There's one benefit to having both Echo/Alexa. When I have guests over and their fascinated by Echo it's much easier to have a conversation about it using the word "Echo" - otherwise they'd trigger Alexa using the wake word every other sentence..
It's also handy when Alexa is accidentally triggered (like one time when I was watching a youtube video). I whisper to my wife "Don't talk Echo is listening!" :)
Is there any way to change it?
I imagine if your name was Alexa (or even Alex) or had a close friend with that name you could also get a lot of false positives.
Re:Amazon Echo Released
by genericuser on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @12:49PM
(#9765859)
You can easily change it to Amazon if you do not want it to be Alexa. However that is your only other option.
You can change it, but the only other option is to have it respond to "Amazon."
The only other current option is "Amazon".
Re:Amazon Echo Released
by genericuser on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @12:54PM
(#9765894)
I have this problem with the PS4s wake word being Playstation quite frequently.
Re:Amazon Echo Released
by function_seven on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @12:06PM
(#9765571)
It seems to be the norm. "Hey Siri" is three syllables. "OK Google" is four. "Hey Cortana" is also four.
I bet they really can't find a 2-syllable word that doesn't false positive all over the place. At least not with either the quality of speech recognition or the wide range of accents that need to be understood.
And I personally found "Hey Siri" to be triggering enough false positives that I couldn't leave that feature on.
Re:Amazon Echo Released
by function_seven on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @01:39PM
(#9766270)
Yeah, same here. It's closer to other phonemes, whereas "Alexa" sounds like fewer things.
Re:Amazon Echo Released
by HelloMcFly on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @12:29PM
(#9765729)
"Xbox Select" on the Xbox One as well.
It's really not a big deal.
It did not even occur to me to be so overly concerned about an extra "uh". Surely you're kidding?
Re:Amazon Echo Released
by brianobush on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @12:34PM
(#9765758)
The intent is to keep false accepts down for the trigger phrase.
Wait, what ?
Never mind the name mismatch - I agree that is odd.
But ... this is quick convenience device for rapid reaction to spoken commands ... and the command is three syllables ?
I understand the need to avoid false positives - waking up and responding to common speech patterns that get used throughout the day that are not directed to the device, but surely you can come up with a two-syllable command that won't generate those.
I have no intention of ever using a device like this in my home, but if I did, 50% more syllables for every interaction would drive me nuts.