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Amazon really do want to take over your life don't they?
I wonder if once they control your home any non Amazon device will suddenly start to have problems? /sic

Once you let them in, you won't want to use other stores be them physical or online. Everything will be delivered and there will be no reason to leave your home...

Sorry, none of this TAT will be coming into my home. I'm proudly IoT free and it will remain that way as long as I'm alive.
 
The Echo was always Amazon's best line... I dunno what they were thinking with a microwave, just more gadgets to talk to.....

You may as well not lift a finger anymore.
 
The microwave is particularly stupid. You still have to walk up to it to put your food in. At that point how hard is it to punch in 30 seconds?

Looks good for my friend who has lost sensitivity in his hands and has poor eyesight due to diabetes.
You can also ask it for cook for another 30s with your hands full, reheat food from across the kitchen, or just use it as a "hidden" Alexa device to save counter space. Given the low price compared with other smart home devices this could well sell (not much more than a dot?). It's not for me, though :)
 
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I've always liked the look of the Echo devices (the current gen ones at least). My only problem with them was that they slapped a big Amazon logo on the front but they seem to have stopped doing that on the new ones. I'm gonna get a few for around the house. I actually like the clock one, it'll go well in my kitchen where I only use the echo for timers.
 
We have 4 Alexa devices (2 dots and 2 sonos) and we use them all the time for music, news and home automation (via Home Assistant), but I think Apple has them beat in at least 2 areas right now: Music selection and Home Automation software. Alexa is always asking me to clarify which thing I want to turn off, even though I've renamed the device to the exact thing I said. Siri is more accurate in that regard. The Home app isn't the greatest, but it's so much more intuitive than the Alexa app. The Siri Shortcuts app seems pretty useful for Home Automation, but it's not a mass-market kind of thing. Siri + Home is just more more pleasant, right now at least.

I have the opposite experience than you. Siri/HomeKit is always updating, unavailable, or says something is on/off and it’s not. And despite speaking clearly and slowly, Siri still can’t understand what I’m saying about 25% of the time. I got an echo dot on sale and used it with a few lights and was completely blown away at how Alexa understood nearly everything I requested. I ended up getting a few more dots to put around the house and they’re great for music while cooking or doing housework, etc. Siri is so frustrating it makes me want to throw my phone out the window.
 
Exactly... it shows you what Siri SHOULD be doing!
I like my HomePods and I’ve not expected too much from it in terms of smart speaker. However I was disappointed this morning that it couldn’t even tell me what 10pm ET was in GMT. That’s a fairly simple question. I asked my google home mini as it’s in the same room and it was able to tell me. Later on I asked one of my echos just to see and it was also able to tell me the answer.
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We have 4 Alexa devices (2 dots and 2 sonos) and we use them all the time for music, news and home automation (via Home Assistant), but I think Apple has them beat in at least 2 areas right now: Music selection and Home Automation software. Alexa is always asking me to clarify which thing I want to turn off, even though I've renamed the device to the exact thing I said. Siri is more accurate in that regard. The Home app isn't the greatest, but it's so much more intuitive than the Alexa app. The Siri Shortcuts app seems pretty useful for Home Automation, but it's not a mass-market kind of thing. Siri + Home is just more more pleasant, right now at least.
I don’t use my HomePods for home automation but I’ve tried the google home with google play music and my echos with Spotify and amazon music and Apple Music on the HomePod is light years ahead and I’m not talking about sound quality.
 
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As Apple continues to fall further behind in this arena.

Amazon is following in the Microsoft pattern - when you don’t have a smartphone entry, you try everything else. Why do someone need an Alexa unit for their car? Precisely because Amazon tried and failed to make the phone (which *will* be there). It’s not that users demand it, it’s that Amazon needs it.

Apple has won the smartphone wars. As such, they don’t need to go down the same route that Amazon has because the iPhone already does them all.
 
As Apple continues to fall further behind in this arena.

Amazon is following in the Microsoft pattern - when you don’t have a smartphone entry, you try everything else. Why do someone need an Alexa unit for their car? Precisely because Amazon tried and failed to make the phone (which *will* be there). It’s not that users demand it, it’s that Amazon needs it.

Apple has won the smartphone wars. As such, they don’t need to go down the same route that Amazon has because the iPhone already does them all.
 
Amazon is following in the Microsoft pattern - when you don’t have a smartphone entry, you try everything else. Why do someone need an Alexa unit for their car? Precisely because Amazon tried and failed to make the phone (which *will* be there). It’s not that users demand it, it’s that Amazon needs it.

Apple has won the smartphone wars. As such, they don’t need to go down the same route that Amazon has because the iPhone already does them all.
They are doing well with their echo devices so it makes sense for them to expand it.

Why wouldn’t people want Alexa in their cars? Some want CarPlay, some want android auto and for those that are all in with amazon might want Alexa in their cars.

Also I think there are a few winners in the smartphone market.

Apple have the profits and google have market share With android. Google aren’t interested in selling hardware so they have won their own war.
 
Am I the only one excited about the Alexa auto? Can't wait to see how it works with google maps!
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Amazon is following in the Microsoft pattern - when you don’t have a smartphone entry, you try everything else. Why do someone need an Alexa unit for their car? Precisely because Amazon tried and failed to make the phone (which *will* be there). It’s not that users demand it, it’s that Amazon needs it.

Apple has won the smartphone wars. As such, they don’t need to go down the same route that Amazon has because the iPhone already does them all.
Why would I need Alexa in my car? A few reasons:
1. I can tell Alexa to switch my pandora stations hands free
2. It has 8 microphones, unlike the single mic most cars have
3. I tried Siri and it's as dumb as a door knob.
4. It's $50, modular add on that can be replaced, unlike the outdated system in most cars 2+ years old

Btw, Apple didn't win the smartphone wars, its splitting it with Android
 
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I tested Amazon, Google and Sonos last Christmas... and ended up choosing Google. I now have a dual Google Home and Homekit system (every smart device I have works with both).

I'm curious what products you are using that do both? I doing the same experiment and found a few options. Currently using;

Thermostat = Ecobee
Switches = using iDevices (but the Google Home set up has to go through Amazon first) iDevices > Alexa > Google
Stereo = Google mini hooked up to Sonos direct and/or CC Audio

Siri/Homekit works for the Thermo and lights. G Home works for everything else. Its all good, but I am always looking for info on how others do their setup.
 
Let's get back to reality on this. Apple thinks the 3.5 mm headphone jack is legacy technology. Do you really think they're going to invest in a subwoofer?
Not necessarily, but I think another company should jump on the opportunity! With proper AirPlay 2 implementation (multi-speaker/room audio), it should be able to sync up nicely with HomePod.
 
What in god's name could Alexa bring to the microwave experience?

I would think mostly for people with limited vision.

"Alexa, heat one potato"
"Alexa, defrost one chicken"
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Talk about throwing everything possible at a wall and seeing what sticks. I wasn't happy with Alexa or the Echo products so I moved on to HomePod's, everything works perfectly now. I think big releases like this are a bit creepy and kind of desperate. Their battle with Google is certainly heating up though. Smart move by Apple is to probably sit this one out for now.

Holly smoke the spin on this as "creepy and kinda of desperate." I found it more impressive that they're able to update the (almost) entire lines and add in new products without any leaks.
 
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Does it still send private text messages to your contacts without your knowledge though?

You mean, if you ignore the rotating blue Alexa attention glow, along with continuing to yap your face off while getting two or three send-message confirmation requests?

Probably not. It was a bizarre sequence of events to begin with, plus it required two people in the same room to be totally unaware of their surroundings.
 
I would think mostly for people with limited vision.

"Alexa, heat one potato"
"Alexa, defrost one chicken"
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Holly smoke the spin on this as "creepy and kinda of desperate." I found it more impressive that they're able to update the (almost) entire lines and add in new products without any leaks.

Yup, we have different opinions. All good.
 
Erm????? And what was the point in those links? Did you actually read them? Because they don’t claim ‘Alexa devices record everything they hear all the time when plugged in’....

I can find some links to Apples ad services if you’d like? Not sure what it would prove apart from they make money from ads?
I didn’t make the claim that Alexa devices record everything all the time. You however insinuated that Amazon doesn’t make significant money from targeted advertising. My links show that they are working very hard to expand their advertising revenue.
 
Not necessarily, but I think another company should jump on the opportunity! With proper AirPlay 2 implementation (multi-speaker/room audio), it should be able to sync up nicely with HomePod.
What opportunity ? Have you seen their market share?

From the $8 cheap smart power plug to the $1,500+ Smart Ceiling fans, everyone is integrating with Alexa first, then google home.
 
I
What opportunity ? Have you seen their market share?

From the $8 cheap smart power plug to the $1,500+ Smart Ceiling fans, everyone is integrating with Alexa first, then google home.
It wouldn’t have to be exclusively AirPlay. Plenty of devices support both AirPlay/HomeKit and Alexa.
 
I

It wouldn’t have to be exclusively AirPlay. Plenty of devices support both AirPlay/HomeKit and Alexa.
That I agree with, a smart idea. However, it's my understanding that apple charges significant fees to 'license' their technology, part of the reason why only a few brands support things like air play
 
I'm interested in the new Dot to replace my previous generation one, if it fixes the audio issues. I don't like that with the Gen2, when you plug in an audio cable (for music through your stereo), it defeats the internal speaker. It should have a software setting to make it so the audio-out can be used for music, but Alexa still comes through the internal speaker. I shouldn't have to have my audio receiver on to hear Alexa. Hoping they've fixed this...
 
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