Amazon Echo/Echo Dot/Echo Plus India Launch (Prime Subscription Free)

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Also, cannot upload anything to my Amazon Music account with that Amazon music installer I had shared. Can access the songs I bought from Amazon USA. Upload button missing.
 
What skills are you guys using?

There are quite a few but at first look they seem to be tiny variations of each other though
 
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So there is a thread about smart home here.

So far I am into Philips Hue for lighting and Samsung smartthings for motion sensors. Need to get some echo dot so that I can talk to it as well. Using my phone is a PITA.
 
m-jeri said:
So there is a thread about smart home here.

So far I am into Philips Hue for lighting and Samsung smartthings for motion sensors. Need to get some echo dot so that I can talk to it as well. Using my phone is a PITA.
Click to expand...

For that, @superczar is your best bet. 5 echo devices I believe.[DOUBLEPOST=1510235606][/DOUBLEPOST]After breaking my head on how to play specific songs/albums - I think I may have hit on an idea - search for the song or album on Saavn (since cant use Amazon Music ATM) and say the exact name. Worked like a charm for me, and played from Amazon Music
 
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So here is my advice to folks.. Get the Samsung smart things as your hub. It just picked up all of my devices together...

EDIT: Funny thing happened just now. So let me elaborate. I am still in my novice stage.

I have a Arlo pro in my front door with a base station. After couple of my packages went missing.

Philips Hue: Hub, 3 bulbs, Bloom, Light strip plus. And 2 Gen 2 Light strip refurbs on the way. Price was not the issue. I wanted the old control box. The new ones are sealed and cannot be used with breakout cables. Maybe I did not need it. But Hue entertainment is coming in December, and I can use both on my TV's. So yaay?? Also, I have setup a Romantic mode. You know what it is for. :p:p:p:cool:

Till now I was using the Hue App, Huemote, Home kit and Siri to do my things. Really bad way of doing things. I wanted my home to be more reactive. Enter sensors and voice.

Samsung Smarthings: Hub, 2 Room Sensors, 2 Door sensors. I did not knew much about the hub. But the hub is kick ass. It picked up all my devices so far. Even the Arlo. And I can arm it. Why just now, Fedex guy knocked my door and the alarm went off. ooops. Need to work on the rules. I like the app as well. Bit complicated as seen above. But need to work on the rules.

Next steps: Turning the TV on and off. Unfortunately Logitech Harmony hub is the way i went. I know. I can return it. But I am going to stay put. In next few weeks, I will pick up either the echo dot or google home mini. 3 of them and spread around.

EDIT 2:

I do have some ideas for the fridge/Kitchen. Like a RFID/Bar Code reader. So that I can keep a grocery list. Or maybe alexa/google can do it for me.

EDIT 3:

Echo Plus hub has really limited functionality and cross device compatibility so far.

EDIT 4:

This is expensive. So far, I have spend around 300~400USD on this.
 
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Why the Harmony is not a good option? Just picked up a Harmony Hub (not the Link, which is going to be discontinued)

Echo Plus is not really worth the extra 3K, especially if you do plan to pick up the other hubs. But I like the volume ring.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
Why the Harmony is not a good option? Just picked up a Harmony Hub (not the Link, which is going to be discontinued)
Click to expand...

You answered it. Don't want to buy into a ecosystem and then hearing one day, its bricked on purpose.

EOL or Better tech or busted I can live with.

[Wild Speculation]

Also, as a dev who worked with one of the worlds top cloud infra, certificate expiry dates are known when it is issued. Why the hell they allowed such a burn-in design that a firmware cannot take care? And why keep selling it as well?

Or at least, make it open source. But then again, the burn-in.

[/Wild Speculation end]
 
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After the limited usage with my Echo dot, I think an Android user would be much more happy with Google Home especially if using a Chromecast as well.
A user on TeamBhp had elucidated the same and now I feel the same. Waiting to get some arduino devices to control my home lights and other stuff for now. Will decide whether to go the RPi route or find a software alternative for Windows.
 
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Does anybody know how the Echo Dot controls the Phillips Hue lights? Does it have Zigbee inbuilt? Or does it use something else?
If it has a Zigbee, can we access it to control other devices which have a Zigbee?
 
hotshot05 said:
Does anybody know how the Echo Dot controls the Phillips Hue lights? Does it have Zigbee inbuilt? Or does it use something else?
If it has a Zigbee, can we access it to control other devices which have a Zigbee?
Click to expand...

You will need a Hue Hub. Only the Echo Plus has Zigbee.
 
rdst_1 said:
After the limited usage with my Echo dot, I think an Android user would be much more happy with Google Home especially if using a Chromecast as well.
A user on TeamBhp had elucidated the same and now I feel the same. Waiting to get some arduino devices to control my home lights and other stuff for now. Will decide whether to go the RPi route or find a software alternative for Windows.
Click to expand...

I am also leaning towards the same. Might get rid of the Echo Plus.
 
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