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New Amazon Hardware - Echos, Fire TV, Echo Speaker Phone, gadgets...

BirdOPrey5

Staff member
Administrator
VIP
I just pre-ordered this thing to make land line phone calls with any Amazon Echo.

Introducing Echo Connect - Amazon Official Site - Turns your Echo into a voice-controlled speakerphone

Pre-order while you can.




As echos go, all new ones.

About half the size and half the price of the originals at $99 each are these new ones in a wide variety of colors and designs-

Amazon.com All-new Echo (2nd Generation) Heather Gray Fabric Amazon Devices




Still want the big ones? The 2nd Generation Echos now come with a free color changing light bulb (limited time) and an official lower price of $149. Also a new silver model in addition to black and white.

Amazon.com Introducing Echo Plus Silver + Philips Hue Bulb Amazon Devices




The most interesting one might be this Echo Spot for $129 which is an Echo Dot with a screen and (more disturbingly) a camera. It also appears you can't the camera off without shutting the microphone, so hopefully you don't mind hackers of Amazon engineers watching you while you sleep.

Introducing Echo Spot - Amazon Official Site - Stylish, compact Echo with a screen




There's the first Amazon Fire TV to support 4K video. Not quite a stick, not quite a box. $69.

All-New Fire TV - Amazon Official Site - Streaming Media Player




And if that is not enough, more is yet to come. By this holiday season there will be Echo Gadgets - the first of which are push buttons for family games.

Amazon.com Alexa Gadgets Amazon Devices Accessories

 

BirdOPrey5

Staff member
Administrator
VIP
PASS

Waiting for the real Fire TV 3 to appear.
It's a relatively big cube (as opposed to a flat box) with a built in Echo (it's own microphone and speaker.) It should have decent specs but it may not be all that more powerful than the Fire TV 2. The only thing interesting about it is an IR blaster so you can control your TV and other equipment.
 

Justin

Damn.
VIP
It's a relatively big cube (as opposed to a flat box) with a built in Echo (it's own microphone and speaker.) It should have decent specs but it may not be all that more powerful than the Fire TV 2. The only thing interesting about it is an IR blaster so you can control your TV and other equipment.
They need to stfu and put a snapdragon 835 in the damn thing instead of this cheap no-name Chinese shit they keep using.
 

Short Round

Oppan Gangnam Style
VIP
Well it certainly should be considering it costs twice as much.
And it's so powerful that it doesn't need annual updates. In fact, the more recent version uses the same hardware as the first version.

I just prefer the Android TV ecosystem.
 
Firetv: When it comes to streaming devices, on the cheap the Mi Box is the one to buy. Want the best, nVidia Shield Android TV. I have owned Roku, FireTV, Shield TV and Mi Box devices. After using them all, I think Android TV is the best OS of the bunch.

Echo vs. Google Home - I have a couple Echos, but I don't have a Google Home device yet.

Echo Connect: I don't see the point?? Who even has a land line these days, any why would someone spend money and have another device to use a speakerphone hands free?

Echo Spot/Echo Show (which makes more sense to me than the Spot) - isn't this pretty much just an Alexa enabled fire tablet in a different shape? Again, I'd opt for the more generic Android version over the heavily Amazon-ized devices.
 

BirdOPrey5

Staff member
Administrator
VIP
Firetv: When it comes to streaming devices, on the cheap the Mi Box is the one to buy. Want the best, nVidia Shield Android TV. I have owned Roku, FireTV, Shield TV and Mi Box devices. After using them all, I think Android TV is the best OS of the bunch.
What I dislike about pure android TV boxes is the remotes only have a couple of buttons, no FF, RR, Play/Pause like a Fire TV.

Echo Connect: I don't see the point?? Who even has a land line these days, any why would someone spend money and have another device to use a speakerphone hands free?
Me. :mrwave:
 
What I dislike about pure android TV boxes is the remotes only have a couple of buttons, no FF, RR, Play/Pause like a Fire TV.
Are you aware you can use a crap-ton of different remotes with Android TV boxes? IR remotes, harmony remotes, bluetooth remotes etc. You can even use a FireTV remote if you want. Because Android TV devices have full CEC support you can use your TV remote if your TV isn't archaic. The only limitation, as far as I am aware, is voice input only works with the native remotes.

I actually prefer the Android TV remotes because they only have the buttons I'd want. There really is no need for extra buttons, the D-pad works just fine for ff/rw/pause.

Speaking of the FireTV and it's remote, one thing I always hated about it is no volume control. The remotes that come with both the Shield TV and the Mi Box both control volume. To me this is far more useful than separate ff/rw/pause where the D-pad works the same way. This actually leads into my only complaint with the Shield TV remote, I don't like the capacitive volume slider. The regular button on the Mi Box remote are just better.

Oh, and the original Shield TV remote has a headphone jack. No big deal when you can just use bluetooth headphones directly, but I have used it on occasion.
True, but you are in the extreme minority on this one.
 

luv_jeeps

Mr. Martha
VIP
Ultra-Premium
I have 1 Echo(house) and one Dot(garage)
I might get another Dot for the master bedroom, but the latest cool thing I like is the integration with my Sat radios. Saving me 15 bucks a month because it's tied to one of the car accounts and I was able to cancel the portable unit I had in the garage.

I don't know if I'll bite on one of the new ones or not.
 

abqtj

I'm a damn delight!
Staff member
Administrator
VIP
I have 1 Echo(house) and one Dot(garage)
I might get another Dot for the master bedroom, but the latest cool thing I like is the integration with my Sat radios. Saving me 15 bucks a month because it's tied to one of the car accounts and I was able to cancel the portable unit I had in the garage.

I don't know if I'll bite on one of the new ones or not.


Please to explain the sat radio tie in?
 

frank_c

lost in the jet stream
VIP
I have 1 Echo(house) and one Dot(garage)
I might get another Dot for the master bedroom, but the latest cool thing I like is the integration with my Sat radios. Saving me 15 bucks a month because it's tied to one of the car accounts and I was able to cancel the portable unit I had in the garage.

I don't know if I'll bite on one of the new ones or not.
One FireTV box and two FireTV sticks. The stick in the garage is mostly used for Sirius.
 

luv_jeeps

Mr. Martha
VIP
Ultra-Premium
Apparently Alexa can already dial any US, Canadian, or Mexico number (other than 911/411/311 etc.. and 900 numbers.)

Alexa Calling & Messaging - Amazon

"Alexa, dial 555 555 1234"

or connect her to your cell phone contacts.
I tested this yesterday, and it does indeed work.

I also have 4 sticks, but am still waiting to get them in the queue for additional features, like Kodi and things. I have one installed, but have been working on other projects.
 

Ardvark

Well-known member
I think I'm going to put one in each of the bedrooms replace the alarm clock the stereos hopefully there's something out there I can use him as an intercom
 
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