Hey Guys, today I’ll be unboxing Amazon’s Echo Dot and showing you what functions are available out of the box.

Canadian Version

The Echo devices which carries Alexa were just released in Canada.  This is the Dot version, without the higher quality built-in speaker.  This will not be a source of music for me but rather the speakers throughout my home will be controlled by it.  I bought this for my increased interest in home automation.  For example, I want to get this hooked up my lights, thermostat, ring doorbell and see what creative things I can do with home security and automation.

American Version

Let’s pop open the box and see what we have:

Echo Dot Box Contents

  • USB power charger – we’ll see how many watts it consumes in a few moments. The adapter is rated for up to 9w.

  • USB cord – for charging only.

  • Manual for setting it up

  • Sample questions list so you know how to form Alexa friendly questions

  • The Echo Dot itself, which has the following features:

    • Listening action button
    • Mute button
    • Volume up and down
    • Awesome mic which is supposed to pick you your voice across the room which we’ll test later
    • Micro USB power in port
    • AUX output jack – for headphones or playing Alexa on your stereo system
    • LED Light ring which show you various status, like when it’s listening
    • The bottom of the device is a rubber like substance preventing it from slipping about

At this point, I don’t have the Alexa app on my iPhone.  Let’s plug in the Echo and see what happens.

It asks you to start the setup using the Alexa app. Let’s get that installed next.

  • Here on my iPhone, I’ll lookup Amazon Alexa app and start the install process

  • You’ll need to log into your Amazon account

  • Open the app and you’ll see a Welcome message and hit continue to accept Amazon’s conditions of use and terms

  • Hit the Get Started button

  • Alexa wants to personal the experience so it will grab your full name from your Amazon account here. Click your name

  • You can confirm your name here. I’m updating mine

  • Amazon is requesting access to your contacts for calling and messaging

  • This is an addition step for verification. Enter your phone number and Amazon will send you a code

  • You’ll need to connect to your Echo by clicking Customize Alexa for your device

  • Here, I have 2 Echo Dots listed, since I bought 2. Click on one of them

  • Then click on the Echo Dot, choose your language, then start the process to connect to your Wi-Fi

  • Wait for the orange light ring

  • Here we will make a direct connection from your smart phone to the Echo device. Jump over to your Wi-Fi settings and select the connection call Amazon and some number

  • Alexa will tell you that you have connect and to finish the setup

  • Click on the Wi-Fi connection you want Alexa to use

  • Enter your password for the Wi-Fi

  • The device is now connecting to your home network and your smart phone will automatically go back to it’s home network.

To satisfy my curiosity, I hooked up a power meter.  The USB plug is rated for 9 watts but we are only using between 1.4 and 4.2.

Before setting up anything further, let’s look at the basic Alexa commands which are available out of the box and see what results we get from Alexa:

My Commands to Alexa Alexa’s Response
Alexa, set a cookie timer for 5 minutes Cookie timer set for 5 minutes
Alexa, how much time is left on my cookie timer? No timers set
Alexa, do I have any timers set? No timers set
Alexa, set another cookie timer for 5 minutes Cookie timer set for 5 minutes
Alexa, do I have any timers set? No timers set
Alexa, set a wake-up call for 6am Your alarm is set for 6am to play Celtic Canada – Amazon Music
Alexa, do I have any alarms set? Your alarm is set for 6am
Alexa, delete all alarms. Cancelling all your alarms
Alexa, do I have any timers set? You have 2 alarms set.  Cookie with X minutes left and cookie with X minutes remaining
Alexa, what’s 6+6? The sum of 6+6 is 12
Alexa, what’s 6 divided by 0? 6 divided by 0 is undefined
Alexa, what’s the weather tomorrow? The weather for Westlake tomorrow is…
Alexa, what’s the weather tomorrow for Calgary? The weather for Calgary, TX tomorrow is…
Alexa, what’s the weather tomorrow for Calgary, Alberta? The weather for Calgary, Canada tomorrow is…
Alexa, create Groceries list.
Yes		 That’s Groceries, correct?
What would you like to add to Groceries list?
Milk, Butter, Flour, Cookies, Dough, Glue. Here, Alexa added everything as 1 list item. Too bad we couldn’t spit out a long list like this instead of having to add items individually.
Alexa, how do you spell Colour? Colour is spelled: C.O.L.O.U.R
Alexa, what does scrutiny mean? Start to provide definition…
Alexa, stop. Stops speaking
Alexa, what’s 6+6 The sum of 6 and 6 is 12
Alexa, what is the capital of China China’s capital city is Beijing.

For my range test, I’ll record my voice so the volume is consistent and move further and further away.  I’ll keep the volume low so I’m not out of the shot.  At 2 feet, Alexa has no issues.  At 6 feet, we are good too.  Once I reach 7 feet Alexa is unable to hear her trigger word and respond.

At first glance, physically, it’s great and feels like a quality product.  The speaker is also good and produces a good quality sound.  However… I’m mildly impressed but still hopeful of the potential of Alexa’s abilities.  It took a while for my timer to register after setting it up and turning it off wasn’t straight forward.  Setting an alarm was easy but my grocery list was confusing as everything was considered 1 item.  The math worked out ok as well as Canadian spelling (for a Canadian version of this device), definitions and geography were also ok.  Music identification didn’t work at all and the weather just assumed I was in the US.  I would have figured it would default to Toronto since I didn’t have my location setup yet.  Or why didn’t it get that from my Amazon profile.  Also, when I first mentioned Calgary, it assumed a US city of 5500, versus the major Canadian centre of well over a million.

I’ll be setting up various features in upcoming videos.