Amazon Alexa is a phonation service, a deject-based software program that acts as a voice-controlled virtual personal assistant. In a nutshell, you use your voice to inquire Alexa a question or give Alexa a control, and it dutifully answers you (assuming an answer exists) or carries out your request (assuming your asking is possible). The key here is that Alexa responds to voice commands.

So, what tin Alexa practice? Some people think an Alexa-enabled device is naught but a glorified clock-radio. And although it's true that you tin can use Alexa to tell the fourth dimension and play a radio station, the limit with what y'all tin can do with Alex and Alexa Skills (like apps on mobile devices) is nearly nonexistent:

Amazon Alexa Source: ©Shutterstock.com

  • Playing media: You can connect your Alexa device to your favorite music service — such equally Amazon Music or Spotify — which gives you phonation access to millions of songs. Yous can ask Alexa to play a particular song, artist, playlist, or genre. If you lot take multiple smart speakers in your home, Alexa'southward multi-room music characteristic enables you to play the same music in each room that has a speaker. Alexa tin also play radio stations, podcasts, and audiobooks; recite the text of a Kindle book; and, if your device has a screen, play shows from Amazon Video.
  • Communicating: One of Alexa'south more surprising features is that you can use it to communicate with other people, fifty-fifty if they don't take an Alexa device. You tin can send text letters and place vox calls, but the existent fun begins when you and the other person have Alexa devices with screens, because then you can make video calls to that person. If you accept multiple Alexa devices at home, y'all can likewise use them every bit either a ii-manner intercom system or as a one-style intercom for making announcements.
  • Shopping: It wouldn't be an Amazon production if shopping weren't involved, so of course you lot tin can use Alexa to place orders through your Amazon account, check the latest Amazon deals, and rail your shipments.
  • Getting help around the home: Nosotros're all decorated, so who couldn't utilise an actress hand effectually the house at present and then? Alexa has no easily, alas, but it tin help large-time by making it easy to create a to-do list or shopping listing; manage your Google, iCloud, or Function calendar; and set reminders for upcoming tasks. Alexa can also set an alarm and run a timer. It's mother's (not to mention a father'south and kids') little helper.
  • Getting news and data: Alexa is always up on the latest news, and so all you have to do is ask. You tin can even customize the news you hear by configuring Alexa's Flash Briefing feature. Alexa can also tell you lot the current weather and the latest forecast, give you traffic updates, let you know the scores and schedules for your favorite sports teams, and tell you lot moving picture showtimes at nearby theaters.
  • Answering your questions: If in that location were such a thing as a Swiss Army Knife for data, Alexa would be it. I've already mentioned it'due south a news anchor, conditions forecaster, and sportscaster, but Alexa can also be a figurer, speller, dictionary, encyclopedia, and search engine. Ask a question, and the odds are in your favor that Alexa can notice the answer.
  • Accessing skills: Alexa comes with tons of congenital-in features, but Amazon has fix up a system that lets third parties add new features to Alexa. These features are called skills, and there are thousands of them available in Amazon's Alexa Skills store. There are skills for ordering a pizza or an Uber, playing games or trivia, tracking your fettle or your investments, and so much more. You can even build your ain skills without programming!
  • Automating your home: Alexa is smart-home savvy, so it gives yous voice control over many dissimilar home-automation products, including lights, thermostats, baby monitors, security cameras, and door locks.
  • Having fun: Alexa may seem like information technology's all business with its easy admission to news and conditions, its to-do lists and reminders, and its massive catalog of life-hacking skills, but Alexa has a fun side, as well. Alexa can tell jokes, read limericks, sing songs, tell stories, and play games. Alexa even comes with a big trove of and then-chosen Easter eggs that bring surprise and whimsy to your Alexa conversations.

Amazon Alexa and Repeat Setup

Alexa requires an Internet connectedness, so brand sure your Wi-Fi network is up and running. Here'due south how to set up up Amazon Echo Dot and other Alexa devices:

1. Install the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet. You need a smartphone or tablet that meets one of these qualifications:

  • An iPhone or iPad running iOS 9 or subsequently
  • An Android telephone or tablet running Android five or later
  • An Amazon Fire tablet running Fire OS 3 or afterwards

2. Sign in to your Amazon account with the Alexa app.

iii. Give Alexa access to your device'south microphone in the Alexa app Here'south how.

  • In the Alexa app, tap the Alexa icon. You'll run across some text telling you that you need to give the app permission to use the microphone.
  • Tap Let.
  • Tap OK (iOS) or Let (Android).

4. Position your Echo device where it's accessible to your family and within Wi-Fi range.

  • Make sure the device is close enough that you tin can give your phonation commands without having to yell. Depending on the ambient noise in your environment, this usually ways being inside xv to 20 feet of the device.
  • For the best audio quality, proceed the device at to the lowest degree viii inches from any wall.
  • Alexa devices require full-fourth dimension power, so make sure at that place's an outlet close enough to the device.

5. Add your Echo device using the Alexa app, where you can requite your Echo access to your Wi-Fi network.

The Alexa app is really simple to utilize and will walk you through all the settings you can play with to get your Echo ready simply how you want it.

Compare Echo Devices and Choose the Correct Alexa Device for You

With the exception of using Alexa on your telephone or tablet, you can't do the Alexa matter until you get a device that's Alexa-enabled. That sounds straightforward enough, but that illusion of simplicity is shattered when you see the sheer number of devices that are bachelor. Amazon alone offers no less than a half-dozen different Alexa-enabled devices just in its Echo make of smart speakers. How are you lot supposed to know which one to get? To help you brand the right Alexa decision, here's a quick look at what's available from Amazon's Echo brand and so that you lot can compare features.

Echo

Echo is your garden-diversity Repeat smart speaker that's designed for larger rooms because it comes with two speakers: a 2.5-inch woofer and a 0.half-dozen-inch tweeter. It'due south fairly large — 3.4 inches in diameter and five.8 inches high — so you may demand to clear a spot for it.

Echo Dot

The Echo Dot is a smart speaker designed for smaller rooms because it comes with a single speaker and is quite a bit teensier overall than the Repeat (near 3.9 inches in diameter and about i.7 inches loftier). Information technology's also half the cost of the Repeat, which is likely why it'southward Amazon's bestselling Alexa device.

Echo Plus

The Repeat Plus is a smart speaker just like the Echo, but it besides includes a born abode-automation hub, which enables you to connect and operate uniform smart-dwelling devices (such equally lights, thermostats, and security cameras) from a cardinal location. The Echo Plus is the aforementioned size as the Echo, only its ii speakers are slightly bigger — a 3-inch woofer and a 0.8-inch tweeter — for richer sound.

Echo Spot

The Echo Spot is a smart speaker that's similar to the Echo Dot, except that it comes with a 2.v-inch screen that enables y'all to meet the weather condition, news highlights, and vocal lyrics. The Echo Spot also has a built-in photographic camera, so you tin use it to make video calls to compatible devices. The Echo Spot comes with a single speaker and is four.i inches wide, three.8 inches high, and 3.6 inches deep.

Repeat Prove

The Echo Testify, like the Echo Spot, is a smart speaker that comes with a screen, but the Echo Prove screen is big: simply over x inches along the diagonal. That screen also supports high definition (HD) for great-looking video. The Repeat Prove as well has a built-in 5-megapixel camera, so you lot can utilise it to make video calls to uniform devices. The Echo Show comes with two two-inch speakers and is 9.7 inches wide, 6.ix inches loftier, and four.two inches deep.

Repeat Motorcar

The Echo Auto is designed to hang out with yous in your car. Information technology connects to the Internet via your smartphone. The Repeat Auto doesn't have a born speaker, but you can employ information technology to connect to your machine's speakers via Bluetooth or by plugging in an audio cablevision (assuming your car supports either of these options). The Echo Automobile is 3.3 inches wide and 1.ix inches deep.

About This Article

About the book writer:

Paul McFedries is a true renaissance geek. He has been a programmer, consultant, database developer, and website architect. He'southward also the author of more than xc books, including top sellers covering Windows, Role, and macOS.

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