[please see update below original review]
I bought the original Echo when it was first available for pre-order and have loved it. No issues. The opposite is the case with Echo Plus.
Doesn't understand me half the time.
Intermittent success using the remote.
Tried multiple times setting up groups to play music simultaneously in different rooms using it with my 2 echo dots and original Echo. Echo Plus responds by doing nothing, or playing a random song or stations, and nothing on the other units in the group.
I really hate returning things, but unless there are fixes in updates between now and the end of the return period, that's what I'll be doing. Seriously disappointed. Oh, and I called Amazon "help" so-called, and I knew more about how it works than the person I wasted 15 minutes on the phone with. It was a surreal convo.
= = =
UPDATE: This morning I got a call from Anthony, from Amazon customer service. First, I was blown away that they would call me to address my issues with Echo Plus. Second, he was knowledgeable, and in no hurry. While it remains to be seen whether every issue with EP is fixed, the problem with Groups was.
It turns out that Alexa didn't like the name I gave my group, it was that simple. My original Echo is black, my EP is white, so I called the group "Black And White". Suggestion: When setting up your groups, go with one of the suggested generic names--bedroom, living room, etc. Echo calls them "Common Names". I called mine "Backyard", even though my backyard isn't involved.
Regarding Alexa often not understanding me on the EP, Anthony suggested that I try switching from British english to American english. I'm going to try that, although I have used British english on my original Echo with no issues.
So, I've upgraded my review to 4 stars, and when and if all issues are resolved I'll be coming back to make it 5. Amazon support definitely gets 5 stars. Even though my first call was a disaster, the way they followed up was remarkable, and that's the important thing. Seriously impressed. Thank you, Anthony!
**Follow-up on previous post** I love my Echo Plus!! Amazon is so great. They are always so helpful and willing to work with me. No issues at all with my new device. I'm disabled and living on very limited funds. I received Alexa as a gift and was very worried that I didn't have the money to replace her. Thank you Amazon :-)
This is my 2nd device...actually 3rd. I was visiting my sister out of state and left my Echo by mistake. But she loved it so much I let her keep it and ordered me the new Plus. M I S T A K E !!! Keeping this short... every time...after listening music, I ask Alexa to play something else like Ambient sounds (Windy Leaves is my fav) or the fan because I it helps me sleep at night.... but it would go back to playing music. I have to unplug device to get it to stop playing music. I exchanged the first Plus device thinking it was just a defective device but it keeps happening with the new one as well. I will update this along with my rating after I contact tech support.... again. BTW.... my first Echo was wonderful!!!! I loved it.
Works great I bought this Direct from amazon, and I have got to tell you, This item Echo Show and Echo Plus is the best item I have ever had and I am kind of a tech geek. I am a disabled person, and it helps me turn light on and off, and schedule doctor appointments, using google voice phone, and get my medical rides to and from hospitals, plays music on cue from multiple web apps, and watch videos, as well as communicating to my Nurses aide my schedule and calendar of events. I wish there were programs that helped disabled people get these and smart lights. They are literally the best items since chocolate to assist the disabled and literally anybody else who need them. Although the echo show is not a hub once you set up the Echo plus hub with your lights you can use any amazon device to shut the lights off. Thank God, no more working my ass off to turn on or off lights. Thank you Amazon. I will save up enough money to buy more gift cards from Affirm.com to purchase 1 more of each and some lights for rest of the house. Jeff Bezos these are awesome items and because of your allowing me to get amazon prime at a lower cost due to disability I was finally able to buy these items on your prime day event. really helped when all you earn a month is $672 on SSDI thank you all again.
Great product and Prime Day price! Took a while to figure out how to connect to my wireless network and the other Echo devices in my home. This came with a Philips smart bulb. It's better than having a clapper! I found instructions online to 'wake to music & philips light'. Very easy to set it up with the instructions. You even have an option of what song you want to wake up to!
My Amazon Alexa, she just arrived just the other day.
I couldn't wait to open the box, for our new home technology future. we set Alexa up in just minutes, and she was on her way to making this family happy. We did like the fact that you can change her name from Alexa to Echo or Computer, I picked Echo.
She is built around your voice, with a built-in smart hub. I liked that option-because it saved me money. You can use her to make your phone calls-which really comes in handy if your hands are full. She can send messages and receive them. Echo can read you your news and check your sports scores.
If you decide to have Alexa for voice control for your T.V you must have an amazon fire stick. you can use her for your shopping list"s, alarms. This is one of the features she has - it's the soothing waterfall sounds to put you to sleep, she's good for a lot of things-except she can't take out the garbage or do my dishes.
One thing about her that I do not like is: Alexa proclaims to have seven microphones with noise cancellation' She will NOT respond to you if you have a fan or anything like a fan in the same room-or she cannot hear me from the next room, Either. But other than that- I would definitely recommend this to all my friends and family {And Already have.}
Feature Product
- Echo Plus is a simple way to start your smart home. It has a built-in ZigBee smart home hub, which allows for simple and direct setup of compatible ZigBee lights, locks, sensors, plugs, and in-wall switches from brands like Philips Hue, GE, and Yale. No additional hub required.
- Echo Plus connects to Alexa-a cloud-based voice service-to play music, make calls, set timers and music alarms, ask questions, check traffic and weather, and more-instantly.
- Just ask for a song, artist, or genre from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and more. With multi-room music, you can play music on your Echo devices in different rooms. Echo Plus can also play Audible audiobooks, radio stations, news briefs, and more.
- Call or message almost anyone hands-free with your Echo device. Also, instantly connect to other Echo devices in your home using just your voice.
- Improved speakers with Dolby processing deliver crisp vocals and extended bass to fill the room with immersive, 360° audio. Adjust the treble, mid, and bass levels with your voice.
- With seven microphones, beamforming technology, and noise cancellation, Echo hears you from any direction-even while music is playing
- Alexa is always getting smarter and adding new features and skills. Just ask Alexa to control your TV, request an Uber, order a pizza, and more.
Description
360? Circle Sound - Wireless LAN - Bluetooth - Alarm, Smart Capable, Multiroom Capability, Hands-free, Hands-free Calling, Beamforming Technology, Noise Cancelling, Smart Home Hub - Alexa Supported
I have a couple of these as well as the echo dot and Firetv's throughout my home. Really love the product so far. For me I tend to use the music side of this more than any thing else (really cool controlling your home, and i'll probably add that in later). I've been a musician all my life and sound quality is really important to me. So with that being said...
When I first started using Alexa and the Echo line I started simple with just the Echo Dot and instantly wanted better sound quality. To improve the dot, I picked up the Bose SoundLink Revolve (you can plug it in or use bluetooth). It's Bose, so of course its awesome. Connecting Bluetooth speakers is an awesome feature with the Echo line. As for quality, being Bose, who is better at making great sound... right?? Well, turns out its AMAZON lol.
I asked so many people/sales-reps about sound quality (best buy, frys, BH) and as soon as i mentioned Bose, they all responded with "oh, well Bose, you can't beat that". Hell... I bought one because it Bose before ever asking about the Echo Plus. That response says a lot for the Bose product line history/quality, but comparing like for like (SoundLink Revolve and Amazon Echo, similar size speakers) the Echo has better bass, depth, and volume than the Bose. It just sounds better. The frustrating part was every location I visited when I started looking at the Echo Plus had an echo on display, but none of them ever played sound. If I was Amazon's marketing/product head, I would get some field reps out there checking on those locations. Product would sell itself.
Anyway, another super cool feature is the "grouping" of amazon devices so that you can play your music across your entire home/backyard. Bose has a similar feature, but it's just a speaker system unlike the Echo which does 10,000 different things including "voice controlling" the songs/services/playlists and volume levels across the entire group. Oh... did i mention Bose is almost 3 times as costly? Nice work Amazon.
Additionally, I discovered that with the FireTV you can Bluetooth connect to the Echo. Why does this matter, well because I have an Echo and a 60" TV in with a fireTV connected in the same room. One that doesn't have my Bose theater system connected so i use the TV's speakers. Turns out the Echo sounds MUCH better and is louder. Side Note: the fireTV's connect to bluetooth is great for connecting headsets when you want to keeps things quite around the house but want great sound and volume for your video binge weekends.
Only request I would ask of amazon is to add "Group Playback" of Bluetooth connected devices. This isn't currently supported so it's one Bluetooth device per Echo. The grouping only works for the streaming services (and not all of them, so check availability), but if you have amazon prime you have Amazon's basic streaming music service anyway which is quite nice.
I ordered the echo plus to go along with the original echo. I decided upon the plus because I use a lot of Philips Hue lights in the home and thought it would be convenient to have the hub. This works just like the original echo, but with better sound and it quickly and easily discovers your devices.
After setting it up, however, I began to have a ton of problems with my lights/groups not working, etc. After contacting customer service, I was told that I should have gotten the Echo Second generation because the plus can not work with the Phillips Hue Hub (which I still wanted to use since it has more features than the echo plus hub). I also had a list of lights in the Alexa App that I disabled, but could not "forget" within the app and it showed I had over 200 lights connected..which I did not (very frustrating and it became a big mess).
During all of this, I was contacted by another rep who had a higher level of understanding of how the Echo Plus works. In short, you CAN use this with the Phillips Hue Hub, you just can't connect your lights to both hubs. The error was in my set up; not the device itself. The representative walked me through the set up process again and also told me about the web based version of the original Alexa app, which allowed me to forget the 200 disabled lights in my app (just Google Alexa Web App)!
In the end, the product is great. It easily connects, has great sound, and you can also connect your phone via bluetooth to play music or podcasts. I am going to exchange it for the second generation, however, because it will save money as I do not want to use the hub.
I purchased the Echo Plus with the Build-in Hub, so I could have the convenience of asking Alexa to turn my lights and lamps on and off. Philips Hue Light Bulbs were placed in the fixtures that I wanted Alexa to control and they all work great! I already had an Echo Dot in my Kitchen/Den area, so I placed the Echo Plus with Hub in my bedroom. My radio and lamps in my Kitchen and Den are controlled with TP-Link plugs. But, the ceiling light fixtures and lamp in my Den and Bedroom have special Philips Hue Light Bulbs that are controlled by the Hub inside the Echo Plus. I am able to play music, set my alarm, get weather reports and numerous other things on both devices. The Echo Dot requires a TP-Link plug to be plugged into it and the Echo Plus requires a special Philips Light Bulbs installed in each light fixture to work.. The only thing I dislike is the high price of the light bulbs required to make the lights work. Regular light bulbs placed in the ceiling light fixtures will not work with Alexa and the Echo Plus with Hub. Other than the high price of the bulbs, I love my Echo Plus with built in hub!
We bought the Echo Plus to bring all our Smart Home Devices together. Preciously, we had purchased a pair of Phillip's Hue bulbs and marveled at the idea of telling Alexa to turn lights on and off. After the purchase, we learned that without a Hue Hub, or similar hub (Samsung, Google, etc.) we could not control the lights. NOTE: at that time we had 2 echo dots for both floors. After doing some research, we discovered that the Echo Plus has built in hub features. I was apprehensive, having not tested the use of the Plus and Hue bulbs, however I am happy to say that the two work flawlessly. All the the setup is in the Alexa app, so once downloaded you can search for smart devices and add them to the Echo Plus. Some extra fine tuning and we even have smart phrases and timers for vacation. These are the first steps towards a fully automated home. We look forward to more devices, the Echo Plus has been the perfect anchor for our future smart home.
Small Extras: love the dial on the top for volume. Length of cord is good for most placements, be aware though if you are trying to tuck it away that the plug is proprietary and not a USB plug like the Dot.
I'm loving the Echo lineup, we hope to expand the product in our home.
I got it to try side by side with the Echo originale. They are essentially the same in dimension, weight and the woofer is the same save for the smaller tweeter point up instead of down and the built in hub. As many folks already pointed out, the hub is not a direct replacement for the Philips Hue, Z wave or anything else. It provides a sub set of features available from the stand alone hub and you ended up losing functionality that you took for granted on the dedicated hub. For me, the voice recognition and music play capability is the same, the original Echo may have an edge on the volume department due to larger speakers. The new Echo plus is priced lower than the original Echo with the built in hub but I don't really need the hub with less functionality. In addition, I don't think that Amazon will have software updates for this hub as other dedicated hub would have so bugs could end up never fixed. My Philips hub gets software update probably once every couple months and it keeps up with the changes in the new bulbs FW and they fixes bugs. Net net for me, this Echo does not do anything more than the original Echo and sound quality is not as good. With the original Echo available as refurbished I would check that out first before considering this or the new Echo which is clearly inferior to both of these.
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