SO YOU GOT yourself a modern-day Amazon Echo Dot. Congratulations! You’ll get along notable with it. But before you start yelling at your vibrant new toy, quickly observe what it can do for you. It’s greater than you may have imagined.
The hints and tricks underneath additionally paint for any Alexa-powered device correctly. There are many out there, and even as they’ll no longer be as puckish (each within the hockey and Shakespearean sense), they may have all advantage from a quick primer.
The Set-Up
First, establish nurturing surroundings where your Echo Dot can thrive. Kidding! Just plug that sucker into a wall outlet and allow it to fly. Next, your Dot will take a seat there, patiently bright orange, at the same time as you download the Alexa app for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire tablets, or any combination of those that suit your set-up if the Echo Dot mild isn’t orange anymore, press and hold the Action button (that’s only with a white dot in the middle) for five seconds to get it returned to set-up mode. Then, from inside the app, signal into your Amazon account and install Wi-Fi using Settings > Set Up New Device and coming into your nearby network’s password.
The Alexa app will display a video that handholds you through your Echo Dot introductions. But why watch when you may discover? Just remember, begin every query or command with “Alexa,” or change the spark off under Settings > Wake Word if you’d decide upon “Echo,” “Amazon,” or “Computer.”
The Speaker
None of Amazon’s Echo lineup has a speaker you could reasonably describe as “banging.” Thanks to its diminutive size, the Dot is the weakest of the bunch.
MORE ECHO AND ALEXA
DAVID PIERCE
Forget the Echo. The Dot Is the Most Important Alexa Device
BRIAN BARRETT
Amazon Alexa Hits 10,000 Skills. Here Comes the Hard Part
TIM MOYNIHAN
Alexa and Google Home Record What You Say. But What Happens to That Data?
Suppose you need Alexa to sound like she’s calling you from inside a tin can, pleasant. Suppose you need the entire Alexa to revel in. In that case, you’re in success: The Echo Dot features an audio out, which means you’re only a 3.5mm audio cable far from making your property’s excellent speaker a clever one. If you hate lines more than latency, it also helps Bluetooth.
What speaker you hook the Dot as much as relies upon on non-public choice; however, we can advise some for you here. And if you want to coloration-coordinate—or add a touch flair for your Dot—Amazon offers six colorful protective cases to pick out from properly.
The Basics
Power? Check. Wi-Fi? Check. Killer speaker, to piggyback off of like an oxpecker on a hippo? Hopefully, check. OK. Let’s boogie.
Where you put your Echo Dot depends on your personal path choice, and we’d never dissuade you from following your coronary heart. But if this is your first Alexa tool, you want to place it in the kitchen.
Why? Because that’s the room in your home where Alexa’s innate abilities shine brightest. Out of the field, your Echo Dot can set timers, convert measurements, blast music (or NPR, podcasts, or anything you’re into), and you’ll need a little quick customization before you get going.
Change your default tune carrier: Echo gadgets default to Amazon Music, a perfect choice with a robust imparting of free tunes if you’re a Prime member. Suppose Supposeu’s devoted to Spotify, Pandora, or Heart Radio, though, y. Alternatively, you can make one of these your default tune participant by going to Settings > Music & Media > Link account to Alexa within the app.
Make a smartphone name: With a current replacement, Alexa can make smartphone calls—the type of. Specifically, you may need area calls to human beings in your cellphone’s contacts who also have Alexa gadgets, which means your conversations may be Alexa-to-Alexa, which feels its compelling need to be a palindrome; however, it isn’t.
Family profiles: Maybe you live in a household (or dorm room) where every person has their own Amazon account. Don’t fear! Switching profiles must help avoid confusion. By including debts for your family, all of us can get the right of entry to their private calendar, content library, flash briefing, and more. Go to Settings > Household Profile and sign in. Then the faucet Continues and lets the subsequent person do the same. Presto! One huge glad Echo family.
To transfer money owed—and this need not come as a great deal wonder—say, “Alexa, switch bills.” To save unintended (or intentional, in case you stay with a scallywag) purchases on the wrong account, go to Settings > Voice Purchasing > Require affirmation code to set up a four-digit PIN for any acts of consumerism.
Cover Your Tracks: As quickly as you say “Alexa,” your Echo Dot starts evolving in listening–and recording. In practice, that’s no longer so different from Google monitoring what you look into Chrome, but it does experience a small dose of creepier while it’s your voice on file. If you visit Settings > History, you can see what Alexa has clocked you pronouncing and delete them individually. For a bulk cleansing, head right here and visit Your Devices > Echo Dot > Manage voice recordings—a pop-up needs to come up with an option to clean-slate your seek records with one tap.
The Skills
Smart Home of Choice: Got a smart home? I hope that’s working out for you! One way to make it work better is to connect it to Alexa, which supports Nest, Control4, SmartThings, Philips Hue lighting, Lutron, Insteon, and any other hub or platform you can think of.
If you’re a smart home beginner, perhaps start with a quick plug from Wemo or TP-Link, low-price, low-stakes entry factors that permit you to turn something plugged into them on and rancid with a Yelp.
