Anyone have an Amazon Echo?

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Now available for pre order in Canada. $30 off each model.

Prime Music now available for all Prime customers too.

Thank you..this is fantastic

[Canehdianman]

My email confirmation from Telus didn't mention the free year of Amazon Prime so I emailed them back.. Got this a few hours later:

"Dear valued customer,

We appreciate you choosing to pre-order your Amazon Echo (Gen 2) with TELUS.

We had an issue where the confirmation email did not include details about your Amazon Prime membership. We wanted to confirm that you will indeed receive one year of Amazon Prime with your Amazon Echo (Gen 2) order. The details of your free Amazon Prime membership will be emailed to you once your order has been fulfilled.

At TELUS we’re constantly striving to provide you with the best customer experience. If you have any questions, please reply to this email (telusorders@telus.com). "

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

I'm not sure what use I will have for this, but since I subscribe to Prime ($80), this deal essentially works out to $20 for some cool tech to play around with.

Some ideas I am thinking about.

- Turn on my wemo lights from the master bedroom. Also can dim when I turn on. Turn on my lights downstairs in the morning.

- Harmony remote. When the rug rats wake me up at 6AM

"Alexa turn on living room lights. Turn on living room TV to Disney channel"

Basically nothing I can't do myself, but I don't even have to get up!

[Kjesse]

Now that Prime Music is free with my Amazon account I'm going to ditch my Google Home in favour of an Echo. If anyone wants a Google Home (its awesome) let me know I'll be flexible on price for a CPer.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Thank you..this is fantastic

You're welcome but it was pretty much all Amazon's doing...

[Kjesse]

The Prime Music catalog is seriously lacking.

[Robo]

I just ordered mine are they compatible with any smart tv?

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Robo

I just ordered mine are they compatible with any smart tv?

Some of the SmartThings connected Samsung ones are via the SmartThings Skill but they don't do cable box related things. The Harmony Skill is your best bet if you have a Logitech Harmony remote.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Some of the SmartThings connected Samsung ones are via the SmartThings Skill but they don't do cable box related things. The Harmony Skill is your best bet if you have a Logitech Harmony remote.

Any idea which harmony remote would work with the echo plus Ty for the info by the way

[pria(kin)16]

Just picked up some Echo Dots for the bedroom and kitchen. Pretty easy set up and integration with our Nest. Anyone have any tips or favourite Skills that they use?

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Robo

Any idea which harmony remote would work with the echo plus Ty for the info by the way

Sorry, It's not the remote that works with the Echo, it's the Harmony Hub that you can get with some of the remotes or you can buy it on it's own.

https://www.amazon.ca/Logitech-Smart...ds=harmony+hub

I use a Broadlink RM Pro which is much cheaper and does many of the same things. It also does RF as well as IR so I can use it to control my outdoor RF Christmas light switch, portable AC etc.

It works well once you set it up. The Broadlink skill sucks big time as you can only control TV's with Alexa but I have managed to set up a number of devices to appear as though they are TVs and use Alexa routines to manage the bizarre things you have to name them. The skill is only available in the US so it takes some monkeying around to get it to work. I've been using it since before the Canadian release so I am not sure if the work around still works.

The iOS and Android companion app is also very Chinese.

RM Pro
https://www.amazon.ca/Broadlink-Auto...eywords=rm+pro

There is also the Mini 3 which just does IR
https://www.amazon.ca/Broadlink-Blac...ords=broadlink

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Sorry, It's not the remote that works with the Echo, it's the Harmony Hub that you can get with some of the remotes or you can buy it on it's own.

https://www.amazon.ca/Logitech-Smart...ds=harmony+hub

I use a Broadlink RM Pro which is much cheaper and does many of the same things. It also does RF as well as IR so I can use it to control my outdoor RF Christmas light switch, portable AC etc.

It works well once you set it up. The Broadlink skill sucks big time as you can only control TV's with Alexa but I have managed to set up a number of devices to appear as though they are TVs and use Alexa routines to manage the bizarre things you have to name them. The skill is only available in the US so it takes some monkeying around to get it to work. I've been using it since before the Canadian release so I am not sure if the work around still works.

The iOS and Android companion app is also very Chinese.

RM Pro
https://www.amazon.ca/Broadlink-Auto...eywords=rm+pro

There is also the Mini 3 which just does IR
https://www.amazon.ca/Broadlink-Blac...ords=broadlink

Ty so much for this I couldn't find a clear answer anywhere

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Sorry, It's not the remote that works with the Echo, it's the Harmony Hub that you can get with some of the remotes or you can buy it on it's own.

https://www.amazon.ca/Logitech-Smart...ds=harmony+hub

I use a Broadlink RM Pro which is much cheaper and does many of the same things. It also does RF as well as IR so I can use it to control my outdoor RF Christmas light switch, portable AC etc.

It works well once you set it up. The Broadlink skill sucks big time as you can only control TV's with Alexa but I have managed to set up a number of devices to appear as though they are TVs and use Alexa routines to manage the bizarre things you have to name them. The skill is only available in the US so it takes some monkeying around to get it to work. I've been using it since before the Canadian release so I am not sure if the work around still works.

The iOS and Android companion app is also very Chinese.

RM Pro
https://www.amazon.ca/Broadlink-Auto...eywords=rm+pro

There is also the Mini 3 which just does IR
https://www.amazon.ca/Broadlink-Blac...ords=broadlink

So would it make more sense to just get an echo and return the echo plus since it seems the harmony hub controls a bunch of the same things

[kermitology]

Did anyone who ordered from Telus with the free year of prime get any information on that offer yet?

I got the Echo Plus and my wife was hilarious. She saw it on the counter (I hadn't told her I bought it) and was mad at me for buying it. I asked Alexa for the news, the score in the hockey game and then to play some 90s dance music on Spotify and within the span of 5 minutes she went from thinking it was stupid to thinking it was the best thing ever.

[gottabekd]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Did anyone who ordered from Telus with the free year of prime get any information on that offer yet?

Nothing here, other than a follow up email after my order confirming that I will indeed be receiving the 1 year of Prime deal.

The Echo device itself has been a pretty poor experience for me. Obscure error when trying to connect to my 5 GHz WiFi network, even when skipping DHCP and inputting connection details manually. A confusing iOS app, which also has some performance issues. A non-trivial connection to get it to control my Philips Hue lights, weird bugs with streaming music, and for the first two days I was getting the weather in Fahrenheit despite confirming the region a few times.

Really, I have little interest in it, just an impulse purchase to play around with. But it reminds me of a lot of other Amazon experiences: rushed out to the public in a mostly working state, without worrying about the polishing or streamlining.

The impressive points so far is the sound is better than I was expecting, and the microphone definitely has some range.

[OldDutch]

I really like mine. Setup was pretty easy but it wasn't Apple dead simple. The setup wizard didn't fire the first time I opened the app. So I have to manually go to it in Setup.

I have it controlling my lights and TV via Harmony hub. It works well.

I can't seem to figure out how to edit a skill after 1st setup. I wanted to tweak my Harmony settings but looks like I have to delete and re-add.

My kids love it, and my wife too. Same as other poster, got the eye roll until I said "Alexa, play britney spears christmas" Boom she loved it hah

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Robo

So would it make more sense to just get an echo and return the echo plus since it seems the harmony hub controls a bunch of the same things

I wouldn't rely on either as your smart home hub. Neither are great hubs but each does their specific job well if part of a larger smart home integration.

What are some of the things you are trying to do?

[cKy]

My brother surprised me with the Echo Plus and Hue bulb last night. The app (Android) seems pretty buggy in that it wont accept my Canadian address, it just resets back to the default Washington one. I read there is a web login available so I'll try that when I get home.

Can do some pretty cool things so far.

[Canehdianman]

I was pretty disappointed in the Echo.

I tried it for a week, then decided it wasn't nearly as useful as I had hoped and sold it on kijiji.

It was a great speaker for spotify though.... That's about it.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

I was pretty disappointed in the Echo.

I tried it for a week, then decided it wasn't nearly as useful as I had hoped and sold it on kijiji.

It was a great speaker for spotify though.... That's about it.

What kind of things were you trying? I need to wait until Christmas before I can start putting together my system