Amazon Echo Auto (1 Viewer)

[gianmarco]

I put in for an invitation and just received it.  This looks interesting.....
 

For $24.99, might give this a shot.
 

Add Alexa to your car - Connects to the Alexa app on your phone and plays through your car speakers via Bluetooth or auxiliary input. Includes air vent mount.

Designed for the road - With 8 microphones and far-field technology, Echo Auto can hear you over music, A/C, and road noise. Echo Auto is also designed for your privacy. You can press the microphone off button to electronically disconnect the microphones.

Go beyond radio - Voice control Echo Auto through the Alexa app to play Audible audiobooks, listen to podcasts, or stream Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, SiriusXM, or radio stations from around the world with TuneIn and iHeartRadio.

Just ask - Use your voice to play music, check the news, find the nearest gas station, and more.

Do more with your voice - Make calls, set reminders, add items to your shopping and to-do lists, or manage your calendar.

Alexa has skills - With tens of thousands of skills and counting, Alexa is always getting smarter.

Set location-based routines - Alexa can automatically start a series of actions when you leave the office or get home.

Ask for directions - Alexa can start navigation on your phone with supported apps like Waze, Google Maps, and Apple Maps. Not compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

 

[Warrior]

Alexa is intolerably stupid. The amount of basic questions that result in "...hmm, I don't know the answer to that" made me ditch Alexa years ago.

 

[ChiefD]

My car is where I go when I don't want a woman yelling at me all the time.

So, no.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Will it work with CarPlay or the Android version?

 

[gianmarco]

My car is where I go when I don't want a woman yelling at me all the time.

So, no.

You can get Alex, instead. NTTAWWT.

 

[Stompin' Tom Connors]

Alexa is intolerably stupid. The amount of basic questions that result in "...hmm, I don't know the answer to that" made me ditch Alexa years ago.

You should try again (maybe by installing the free app?) -- I agree that Alexa did have a lot of these kinds of answers when first launched, but the nature of machine learning is that it should improve over time based on more and more input. 

Not just true of Alexa but other similar systems. I have noticed that Alexa has gotten a lot better over time - not perfect, but definitely noticeably better.

 

[NotSmart]

I put in for an invitation and just received it.  This looks interesting.....
 

For $24.99, might give this a shot.
 

I've had one for a couple of months now... Overall I'm happy with it, but it has numerous annoyances. I'll write more tomorrow.

 

[NutterButter]

Alexa is intolerably stupid. The amount of basic questions that result in "...hmm, I don't know the answer to that" made me ditch Alexa years ago.

I'm with.   Trying to get this thing to play a certain song or a playlist can be excruciating.  Even if it gets it right, what's it really saving me over just using my phone.  I couldn't imagine trying to tell this thing a destination and trusting that its sending me to the right place.   The only good thing about these devices are that they're cheap so it makes for an affordable wifi audio receiver.

 

[NotSmart]

I've had one for a couple of months now... Overall I'm happy with it, but it has numerous annoyances. I'll write more tomorrow.

I have several echoes in my house, I embraced them early on as they're great for the ability to stream music throughout the house, turn lights on/off, as well as the occasional random question (check on weather, check on current traffic time estimate to work in the morning, random question about an actor/actress, etc...).

I also have the echo subwoofer for the living room: for my tinnitus afflicted ears, I"m very happy with the music quality.

So I was quite happy when the echo auto was announced.

My truck is a 2016, but it has a primitive radio in regards to bluetooth, so until the echo auto, I wasn't using any streaming capability.  Anyone that already has good streaming car ability might not have as much use for the echo.

Oops, starting to write a novel, let me summarize the good and bad:

The good:

• It's awesome being able to access the amazon music playlists I've built over time.
  
• I appreciate being able to play any song I want with a voice command - I like voice commands as a concept, especially in cars where I don't have to take any attention off the road.
  
• The echo auto has a cord for connecting to the aux in on my radio, so no worries about a bluetooth connection into my radio.
  
• The echo auto is small (deck of cards'ish) and seems well built.
  

The not so good:

• It loses its bluetooth connection with my phone fairly often.... I give it a command, it stutters, issues a couple of melodic dings, then takes 30-60 seconds to reconnect.  It seems to happen most often when it doesn't understand a command I've given.
  
• At highway speed with some noise in the cabin, the voice recognition quality declines noticeably.  I've taken now to just picking it up and speaking directly into it to prevent this.  I imagine I look like a throwback CB user to other drivers.
  
• This may be a user ignorance issue, but I can't use it for hands free phone calls which was one of the things I thought would be a huge benefit.  The callee hears my voice repeated twice (i.e echoed), I believe because both the echo and my phone are transmitting my voice.  To make a call, I have to use my phone instead of the echo and temporarily turn blue tooth off so the echo doesn't participate.  Likewise, if I receive a call, I have to remember to turn off bluetooth before answering.
  

There's probably more to list on both sides, but let's start with the above list.