Testers Keepers wanted a Product Tester to review the Amazon Echo (2nd Generation). This review is from Jon Moorfoot.
The Amazon Echo (2nd Generation) appears to made to a good quality; it was quick and easy to set up which meant it didn’t take long to get it up and running once it was out of the box.
I would certainly be willing to recommend this to friends and family who are looking to purchase a smart speaker. The voice recognition software works well and in the majority of cases I have not had to repeat my instruction/question.
There has been the odd occurrence, but I would say that this is going to be fairly typical with any voice recognition, as there can still be misunderstandings in communication between two humans speaking together, so I would not expect technology to get it right every time. In some cases the misunderstandings can actually be fairly amusing and as of yet I have not found myself getting frustrated with the product.
The RRP of £89 seems to be fairly comparative with other main brand products of a similar nature and so I feel it is fairly good value for money although I have not had a chance to compare it to rival products to see how it stacks up against them.
Personally I have mainly used the Amazon Echo for finding out answers to questions, for local weather reports and listening to the occasional song and so have probably not taken full advantage of what it has to offer yet, although I am sure I will find more to use it for going forward.
For what it is, the sound quality of the speaker is fairly good although it would be nice to be able to connect it to my surround system to improve the quality. I believe this is impossible with a limited selection of Alexa compatible devices, but it would be good if it was able to connect to more, perhaps via a lead or some kind of interface device.
It would also be nice if the Echo had a built in rechargeable battery so that it didn’t have to remain plugged into the mains and therefore could be easily moved around with you.
