the same light switch it would be useless, as Hue lights need to be left on all the time at the switch to be useful with voice and app.

TempPeck

Harmony hub demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oolTje52ckk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOraAYzYEqc

yoshimitsu

TempPeck wrote: »

Harmony hub demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oolTje52ckk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOraAYzYEqc

I think this is the old work-around using Yonomi. There should be built-in Harmony skills in the Echo now which requires no Yonomi.
That's my remote by the way, Harmony Companion £100 on Amazon. No touch screen but same functionality of it bigger, more expensive brothers

Stoner wrote: »

So once and for all, I've read that the mics are the same in dot gen 1 and 2 , but gen 2 has a speech processor, also more up-to-date firmware, that the dot gen 1 has since received .

Yes, it may well be the voice processor that made the dot 1's so bad, rather then the mics.

However my point is that in my experience and the experience of a lot of other people, the Echo still has slightly better voice recognition then even the Dot 2, which is different to what some people were earlier claiming (that the Dot 2 would be better then the Echo, it really isn't).

Perhaps the Echo always had the better voice recognition processor, but the dot 1 got a cheaper one in order to hit the cheaper price point.

Or perhaps it is due to the physical design and higher position of the Echo that makes a difference.

So while the Dot 2 is better then the Dot 1, it certainly isn't better then the Echo, as some people were claiming. It is close enough not to matter, but not better.

TempPeck wrote: »

Thanks setanta.
Would it just be easier to get a smart switch then replacing 10 or 12 bulbs per room (and cheaper)?
If such a thing exists!

lightwaverf switches would do this. Unfortunately the downside is that they don't work with the Amazon Echo and they aren't well integrated with other home automation systems.

Hopefully that will change in time, but no guarantees.

TempPeck wrote: »

Harmony hub demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oolTje52ckk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOraAYzYEqc

Yes, I have this work around working for the past few weeks. It works fine, but is of limited use. What we really want is the official Logitech Harmony support in Alexa, so that you can fully control the devices (un/mute, volume up/down, change channels, play/pause, etc.).

mrcheez

bk wrote: »

So while the Dot 2 mic is better then the Dot 1 mic, it certainly isn't better then the Echo mic, as some people were claiming. It is close enough not to matter, but not better.

FYP

imho the Dot is a better device than the Echo as more flexible, plus a stereo speaker as opposed to mono

*ducks*

yoshimitsu wrote: »

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/25/amazon-echo-logitech-harmony-skill/

Just read this and the comments over on the reddit forum and it is very disappointing.

While it is "official" support, all you can do is turn on and off activities. No ability to mute, change volume, change channel, play/pause, etc. In other words no different to what you can already do with the Yonomi app :mad:

Looks like I'll have to look into using the third party Home Automation server software that can hack more support in.

Stoner

bk wrote:

Yes, I have this work around working for the past few weeks. It works fine, but is of limited use. What we really want is the official Logitech Harmony support in Alexa, so that you can fully control the devices (un/mute, volume up/down, change channels, play/pause, etc.).

I think at this stage that we are looking at workarounds being OK but not great. Fun to set up though! And we end up adding systems.

Overall it's a bit of a pity as a genuine open protocol would be brilliant here. However that's not the point for these guys I guess.

Amazon want to have you in their system ordering their products etc. Philips want you to have every lamp from them etc.

So overall you'll see cooperation so long as the systems dont impact on that.

Philips adding something that allows you to use another lamp, note I've Philips dimmable LEDs Gu10s for Â£4 but adding an inline module to allow a circuit of dimmable lamps to operate on Hue is not to Philips advantage. As you could use other lamps and it makes their products a commodity.

See the lads here with spare Hue hubs when they buy three lamps, or the dot being great fun and really very very inexpensive, trojan horse stuff.
You end up buying more to use it more. But the Apple home kit integration in Hue is very good as you can use iTunes.
Regarding Alexa hopefully they will continue to support other integration areas as they are not making lights or sockets etc we might see that.
I'll have google home next week I'm looking forward to seeing how it works with play music.
And if I can play my local library on it as that would be a very good inexpensive way to use music, and to be honest I'd prefer something that looks up Google than Bing

But I've fire TV, sticks, tablets etc.and for me they are top quality devices. I've managed to get great added value from them and Amazon get great orders form me! I'm hoping Alexa works out the same , we'll all get there faster together testing what we have.

I've a very interesting tutorial on getting X10 to work on Alexa.

But ..

It needs that old rPi to show its face again.