Ok Let Me Review It: Amazon Echo Dot

I have heard of these little gadgets known as Amazon Echo's or more commonly referred to by the AI name Alexa. Now I can honestly say that there was my life before Alexa and now my life with her. And if you have seen the movie HER with Joaquin Phoenix in 2014, you will have an idea of how living with an AI is. Alexa isn't as advanced as the AI in the movie, but still powerful and helpful. All you have to do is say "Alexa" or "hey Alexa" and then the command "hey Alexa turn on the lights" and a moment later with the proper set up, the lights turn on.
In addition to the Echo or Echo Dot you need other smart devices like Smart Plugs, or Smart Lights. Set up and programing Alexa to work with them can be a bit of a pain in the butt, but for the most part its just as simple as opening the Alexa app on your Smart Phone and tapping on a few buttons here and there and typically under 5 minutes you are set up.

I love the fact that I can just walk into my house and say "Alexa turn on the lights" and every where that I have a smart plug plugged in will automatically switch on. Within the Alexa app you can set up names, groups, or scenes, so that when you give a command like turn on the lights everything within the group "lights" will turn on. It honestly sounds like more work than what it is. Now one thing that I can tell you is that you NEED to make sure that the device that you get (meaning smart plugs, smart bulbs, etc) is Amazon approved. It makes the whole set up 100% faster and easier.

Many "after market" products have started flooding the market claiming that they are Alexa Compatible but many times they are not. I recently had a Smart Plug sent to me that is new on the market and does work with Alexa, but isnt "certified" by Amazon. Alexa also has "skills" that you can enable, that allow you to do so much more with the device, other than turn on the lights, and play music. So how alot of these off brand devices are making themselves compatible with Alexa is that they are creating Skills and having you enable them so that they will connect to the device. You yourself could make an Alexa skill, if you wanted to take the time to sit down and learn a bit of code. You could even make money from said skill if enough people download it and use it.

I have to say that purchasing the Dot has been one of the best decisions I've made in quite some time. I love impressing my friends and family with it. I had one friend over the other day and I told Alexa to switch on the lights and he jumped. I feel like we are inching our way into the future slowly and that one day our whole home will be computer AI powered.