Amazon releases new Echo Dot & Echo Tap devices!

Devices & Integrations
85

So my understanding is that dot does not have speaker inside . Or does it have a very small speaker

86

Dot does have a small built-in speaker (think more cell phone than Sonos).

“Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses the same far-field voice recognition as Amazon Echo. Dot has a small built-in speaker—it can also connect to your speakers over Bluetooth or with the included audio cable. Dot connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more—instantly.”

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87

All the marketing materials I saw claimed 9 hours of continuous battery life for the Tap. I’d trade 4-5 of those hours for always listening capability!

I really like the concept of the Tap because Prime Music is so easy to use, but you’re right that without the hands-free aspect, it really suffers. I ordered a Dot and the wife was excited to pair it with a bluetooth speaker for outside, then I saw the Tap and thought that would be even better; but as soon as I mentioned pressing the button to ask Alexa, she said forget it. Might as well use your phone to control the bluetooth speaker.

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88

@slagle Do you know if a room class of sorts is on the roadmap for the ST Echo integration? This way each Echo or Dot knows what room it’s in and acts accordingly. Would make this killer integration even killer-er.

Thanks! I’ve left feedback for this feature. Let’s leave feedback en masse! → echo.amazon.com

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89

This is a good question. Similarly, does the native Echo API used for the integration expose the source device in the commands or are they generic messages from the AVS? If a source device id of some sort is available, then it should be possible now. Otherwise, it’ll be waiting on Amazon to make this available.

90

Until we get them, theres no real way to determine if this is possible. But I hear you.

Rhetorical question: Can you have a set of SH items connected to just a dot, or do they have to also be controllable by mom (Alexa)?

If the answer is yes, then all you have to do is integrate Dot with ST, and allow Dot to discover all the devices, then delete whatever devices arent in the room you want the Dot to control.

91

I’m sure a dot is just a dinky echo with line out and two way Bluetooth a2dp…
From st’s perspective there will be no difference between them.

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92

Agreed. @Turb02, the Connected Home integration is global for your Amazon Account. So you can have multiple echoes all controlling your connected devices, but right now you can’t pick and choose which devices each one sees. If you delete devices, they will be deleted for all Echoes.

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93

You don’t have to own the original echo in order to use a Dot or a Tap.

You can certainly have multiple prime accounts and assign each one to A different echo AND give each one its own wake word AND have a different phone/tablet as the controller for each Amazon device so you have multiple copies of the echo app. This is how it could work for two housemates in the same house.

It’s essential, however, that each echo have a different wake word. Because otherwise they will try to execute the other one’s commands with varying results.

two Echo devices, two prime accounts, two home automation controllers, all in the same house

say you have two children’s bedrooms next to each other and the echo in each room could hear commands from the hall.

So you use wake word Alexa for the first one and wake word Amazon for the next one.

For now, let’s assume that there is a Phillips hue bridge for each of the two rooms and each echo has been assigned to one of the two bridges.

At that point, it would be easy to have one Echo use “lights on” for its room and the other echo use “lights on” for its room and everything would work fine. You don’t have to delete anything because you’re connecting to two different home automation controllers.

two echo devices, one prime account, one home automation controller

At our house, we have two echoes but they share the same smartthings account and the same Phillips hue bridge. We do use different wake words for them. But we also use different group names. So we have to say “Alexa, JD bedroom on” and “Amazon, David bedroom on” to turn the lights on in the two rooms.

We used two different wake words because otherwise when you use one of the official Amazon commands like “Volume down” if you’re standing in a spot where both echoes can hear you, they will both change at the same time.

two echo devices, two prime accounts, one SmartThings account?

I don’t know what happens if you have two different prime accounts on two different echo devices using two different Alexa apps try to link to the same SmartThings account. We do have both of our echoes linked to the same SmartThings account, but they are using the same prime account as well.

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94

Thats what I was expecting, but I was hoping for a different answer.

@JDRoberts, I know you dont have to own the original to use the dot. That was never a concern. I believe you misread my comment about “mom”. As for the multi accounts…not everyone has a need for more than one Prime account.

95

So if your outside enjoying some music, and a song comes on that your tired of, how do you skip it? Walk back in the house and tell Alexa? Or scare your neighbors by yelling through your screen door “ALEXA! NEXT!” Haha… I wonder if you could plug the DOT into a small USB external battery, and throw it on the table outside next to your speaker! :smiley:

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96

You’re right, I was confused. :sunglasses: What does “Mom” mean in this context?

As far as multiple prime accounts, you can invite one other person to share your prime features Which gives you multiples without spending any more money, if that was the concern. But it’s now limited to a maximum of two (it used to be five, I think.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=cs_gtwyph_prime_share?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200444180

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Meaning (which has already been answered), can the dot see certain items that “mom” cant?

98

Yeah, we’re just planning to grab it and plug it in outside (outside outlet) when we want it out there. A lot easier to do with the smaller Dot, plus our Echo is plugged in behind a couch, which makes moving it really hard. A USB battery pack that accepts a full plug is even better though!

99

Those are pricey. Ive researched. for a low mAh one, youre looking at $85.

http://www.amazon.com/ChargeTech-Portable-Universal-MacBooks-Motorola/dp/B00MVDRPR0

100

Looking at what is inside the box for the Echo Dot:

Included in the Box: Echo Dot, 3.5 mm audio cable (4 ft.), power adapter (9W), USB charging cable, and Quick Start Guide. I am just not sure a USB battery pack, would be able to handle powering the unit through the USB cable.

102

9 Watts at 5 Volts is a 1.8 Amp draw. So, worst case, you’re looking at roughly 2 Ah of energy consumed per hour the thing is running. For $20-30 you can buy a 20 Ah portable battery charger on Amazon. Based on those numbers, I’ll bet you could keep it going for a workday.

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103

You know… there isn’t a way to connect the Echo to outside speakers, right?

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Yes, but the “Dot” has an analog audio out in addition to a BT output capability. So, it can act as the source for a speaker and you can stream your Prime music anywhere (everywhere!) in the house. Or outside, if you get an extension card or a battery.

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105

Absolutely. This was something I was missing for a very long time. I was just hoping I could also connect the Echo to speakers via BT. I wanted to buy those BT receivers and connect it to my speakers, but then I saw the fine print… that you can’t do that…
There’s no point in putting a DOT in the same room of the Echo, b/c they will both hear and respond to the same command/question… but I am missing that feature, to connect Echo itself to other speakers…