Amazon Echo: Is it Worth Buying?

View of the Amazon Echo (Image Credit: Amazon)

Alexa is here to stay. After beating out Bose, Sonos and Logitech in 2015 speaker sales, Amazon Echo is now on track to be Amazon’s third billion-dollar company.

Amazon is so dedicated to the product that they even aired their first Super Bowl commercial featuring Alec Baldwin and other celebrities using the Echo. According to reports, the next version of Amazon Echo will be announced soon as a smaller and cheaper alternative.

So, yes, Amazon Echo is here to stay, even if you were one of those who initially mocked the Echo. But is it really worth the $180 price tag? Let’s break it down.

Audio Features and Quality

Pros
Amazon recently added Spotify integration for Echo, which works pretty seamlessly as long as you’re a Premium Spotify user. You can also say “Alexa, read my Audible book” or “Alexa, read my Kindle book” to enjoy audio books through Alexa. If you’re listening while working around your home, crank up the volume to 10—you will be shocked how loud this speaker gets.

Cons
Sound quality matters when you’re dropping close to $200 on a speaker. Unfortunately, Echo doesn’t quite meet the mark as it gets spotty with weaker bass in the upper levels of volume. Since it doesn’t connect with external speakers, you are kind of stuck with the quality Echo has. Additionally, you can’t answer phone calls through Amazon Echo, which is a feature most would assume comes with a smart speaker.

Smart Home Integration

Pros
Continues to integrate with more lights and switches, including Wink, SmartThings (by Samsung), Insteon, Philips Hue, Ecobee, WeMo switches, and LIFX light bulbs.

More recently, some nifty Echo-compatible products include Orange Chef, (a smart kitchen scale) Automatic (a gadget for connecting and analyzing your car), Garageio (smart garage door opener), and Scout DIY Alarm System. If you’re a member of security systems like Vivnt or Alarm.com, add those to the growing list of compatible smart home products.

Cons
There’s still room for growth.

• A nice feature would be TV controls, including Netflix/Hulu, Plex/Subsonic servers, and Apple TV/Chromecast/Roku.
• Users still have to use third-party integration (IFTTT, or If-This-Then-That) to make multiple devices work together to create specific scenes. For example, movie scene turns down the lights and turns up the temperature. IFTTT is doable for the average techie, but doesn’t just work out of the box. Echo should model Apple HomeKit’s simple integration to make this feature easier for everyone.
• There are way more smart home devices on the market that don’t integrate with Echo than those that actually do, although this may change over time.

Commands and Voice Recognition

Pros
Amazon Echo is easily much more intuitive than Google Now, Siri, or Cortana. She just seems to understand what you’re saying more quickly without the same hiccups as the other virtual assistants. With 7 microphones and far-field technology, it can easily pick up your voice without a problem.

Cons
While Amazon Echo is definitely smart, it’s not quite a genius like the robots you see in the movies. You still have to give one command at a time, which is frustrating for those of us who would love say, “Alexa, dim the lights and start playing rock music.” Plus, there are still plenty of times you repeat yourself or shout commands at a confused Alexa.

Hardware

Pros
Echo is built to hear you from any direction with 7 noise-cancelling microphones on all sides. It’s also built out with speakers (both woofer and tweeter), Bluetooth 4, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 4GB of storage and 256 MB of RAM.

Cons
Amazon Echo has to be plugged in, rendering it immovable without a reboot. Seriously, this has to be one of its biggest flaws. A smart Bluetooth speaker that’s stationary? Am I supposed to buy one for each room?

Software

Pros
Alexa is actually pretty smart. She can learn to recognize speech patterns to understand you better over time. Echo is also based in the cloud, so it’s always updating and improving. Amazon has consistently updated the software with significant improvements based on user feedback.

Cons
Amazon Echo is definitely missing some of the basics, as pointed out by Reddit users on the sub-Reddit for Amazon Echo. A few missing common sense features include:

• Reading text messages
• Recurring alarms and multiple alarms set at once
• Alarms that play music (wasn’t this a feature on flip phones like 15 years ago?)

Verdict

Another view of the Amazon Echo (Image Credit: Amazon)

If you’re looking to dabble in home automation and have $180 lying around (current price at Amazon), Amazon Echo is absolutely worth it. Echo is improving constantly with new features (like ordering Domino’s pizza or an Uber ride). These updates outweigh any hardware flaws, especially since there’s nothing quite like Echo on the market. Grab yourself a couple of smart lights or WeMo switches and you’ll feel pretty cool controlling your home through voice commands.

You can also wait for the cheaper version of Echo to release soon, or just wait for a competitor home automation hub to come along in a few years (Google?).

This article was contributed to PCMech.com by Alysa Kleinman, who is a smart home tech blogger. Her family enjoys testing home automation products that can make their house a little smarter and their lives a little easier.