Amazon Echo Club

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

Now, when I use the Show 5 in the living room as bluetooth with my laptop, it keeps announcing when I bring up a new page that it is playing from laptop ________ even if it is not playing anything. I have the original echo in the living room but use mostly now with bluetooth connection to the fire tv. My TV set sound doesn't work with it any more.

I hate that. It does the same thing with my Dot 3, and it does so at a very high volume no matter how low I have the volume set. At that point, I disconnect the Bluetooth. I'm getting close to buying a dumb BT speaker speaker in order to avoid this most annoying problem.

[OtinG]

I gave up on using BT with any of my Echo devices and bought a Sony XB20 Portable Wireless Speaker with Bluetooth a few years ago. BT to Echo just never seemed to work well at all.

Amazon gets really close to having great Echos, but they never quite get there because, IMO, the designers and programmers don’t actually use these devices so they don’t have a clue as to how we customers want them to operate.

I tried using my Echo Plus 2 with a Dot 3 to work as a "baby monitor" of sorts. No kids, but I have a radio scanner in another room and wanted to listen in on it from my study. No matter how I set the darn things up I got horrible feedback. I finally gave up.

I bought a cheap Fire tablet a while back to connect with my Echos for listening to music so I could see which song was playing, read the lyrics, and have better control. That also never worked as the Fire tablet Alexa app would freeze after a few songs. I also tried that with my iPad running the Alexa app and had the same results. I gave up on that too.

I tried using an Echo to control my Fire TV, but that was a total disaster. Most of the channels won't come up as Alexa can’t find them, and most commands result in a lot of advertisements for other shows rather than taking me to a specific show. Very disappointed with TV control via Alexa!

I do like my Echo devices and they work fairly well for listening to music and asking Alexa questions or having her control smart devices. Although smart device control needs a lot of improvements too. But trying to use them for other advertised tasks often ends in failure.

I have been using my Echo Plus 2 for playing a white noise skill at night. It works really well most of the time, when it remembers to loop, but occasionally forgets to loop and just stops. The problem with running skills is that if the WiFi drops, even for a few moments, the skill can stop. My WiFi is very stable and rarely drops, but it does happen, especially in bad weather. I wish the Echos could load apps and run them without having to rely on a WiFi connection all the time, but I doubt that will ever happen.

[wodin]

I originally had a Show 5 in my living/TV room for the clock. I found the 5 to be too small to read when the various notifications were playing so I got a Show 8. It's just the right size. Took the 5 to work and it's the perfect size for my desktop.

[John F]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I bought the Echo Show 5 in December and used it in the bedroom for two months. Had to move it, because the screen kept coming back on during the night. I told it "Alexa, turn off the screen" so many times and got sick of having to do that. I use ocean sounds on it to sleep. If I I turn the sound up or down, the screen comes back on. Then I realized that the screen was coming back on just because I was using it for the sounds. I need it dark in the room. I put the Tap back in the bedroom. What a relief.

Now, when I use the Show 5 in the living room as bluetooth with my laptop, it keeps announcing when I bring up a new page that it is playing from laptop ________ even if it is not playing anything. I have the original echo in the living room but use mostly now with bluetooth connection to the fire tv. My TV set sound doesn't work with it any more.

In the middle of the night, my Tap beeped and started to glow and it woke me up. There was a notification asking to rate my last purchase (an Amazing product). I gave it 1 star.

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I bought the Echo Show 5 in December and used it in the bedroom for two months. Had to move it, because the screen kept coming back on during the night. I told it "Alexa, turn off the screen" so many times and got sick of having to do that. I use ocean sounds on it to sleep. If I I turn the sound up or down, the screen comes back on. Then I realized that the screen was coming back on just because I was using it for the sounds. I need it dark in the room. I put the Tap back in the bedroom. What a relief.

Now, when I use the Show 5 in the living room as bluetooth with my laptop, it keeps announcing when I bring up a new page that it is playing from laptop ________ even if it is not playing anything. I have the original echo in the living room but use mostly now with bluetooth connection to the fire tv. My TV set sound doesn't work with it any more.

Tonight I switched to connecting my laptop via bluetooth to the original Echo speaker and disconnected from the Show 5. (My TV sound started working again, so I could watch fire TV without the Echo via bluetooth). Now the Echo is doing this -- announcing "playing from laptop _____" just like the Show 5 does. Grrrr.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by John F

In the middle of the night, my Tap beeped and started to glow and it woke me up. There was a notification asking to rate my last purchase (an Amazing product). I gave it 1 star.

I swear, I could make a case for a class action lawsuit and force companies that do this kind of intrusive stuff to pay us all back for all our aggregated lost time.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by John F

In the middle of the night, my Tap beeped and started to glow and it woke me up. There was a notification asking to rate my last purchase (an Amazing product). I gave it 1 star.

So you were mad at Amazon and took it out on the manufacturer of a product? Unless it was an Amazon product, you retaliated against the wrong company and also slanted the online product ratings based on emotion rather than an actual, objective review. This is why I don’t read too much into the product review numbers. Too often I read useless reviews, whether on Amazon or other online retailers, that give the product a bad review based solely on something stupid like "UPS lost the package or scratched the shipping box" or "the seller sent the wrong item". Please review the product on its own merit rather than using the product review section to vent anger at Amazon, UPS, etc.

[John F]

Originally Posted by OtinG

So you were mad at Amazon and took it out on the manufacturer of a product? Unless it was an Amazon product, you retaliated against the wrong company and also slanted the online product ratings based on emotion rather than an actual, objective review. This is why I don’t read too much into the product review numbers. Too often I read useless reviews, whether on Amazon or other online retailers, that give the product a bad review based solely on something stupid like "UPS lost the package or scratched the shipping box" or "the seller sent the wrong item". Please review the product on its own merit rather than using the product review section to vent anger at Amazon, UPS, etc.

Well Amazingly enough, it was an Amazon product. If a company is going to be a PITA, I'm going to give them a bad rating.

I'm not going to check out the "sold by" company for their rating. I'm not going to check out "shipped by" rating. I'm not going to check out the "company" section. I want a central location. I'm willing to separate the wheat from the chaff in an actual review. I like one spot for everything.

So, since I prefer it this way, would you please change how you rate/review things?

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by mlewis78

Tonight I switched to connecting my laptop via bluetooth to the original Echo speaker and disconnected from the Show 5. (My TV sound started working again, so I could watch fire TV without the Echo via bluetooth). Now the Echo is doing this -- announcing "playing from laptop _____" just like the Show 5 does. Grrrr.

And then last night there was no sound from the TV (with Fire TV), so I went to pair the Echo and it would not pair. Tried every which way -- though the Fire TV settings, the Echo app on my phone, etc. Called Amazon Help. That was just a horrible call. An Echo tech referred me to a Fire TV tech and that person referred me to another Echo tech. She tried a lot of things, including the things I'd already done and then declared that my TV is the problem. I repeated that I'd been using it with the Echo for more than two months. Then she wanted me to get my tablet (which was in the other room). Got it and then she said "No, we can use your phone." Eventually my iphone was running out of power and I asked her to call on my landline.

They all hinted that the Echo software had been updated and that my Echo is no longer compatible with the Fire TV because they were both gen 1. I vented my frustration and told her to tell the powers that be what I said. The call was more than 90 minutes during wee hours and I was beside myself.

This afternoon I was able to pair my Echo Tap to the Fire TV. Hope that lasts.

Someone on facebook suggested that I reset my old Echo to default settings. They said there is sometimes a "ghost pairing."

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by John F

Well Amazingly enough, it was an Amazon product. If a company is going to be a PITA, I'm going to give them a bad rating.

I'm not going to check out the "sold by" company for their rating. I'm not going to check out "shipped by" rating. I'm not going to check out the "company" section. I want a central location. I'm willing to separate the wheat from the chaff in an actual review. I like one spot for everything.

So, since I prefer it this way, would you please change how you rate/review things?

That still skews the actual product rating though. And just because an item is sold by Amazon, or Walmart, or any other retailer, doesn't mean they actually manufacture it. To each their own, but it definitely makes the online reviews even more useless than they already are by turning them into a place to vent rather than review.

I would complain loudly to Amazon about the 24x7 ads though as that is definitely annoying and intrusive. They should at least put a menu option to set a no disturb time. the problem with Echos is that they all seem to have silly limitations that could easily be fixed if Amazon gave a poop. But Amazon doesn't seem to care in most cases.

[John F]

Originally Posted by OtinG

That still skews the actual product rating though. And just because an item is sold by Amazon, or Walmart, or any other retailer, doesn't mean they actually manufacture it. To each their own, but it definitely makes the online reviews even more useless than they already are by turning them into a place to vent rather than review.

...

If under manufacturer it says Amazon, I considered it "manufactured" by Amazon. To each their own.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I would complain loudly to Amazon about the 24x7 ads though as that is definitely annoying and intrusive. They should at least put a menu option to set a no disturb time. the problem with Echos is that they all seem to have silly limitations that could easily be fixed if Amazon gave a poop. But Amazon doesn't seem to care in most cases.

All of these notifications can be turned off in the Settings > Notifications area of the web site (https://alexa.amazon.com/) or from the app.

[OtinG]

I just got a Echo Show 5 yesterday, and yes those ads and other notifications can be turned off and rotation can be shut off too. Tips will stop if you leave the Show 5 alone and let the clock display, but if you ask Alexa a question or perform some other action then one tip displays then they stop. I let the clock display all last night and I never saw any interruptions from tips, ads, weather, etc. as I turned all of them off. However I didn’t try running a skill like White Noise. I would not be surprised if a skill would have a few interruptions over night.

I know the Show 5 is rather limited, but it was worth the money for the clock and to see the lyrics when songs are playing. Anything else is just icing on the cake. It is a bit quirky, but not too bad. It is rather laggy though, but again that is okay for how I’m using it. I do have to get pretty loud for it to hear me, at least compared to my non-screen Echos.

Favorite thing so far is having my own photos rotate (slideshow) behind the clock face. One quirk is that analog clock faces dim my photos but digital clock faces work okay.

ETA: Forgot to mention that the sound is about like my Dot 3s, but it has a 3.5mm out port so I plugged in a good set of stereo speakers I already owned it it rocks!

.....

[OtinG]

Just placed an order on Amazon with Prime free 2-day delivery, but both items aren't scheduled for delivery until Thursday. Normally I get such items the next day or in two days tops. No big deal as they are non-essential items, but this might be the sign of things to come as coronavirus slows down retail in the USA. Something to consider for items you might need fairly quickly.

Stay safe and be safe!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Something to consider for items you might need fairly quickly.

I know what I need