Yes, you can plug the dot into anything with an aux-in, or connect it to anything bluetooth.

correct, although you do have to leave them turned on all the time.

I’m somewhat surprised about the amount of following this thread is getting – they were £100 at launch and it passed with barely a mention

Is Prime worth it? Not too bothered about their streaming content, but free kindle books. Are these really old content that are free anyway?

Or just cancel account within 30 days, obvs!

Just been told I’m not allowed one.

Shopping list – Ocadi via iPad
Radio – we have a DAB
Weather/News – theres an app for that.

Well thats saved me £35.

Kryton57 – Member
Just been told I’m not allowed one.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4zws8REIx5I/maxresdefault.jpg

Well.

That’s quite disconcerting.

Just been told I’m not allowed one.

Ask your Dad instead.

Shopping list – Ocadi via iPad

Yeah but you have to go find the ipad, instead of just impulsively saying “Alexa, add one diamond necklace to my shopping list for my lovely wife”

Radio – we have a DAB

Yeah but you are limited to what you can receive on DAB instead of getting a worldwide selection of internet radio so that you can always find something romantic to play to your lovely wife.

Weather/News – theres an app for that

Yeah but you still have to go find your phone/tablet and your app doesn’t read out the BBC or (insert favoured news provider here) news for you while you cook breakfast for your lovely wife.

😉

Drac – Moderator
Just been told I’m not allowed one.
Ask your Dad instead.

That’ll be tricky, he died a month and half ago. Maybe I should get a Dot and ask for a resurrection.

Oh!

😳

davieg – Member 
Is Prime worth it? Not too bothered about their streaming content, but free kindle books. Are these really old content that are free anyway?
Or just cancel account within 30 days, obvs!

Free next day & same day shipping. There’s also Prime Now for certain stuff 1hr/2hr delivery.

If you’re the kind of person who leaves everything until last minute like me, or desperately needs something now, then it’s very useful. Of course you are paying for it, but use it a lot and it pays for itself.

If you can make use of Prime Video and Music occasionally then better value. Prime Video and Music doesn’t give you everything. It’s selected stuff, and selection isn’t always that good. The best stuff is probably their exclusive shows (and at least they don’t expire in the middle of watching them).

Not tried the kindle stuff but on looking at the list, it’s similarly just a limited selection. Bit like a library where you’re limited to what they have at the time. Some newer stuff, some old. Also have magazines, but not many.

Free next day & same day shipping. There’s also Prime Now for certain stuff 1hr/2hr delivery.

At the time I looked at this thread this morning, I would have had it delivered by now according to Amazon.

We have Prime for the streaming content. It and Netflix are a fraction the cost of Sky and we find far far more stuff to watch.

prime reading is pretty good imo – a few magazines on there – the week was there a few weeks ago, a few car mags, etc, plus lonely planet books which are handy if you’re going there 😀

The prime photo storage is pretty good as well for backup purposes. Means I can keep flickr for sharing stuff as opposed to backups.

Re Firestick – some interest here. Is it really a replacement for Sky? it seems a long process to wade through their graphical channel list – anyone know where theres a simple text base list?

An secondly, with Prime I can access Amazon through our XBOX One – is the Firestick the same content or different?

An secondly, with Prime I can access Amazon through our XBOX One – is the Firestick the same content or different?

Same content on PS4 app, assume it’s same on xbox.

Re Firestick – some interest here. Is it really a replacement for Sky?

Entirely depends what you watch, and how. You can’t flick aimlessly through channels which makes it a bit like Blockbuster. But last time I checked Sky I was amazed the shite that was on.

Plus when you find something on Amazon you watch it when you want to watch it – which is much easier I find than using Sky+ used to be.

I got a Fire stick for use in hotels, for which it’s superb. Fairly specialist use-case though (and no, I don’t mean porn).

Got the Dot today. Plugged into an old Apple Hi-Fi it is great. ‘Computer, play radio 4’. And there it goes. ‘Computer, play songs by David Bowie’. ‘Computer, play radio 4’. ‘Computer, set a timer for 10 minutes’. With this and ‘hey, Siri’ my AI minions will serve me well.

Bought a dot today to go with sonos when sonos is ready so hope thats £15 saved rather than £35 wasted.

Also wasted £20 saved £15 on a bottle of malt advertised by Jamie and spent a small fortune on boxers, a vacuum cleaner and a pan set for the van. These sales cost save me a fortune.

So the Dot thing – how close to ‘Computer, play that album I like playing when I’ve drunk a bottle of malt running around in my pants and doing the hoovering’ can it get? How much does it remember about you? Can it play stuff you have played before – eg computer, play the playlist I played last night?

I’ve only just started playing with mine, but i believe you should be able to link things up. I’d really like to be able to say….’Alexa party time’ and my favourite playlist would start, lights turn a groovy colour. Or ‘Alexa good night’ switch all the lights off, smart door locks and alarm armed….

switch all the lights off, smart door locks and alarm armed

Hmm. nibbling on the music thing, but not sure about going that far.

davieg – Member
Is Prime worth it? Not too bothered about their streaming content, but free kindle books. Are these really old content that are free anyway?

I use it mainly for the free next day delivery. You would be amazed at the amount of bike stuff I always need in a hurry.

DT78

I’d really like to be able to say….’Alexa party time’ and my favourite playlist would start, lights turn a groovy colour. Or ‘Alexa good night’ switch all the lights off, smart door locks and alarm armed….

Indeed.

I sometimes say “Louise, party time” – that’s fun

Bought a hive with fitting – happy days!

Or ‘Alexa good night’ switch all the lights off, smart door locks and alarm armed….

I don’t have smart locks (did you hear about the guy who’s neighbour unlocked his house with Siri?) but I do have Hue lights, Arlo Cameras and a Harmony hub.

All of those can be linked up to one command with IFTTT.com – I just say “Alexa, Trigger goodnight” and the lights turn off (except the bedroom where the nightlight goes on) and the Arlo cameras are armed.

It’s not perfect, but it’s getting there.

I gave in and order an Echo Dot. 😆

im assuming these cant play from google music?

im assuming these cant play from google music?

You assume correctly.

Google Home is on offer for £99 at the mo, if you’re that way inclined.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/smart-tech/smart-tech/smart-home/google-home-hands-free-smart-speaker-white-10161441-pdt.html

Although I think the deal ends shortly.

Best bit of advice on this thread is the Amazon Prime student discount, thank you !

I had a serious think about getting one of these, and for me still too much of a gimmick than a real bit of tech that would help

We got ours because it was the cheapest way to get internet radio.

Cheapest way to get internet radio is your mobile phone, and then if you want to push the boat out buy a Bluetooth speaker

Not a satisfactory way though for me, for numerous reasons discussed at length on here and that started an argument about how wrong I was for wanting a separate device rather than a phone.

Cheapest way to get internet radio is your mobile phone, and then if you want to push the boat out buy a Bluetooth speaker

You could say the chapest way is to listen to a neighbour…not as good as an echo though!

Anyway…

Has anyone got ‘drop in’ working on theirs?
My app is up to date, but hasn’t got the function.
I can’t help feeling it’s an American thing for now..

DrP

Drop in?

New feature: lets you use multiple Echo/Dot devices as a household intercom:
https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/how-to-use-drop-in-with-your-amazon-echo-speakers/

I can’t help feeling it’s an American thing for now..

Might be. Was reported on CNet UK but I haven’t seen mention of it in the Amazon emails.

It’s US only at the mo.

[Rant mode on]

One thing that does annoy me about the Echo and the Home, is that they announce all these new features, and they then take ages to rollout to the UK. I thought being ‘global’ brands meant this sort of stuff had gone the way of region locked dvd players. It’s not just the obvious thing. UK developers for Echo skills are being knackered by these issues. For example:

https://forums.developer.amazon.com/questions/50740/there-is-a-growing-gap-between-what-a-us-dev-can-d.html

[rant mode off]

THe other thing that annoys me, that shouldn’t be difficult to set up, is there’s no ‘multicast’ mode.

I want to say – “Alexa, It’s Chico time” and then rocking beatzzz (S-club etc) blast out from ALL the Echos.

Then my dream of living in a nightclub will come true…..
(Hey, we’ve already got a pole studio upstairs (not joking), and a moderately stocked drinks cabinet…)

DrP

Ours arrived today,

I would say its understanding of context and full questions asked naturally is a step ahead of siri and cortana.

Quite impressive really.