After purchasing multiple of Amazon's Echo Devices, is it right to say that now with a low budget, you can now have a basic smart home at your fingertips?
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| Amazon's Echo Dot - The miniaturized predecessor to the original Echo |
My Experience
About a year ago I got my first Echo, a black first generation for $99 on amazon. It was an instant hit in my household. Since the moment we opened the box it was being used all the time. Music, weather, converting units, basic math, and even just random knowledge questions were frequent topics being asked to the Echo and answered by the Amazon assistant, Alexa. After having it for a while, I had read that you can have multiple interconnected Echos throughout your home and so, being the curious person I am, I decided to go out and get two echo dots to accompany my original Echo. After a very quick setup (opening the boxes, plugging them in, and registering them on my Amazon Alexa app) each floor of my home had an Alexa-enabled device on it, and I was ready to see if the Echo-family of devices was a step in the right direction towards affordable smart-home technology and personal assistants.
The first thing that came as a distinct advantage to having multiple Echo devices throughout my home was Alexa's calling feature. By naming each device on the Alexa app on my phone, for example the Echo dot in my basement I named "Basement" and my original Echo in my Kitchen named "Kitchen", I was able to go to any Echo device and ask Alexa to call another. This allowed hands-free, simple communication throughout my entire home. This completely eliminated the need to yell across my house in order to talk to people on different floors. Another advantage of having multiple Echo devices is that I no longer need to travel to have to ask Alexa any questions, having a device on each floor meant that an Amazon Echo was within a few steps or, most of the time, in reach of my voice where ever I am at the time.
Smart Home?
Many people who know I have multiple Echos throughout my home have asked me, does it feel like you're in a smart home? My answer to that is simply- no. Being on the budget I was on, having just three Echo devices is not enough to make your home a smart home. If you have the money, buying things like Hue Smart light bulbs, Ecobee smart switches, Amazon's fire TV, and Echo Look camera may bring you much closer to the smart home of your dreams, if you don't mind dropping hundreds if not thousands of dollars purchasing and installing these things throughout your entire house or apartment. I spent $160 on three Echo products and I did not feel like I was in a smart home at all, just in my own normal home but now with an omnipresent personal assistant with convenient intercom functionalities.
I am yet to try many of the smart products that can work alongside Echo devices and may refrain from ever buying some of them due to the price and lack of effective functionality. A product like the Nest thermostat ($250) is something I am really interested in buying but it is way too expensive and I do not see the benefit of using it with Alexa. I would never want to control the heat of my house with my voice from another device of unrelated manufacturing origins. I want to be able to see the temperature go up or down while physically turning the dial, trusting that Amazon's Echo heard me correctly is not something that I want to bet my heating bill on.
Overall thoughts
Truthfully, if you're on a budget and you want to turn your home into a smart home, then you have to face facts and accept that smart homes are expensive and may take more money than you have. If you don't want to fully turn your home into a smart home, or you've realized that 'smart home' and 'budget' are basically antonyms, and you maybe want or have a few smart components in your home, then Alexa is the path to go. No budget? Then definitely put these all around your home and invest in the devices that can be used with it. The accessories that can be bought have loads of functionality and can make your home into something of the future. All five Echo devices (Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Spot, and Echo Show) can all be linked together and used to connect your home in a way that's worth bragging about. Are smart homes a necessity for those in modern society? Absolutely not. But, for someone who wants to make their lives more enjoyable, convenient, and downright awesome, the family of Amazon Echo devices can provide just that.
The first thing that came as a distinct advantage to having multiple Echo devices throughout my home was Alexa's calling feature. By naming each device on the Alexa app on my phone, for example the Echo dot in my basement I named "Basement" and my original Echo in my Kitchen named "Kitchen", I was able to go to any Echo device and ask Alexa to call another. This allowed hands-free, simple communication throughout my entire home. This completely eliminated the need to yell across my house in order to talk to people on different floors. Another advantage of having multiple Echo devices is that I no longer need to travel to have to ask Alexa any questions, having a device on each floor meant that an Amazon Echo was within a few steps or, most of the time, in reach of my voice where ever I am at the time.
Smart Home?
Many people who know I have multiple Echos throughout my home have asked me, does it feel like you're in a smart home? My answer to that is simply- no. Being on the budget I was on, having just three Echo devices is not enough to make your home a smart home. If you have the money, buying things like Hue Smart light bulbs, Ecobee smart switches, Amazon's fire TV, and Echo Look camera may bring you much closer to the smart home of your dreams, if you don't mind dropping hundreds if not thousands of dollars purchasing and installing these things throughout your entire house or apartment. I spent $160 on three Echo products and I did not feel like I was in a smart home at all, just in my own normal home but now with an omnipresent personal assistant with convenient intercom functionalities.
I am yet to try many of the smart products that can work alongside Echo devices and may refrain from ever buying some of them due to the price and lack of effective functionality. A product like the Nest thermostat ($250) is something I am really interested in buying but it is way too expensive and I do not see the benefit of using it with Alexa. I would never want to control the heat of my house with my voice from another device of unrelated manufacturing origins. I want to be able to see the temperature go up or down while physically turning the dial, trusting that Amazon's Echo heard me correctly is not something that I want to bet my heating bill on.
Overall thoughts
Truthfully, if you're on a budget and you want to turn your home into a smart home, then you have to face facts and accept that smart homes are expensive and may take more money than you have. If you don't want to fully turn your home into a smart home, or you've realized that 'smart home' and 'budget' are basically antonyms, and you maybe want or have a few smart components in your home, then Alexa is the path to go. No budget? Then definitely put these all around your home and invest in the devices that can be used with it. The accessories that can be bought have loads of functionality and can make your home into something of the future. All five Echo devices (Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Spot, and Echo Show) can all be linked together and used to connect your home in a way that's worth bragging about. Are smart homes a necessity for those in modern society? Absolutely not. But, for someone who wants to make their lives more enjoyable, convenient, and downright awesome, the family of Amazon Echo devices can provide just that.
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