Ah, I forgot to answer that part of your question. No, the Dot is not battery powered. You get a little USB style cable.
And yes, practise does indeed make perfect (well, close enough, anyway) when it comes to voice commands. Just imagine doing it with a Scottish accent and you'll see how hard I have to work sometimes. I'll admit sometimes I've either had to put on an English accent or talk like I'm speaking to an imbocile! Actually, most of the time the speech recognition is good so it's not that bad, and it does seem to learn over time. And of course you have to hit upon the right phrase as the Echo isn't that flexible with how commands are expressed. I suspect Google Home will be an improvement in that regard. Google Home isn't out here in the UK yet. I'm still enjoying playing with the Echo though and have to confess at being surprised at how much I like it. The UK voice is very good, and when I've had it read the odd newspaper article I've been really impressed with how natural it sounds. I believe in the US it can read Kindle books (as opposed to Audible/Audio books) but sadly that function isn't available in the UK so far. If it were I might be tempted to buy a few books from the Kindle store. John -----Original Message----- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane Trethowan Sent: 27 November 2016 14:54 To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Who's the better BFF: Amazon Echo or Google Home? Yes, we�re discussing the Amazon Echo on another list as it happens and I just wanted to confirm that the Dot indeed is a battery unit. The whole Voice recognition game has gone ahead ahead in leaps and bounds, obviously I don�t have an Amazon Echo - not yet - or a Google Home but I do have my Samsung Galaxy S6 with �OK Google� and �Google Now� installed and the things that combination can do - if you�re prepared to spend the time to speak your mind as the saying goes - is astonishing. For example I can tell the phone to �Play Radio 1070 KNX with Tunein� to which Google responds, �Playing KNX 1070 News Radio� and that you then hear. To stop playing all I have to do is to wake up google , �Ok Google� and say, �Stop Play�, to which Google Responds, �Sure!�. I have Google do a whole heap of other things besides, I just mentioned this example as its one I�ve only refined the voice commands for over the last few days, practise makes perfect <smile>. > On 28 Nov. 2016, at 1:42 am, John Gurd <j.g...@ntlworld.com> wrote: > > Yes, it's the smaller unit by far but has all the features of it's bigger > sibling. The Dot can be connected by audio cable to a larger speaker or even > an amplifier. I haven't done this. It also has Bluetooth. There is a misnomer > that it doesn't have a built-in speaker but it does. The sound quality is > much like an old-fashioned transistor radio but I have listened to music from > a random playlist in the background from amazon Prime and it is okay for > casual radio listening. I can also tell it to connect via Bluetooth to my > iPhone and play my book from the Voice Dream app via the Dot. It certainly > sounds fine and can play at a reasonable volume for the equivalent of a > transistor radio. > > If I should be fortunate to get the bigger Echo for Xmas I'll keep it in the > living room and move the Dot to the bedroom. That way I can use it to control > the heating and lighting from either place by voice and it will serve as an > alarm clock as well. Incidentally, it also tells Jokes and Interesting Facts > on demand. In fact it is quite a good dictionary and calculator too. > > John > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane > Trethowan > Sent: 27 November 2016 02:27 > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Who's the better BFF: Amazon Echo or Google Home? > > The Echo Dot is the smaller unit right? Does it run on battery power too? > >> On 27 Nov. 2016, at 6:58 am, John Gurd <j.g...@ntlworld.com> wrote: >> >> I just got the Echo Dot to try it out as I already have a Hive home >> connected system. I can control some lights and the central heating >> thermostat with it. It's fairly rudimentary but has a lot of potential that >> I hope will be realised in the near future. I've found it handy for a quick >> news summary, checking my local train service, and for simple questions and >> even a casual dip into radio such as BBC radio 4. Overall, I like it enough >> to anticipate getting its bigger brother for Xmas. >> >> John >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Jim >> Noseworthy >> Sent: 25 November 2016 11:43 >> To: 'PC Audio Discussion List' >> Subject: RE: Who's the better BFF: Amazon Echo or Google Home? >> >> Hi: >> >> In my opinion, if you're not wanting to use Audible, Google home wins the >> vote; however, if Audible is important, then forget Google home. I have >> access to both devices. >> >> Cheers. >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Dane >> Trethowan >> Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2016 4:53 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> >> Subject: Who's the better BFF: Amazon Echo or Google Home? >> >> All I can say is that Home and Echo are incredibly powerful tools as this >> article demonstrates all too clearly. >> http://newatlas.com/amazon-echo-vs-google-home/46423/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=4cc9032d68-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-4cc9032d68-92350869 >> >> -- >> >> ********** >> ?Oh, I?m an activist and I?m OK / I sleep all night and I tweet all day.? >> >> >> >> >> > > ********** > Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the > halfwits in this world behind. > > > > ********** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
