The Amazon Dot is amazing

[transmaster]

I just did something that I never, ever been able to do with Siri. Alexa play Khachaturian. Sharazade It nailed it, I almost fell out of my chair. Alexa WWOZ, “continuing WWOZ, instantly Alexa WQXR, continuing WQXR, and it was playing. It was even getting the off the wall newage musicians I listen to. I can catch it on some really obscure questions but that could be because I am still learning how to address it.

¡Alexa C...Siri no!

 

[ETLS]

Did you ask Alexa if she's better than Siri?

 

[Archguy]

I just did something that I never, ever been able to do with Siri. Alexa play Khachaturian. Sharazade It nailed it, I almost fell out of my chair. Alexa WWOZ, “continuing WWOZ, instantly Alexa WQXR, continuing WQXR, and it was playing. It was even getting the off the wall newage musicians I listen to. I can catch it on some really obscure questions but that could be because I am still learning how to address it.

¡Alexa C...Siri no!

Well I'm glad your device can understand you because I sure as hell can't!

 

[thilaseen]

I want some of what you're taking.

On second thoughts maybe not.

 

[sKiZo]

Ask alexa to tell you a dirty joke. Just make sure the kids are out of the room ...

 

[chicks]

Yes, Alexa has been improving substantially in recognizing World Music names, as well. I have Alexa in the car now too (and Google for navigation), because Siri simply doesn’t cut it.

 

[transmaster]

I did tell Siri, Alexa was better and it said "Well I'll still be here".

To be sure there are some things that Alexa does not do. because Siri has a GPS tie in it knows where you are. So if I ask what the temperature is outside is Siri tells me what is in Cheyenne, I have to be specific with Alexa otherwise I get the weather for Rawlins, Wyoming where the servers I am hooked to are located.

 

[uofmtiger]

I just did something that I never, ever been able to do with Siri. Alexa play Khachaturian. Sharazade It nailed it, I almost fell out of my chair. Alexa WWOZ, “continuing WWOZ, instantly Alexa WQXR, continuing WQXR, and it was playing. It was even getting the off the wall newage musicians I listen to. I can catch it on some really obscure questions but that could be because I am still learning how to address it.

¡Alexa C...Siri no!

Yep, the Dot is awesome...if you don't mind having Amazon listening in and storing what you say in the cloud. I periodically go in and delete everything they heard on each device on their website.

Not sure that this album is on Apple Music, which could cause Siri some problems. I looked up the song name and I didn't see this artist listed. Interesting that when I asked for the song by itself, it played Peter Cetera's Scheherazade song. Unfortunately, that is how I mis-pronounced the name.

 

[transmaster]

I asked Siri to play Khachaturian on the iPad here is what I got.

 

[uofmtiger]

I asked Siri to play Khachaturian on the iPad here is what I got

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LOL The interesting thing is that the HomePod will play “a personalised station of Aram Khachaturian” when given this command. The iPhone version has issues. Very bizarre.

However, ask Alexa to play “Beatles for Sale, Mono remaster” and it couldn't do it despite the fact that I have the album in my Amazon library. The HomePod on the other hand plays it without issue. Even Siri on the iPhone can handle that command.

In other words, these services still have some work to do. I do love the Dots, but they aren’t perfect....even when you ignore the privacy issues.

As a side note, I mentioned in the HomePod thread that it could play Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 21, Friedrich Gilda & Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra if you substituted the word “nos” for “numbers”. When I give the same command to Alexa, I get a “bonk” sound and nothing happens....not even a reason it can’t play it.

 

[transmaster]

The Home Pod has superior native sound. I think what I will do is wait for a 2nd generation Hompod.

This morning the Alexa App upgraded and now it has enabled phone calls.

 

[uofmtiger]

The Home Pod has superior native sound. I think what I will do is wait for a 2nd generation Hompod.

This morning the Alexa App upgraded and now it has enabled phone calls.

I am not sure what they would do with a second gen HomePod that they could haven't done here. I think this version will be around for a while, but they could come out with different sizes or devices with screens like the different Alexa devices. However, I don't think Apple will want that $40 market since rumors are that you lose money at those prices.

The HomePod also has superior listening ability, which is another strength if you ever use these things to play music or to plug into bigger speakers.

 

[transmaster]

I am thinking of software updates for the Home Pod. Listening to WQXR right now with the Dot playing through the Yamaha. Now it just notified me I had an Amazon package delivered. Just think years ago people thought AOL’s “You’ve got mail!” was the cat meow.

 

[uofmtiger]

I am thinking of software updates for the Home Pod. Listening to WQXR right now with the Dot playing through the Yamaha. Now it just notified me I had an Amazon package delivered. Just think years ago people thought AOL’s “You’ve got mail!” was the cat meow.

There will be a lot of software updates to version one before all is said and done.

Watch out for those detailed updates around holidays if you are not the only person using the Dot. You can go into the settings around that time and tell them not to leave any detail information.

 

[sKiZo]

Does Alexa do karioki?

(funny you should ask)

 

[uofmtiger]

Last night, my Dot asked if we wanted to try "brief mode". This is a nice feature. Now when we ask for lights to be turned on and off, instead of getting "okay", we get a pleasant short sound from the Dot. Will probably keep this feature turned on.

 

[transmaster]

It is interesting to learn the internal details of the Dot vis Siri. The lords of Apple do not want to be bothered by the support needed to improve Siri’s functionality. Have you noticed there is no Apple Siri app. Alexa has one. One of the things it does is show all of the commands you made to it. It shows you what It heard. You can than give it a yes-no answer. Then you can go into a text section and report “this is what I said” I , and other problems. The support staff, and it’s software read these and are continually updating the UI. When you have the input of millions things improve. All Apple gets is complaints which they seem to blow off.

 

[uofmtiger]

It is interesting to learn the internal details of the Dot vis Siri. The lords of Apple do not want to be bothered by the support needed to improve Siri’s functionality. Have you noticed there is no Apple Siri app. Alexa has one. One of the things it does is show all of the commands you made to it. It shows you what It heard. You can than give it a yes-no answer. Then you can go into a text section and report “this is what I said” I , and other problems. The support staff, and it’s software read these and are continually updating the UI. When you have the input of millions things improve. All Apple gets is complaints which they seem to blow off.

Apple wants to be the leader in privacy and Amazon is loading this stuff to the cloud with your account attached. That is the main difference. Personally, I am happy we have an option still out there that doesn't try to monetize my information.

That being said, there are things Siri could get better without using my data at all. Answering trivia doesn't require my data to do it well, for example. However, they have always leaned on putting an answer on the screen and they have to change that architecture for the HomePod.

Apple has to be embarrassed by all of the negative press for Siri in the last month (and prior). The problem is that Siri offers so little to the bottom line. All of the devices that have Siri make a fortune, so they need something beyond a financial reason to put more resources into it. Hey, the decided to work on a new Mac Pro because that was the complaint of the last couple of years. That affects maybe .01 percent of their users and Siri is on every device. Maybe they will make it better so people can move on and complain about the lack of a Mac Mini update or something else.

 

[uofmtiger]

Not Amazon, but another reason Apple is betting on Privacy as a feature:

 

[transmaster]

Actually your Alexa stuff is also loaded into an encrypted account. And only you can give permission to access it. There was a recent case were the cop’s fishing wanted to play back what an Echo might have heard. Amazon told them to go pound sand. Your input on the Alexa App is a separate thing it is about commands. Here is an example.



If, as in this case, Alexa gets it right you say yes, if no you go to the second page and comment on it. At first I was having trouble. In said Alexa play Quiet Village Radio. Every time it started to play Martin Dennys’ Quiet Village. I learned to tell it were to go. TuneIn...