Re:The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this ...
by jimmaswell on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @11:44AM
(#16015853)
I truly don't understand how so many people could buy something that literally does nothing their phone couldn't already do. Maybe it was marketing.
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Re:The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this ...
by Digory on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @02:18PM
(#16017164)
Not really. Many people have older phones, with batteries that fade, so they don't enable auto-listening. Neither iPhone nor Google tap into Prime music via voice, which is a service most pay for, over Apple music or Play.
To play music from my phone right now, I have to swipe to Bluetooth, connect to the speaker, wait for the bloop, switch to my music app, and play. It connects automatically in my car, but not my kitchen, and even in the car, I have to hunt down overcast to play podcasts.
In almost every case, it's faster and easier to shout out to Alexa in my kitchen.
Re:The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this ...
by kenjackson on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @12:54PM
(#16016494)
The same reason people bought smartphones that literally did nothing their laptop couldn't do. Ease of use.
I can turn on my entertainment system or turn off my lights with my phone, but its a lot easier to just say it, versus getting my phone out of my pocket, turning it on, finding the app, launching the app, going to the screen to turn on the thingie, and then pressing the right button.
Re:The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this ...
by jimmaswell on Wednesday December 27, 2017 @04:54PM
(#16018366)
If this is such a selling point then why is there no widespread adoption of this level of voice control on smart phones? It's certainly technically doable.
Re:The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on Amazon this ...
by kenjackson on Thursday December 28, 2017 @12:52PM
(#16023569)
If cell phones could do this w/o me having to get it out of my pocket/purse, then I think it would catch on. Also, Siri at least, seems to have very little extensibility (or at least no one is using it).