I had a demo of the Amazon Dot yesterday at my daughter's house and I was honestly very impressed.
For £50 it's a steal and I've already ordered mine :D
I was waiting for Google's 'Home' device but it's still not got a UK release date and, from comparison reviews, still has some way to go to catch up with Amazon's offerings.
I've gone with the Dot instead of the Echo as I will be using mine with an external speaker (a Sonos Play:5 in my case) and, strangely, the Echo doesn't support this.
I guess this is my first step into the connected home. I've recently purchased a couple of Wemo switches to control lights whilst on holiday. These are controllable from the Dot. Now where's those Hue light bulbs ...
I've got two Dot's and love them. As well as the music playing I use them to control my lights (Energenie Switches) and heating (Hive & Energenie TRV's). I bought one on Black Friday at £39.99 and had to buy another after a couple of days of playing with it!
What else do you use it for, other than music?
The connected home things whitey describes are interesting, but I rent, so that sort of thing isn't relevant to me.
I think this makes the dot largely redundant for me.. if all it does is play music on voice command.. unless I'm missing something else it is used for?
I also use it as my alarm clock, it reminds me of meetings, use it to set timers when I'm cooking, tell me the news/weather in the morning. The music part is really good if you are on Prime or use Spotify, it's also a great replacement for a DAB radio. There are loads of "Skills (https://www.amazon.co.uk/alexa-skills/b/ref=topnav_storetab_a2s?ie=UTF8&node=10068517031)" available that expand it's use.
Quote from: Chaosphere;420066What else do you use it for, other than music?
Think of it as a Siri/OK Google home device. The things you might ask your phone (using your voice) you can ask the Dot.
Scroll down this page (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DFKBL68/ref=fs_bis) for examples.
Have mine set up to do the heating etc.
Wife says I can get the Hive bulbs as they use the existing network hub but I want Hue :D
Great piece of kit though, and as it can all come with you (even if you rent - just take the bulb out?) I'll probably get another soon!
Oldie, do the Play:5 have aux in? I've got several Play:1 and Play:3 kicking about but they're ethernet only :( I have considered a connect or something but I don't really want to spend out.
Quote from: Mugi;420072... Oldie, do the Play:5 have aux in? I've got several Play:1 and Play:3 kicking about but they're ethernet only :( I have considered a connect or something but I don't really want to spend out.
Yes (expensive answer :D )
Quote from: OldBloke;420073Yes (expensive answer :D )
Goddamnit.
Thanks for the info guys.
It's something that interests me, I love the idea of a connected home (although having just finished black mirror it also scares me somewhat!). Although you're right Mugi I could take some stuff with me, I'll likely wait until I'm more settled before fully taking the plunge and no doubt there will be future generations of the tech to come... that said perhaps I'll pick up a dot for Spotify use if not much else!
I'd be tempted, but I only have a Sonos Play 1 (excellent, btw) which kinda scuppers the music functionality :(
Quote from: Tutonic;420078I'd be tempted, but I only have a Sonos Play 1 (excellent, btw) which kinda scuppers the music functionality :(
Rejoice! Sonos compatability with Alexa to come early 2017!
Okay, now you have your Echo's, beware of 6 year old girls....... and news reports.......
Tee Hee (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/07/tv_anchor_says_alexa_buy_me_a_dollhouse_and_she_does/)
Quote from: Liberator;420836Okay, now you have your Echo's, beware of 6 year old girls....... and news reports.......
Tee Hee (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/07/tv_anchor_says_alexa_buy_me_a_dollhouse_and_she_does/)
...or if you want to hear "Tickle Tickle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55xcac7ifIQ)"