Amazon Echo Show 8 intro price

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freitasm

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#2433937 6-Mar-2020 18:10

This device is a beauty. Just the right size! Working with my Ring cameras, tried video drop in from Alexa mobile app. It is so cool!

openmedia

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#2433938 6-Mar-2020 18:15

It is a great size.

Any tips/tricks on the best way to set it up for use in NZ.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Handle9

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#2433941 6-Mar-2020 18:22

openmedia:

It is a great size.

Any tips/tricks on the best way to set it up for use in NZ.

NZ is a supported country so most things should work well. I use mine in Dubai (not supported)and it works well.

Just make sure you link the correct accounts (spotify, etc) - if you want to use as a digital photo frame you can link it to your facebook account or to Amazon photos. It's not as good as a nest hub for this but it's still pretty cool IMO.

freitasm

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#2433943 6-Mar-2020 18:34

I got the ANZ model and linked to my US account, no problems.

richms

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#2434011 7-Mar-2020 00:11

Do you still have to type amazon passwords and wifi PSK into the devices on an on screen keyboard? One of my old shows suddenly decided I had to reenter my amazon password because of some reason and I just cant be bothered so its now unplugged and I have an echo dot in its place for now.

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tieke

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#2434040 7-Mar-2020 08:56

richms:

Do you still have to type amazon passwords and wifi PSK into the devices on an on screen keyboard?

I had to do so during setup, which I was surprised about as I thought they would just use the same method as the non-screen echos.

I tried mine bedside, but I'm relatively sensitive to light at night and even at the minimum brightness (either ambient or manually set) the entire screen glowed faintly, so I've moved it to the kitchen instead. The Google Hub must just go down to a lower overall brightness, as with its night-mode in a pitch-dark room only the clock numbers and not the screen background are visible.

It was definitely a good price and a solid device, but I've been experimenting with Amazon vs Google for my home system and although Amazon is more reliable and more consistently supported I've ended up sticking with Google, as it's much more flexible interpreting my smart home requests and I like it automatically creating a music mix following a single song request, which the Echo won't if you are using Spotify.

fearandloathing

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#2434079 7-Mar-2020 10:19

tieke:
Amazon is more reliable and more consistently supported I've ended up sticking with Google, as it's much more flexible interpreting my smart home requests

Ive found creating routines is by far the best way to control the smart home with Amazon.
For instance the native language of my blind controller is ‘Start blind’ and ‘stop blind’ to open and close, with routines I can use open and close blind.

I’m with freitasm that this a great device and size. I am so liking the digital photo frame feature.

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tieke

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#2434094 7-Mar-2020 11:06

fearandloathing:
I’m with freitasm that this a great device and size. I am so liking the digital photo frame feature.

I agree that it's a great device - I was just comparing it to the Google Hub in case people were thinking of switching or already had experience with the Hub/Nest.

For instance the photo frame feature which is one of the main advantages of the screened devices works just that bit better on the Hub - the ambient light display provides the most natural looking digital photo-frame I've ever seen, and because I have years of photos backed up onto Google Photos the automated selection process works well for me: by default I have it selecting photos which have my immediate family in them, but if we wanted to look at a slideshow of other subjects, I can just say "Show me pictures of my cat/the beach/Aunty Maude" etc. I found the Amazon option required more manual curation.

And for the home automation stuff, I use Home Assistant so should be relatively device-neutral, but I've found that while Google is fine with a variety of requests styles ("turn off all the lights in Peter's room", or just "turn off Peter's room" if I also wanted to include heaters etc) the Amazon Echo usually wants me to restate my request or exactly name specific items to be turned off.

I have pretty much compared most of the range from both companies, and although I was willing to switch to Amazon, I've found that all the things that Google Home does better outweighed the reverse for me.

On the other hand, if someone were about to start with either platform, I would probably recommend Amazon - the products are robust and slightly cheaper, but more importantly the company's customer-focus is its main advantage. For example, I have used Audio Chromecasts with my existing amplifiers for seamless multi-room audio for years - this option isn't really open to newcomers as Google stopped producing the Audio Chromecast. While it looks like Amazon have also stopped producing their version (the Echo Input), at least they include a 3.5mm jack on standard Echo devices so you have a simple alternative.

Another example (which is the reason I bought a bunch of $10 Inputs as well as Dots and Show etc) is that Google Multiroom audio groups simply stopped working properly - if asked to play music on "Upstairs speakers/the front room/everywhere" etc, it would instead play music on a seemingly arbitrary group instead. I think I eventually fixed this by following online help and reverting to a much earlier Home App, deleting and re-creating groups there and re-setting my devices, but the point is this was a major issue affecting a number or people which I think Google took well over a month to even notice, whereas I'm sure it would have been remedied within a couple of days if it was on the Amazon system.

fearandloathing

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#2434097 7-Mar-2020 11:26

tieke:

And for the home automation stuff, I use Home Assistant so should be relatively device-neutral, but I've found that while Google is fine with a variety of requests styles ("turn off all the lights in Peter's room", or just "turn off Peter's room" if I also wanted to include heaters etc) the Amazon Echo usually wants me to restate my request or exactly name specific items to be turned off.

Like I say, I use routines. This allows for more natural language to control devices, without having to using the descriptive device names to control devices.

Controlling a single device

Controlling multiple devices

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