Amazon Echo (2nd Gen) - Smart speaker with Alexa - Charcoal Fabric

I was curious about this device and read numerous reviews prior to buying (and also in the meantime had changed broadband supplier), when Amazon then offered this for £20 off i saw that as my opportunity to get one.Now, from my research and personal experience so far i would like to add a further useful review, some people have complained about connectivity, sound quality and overall usefulness.I think there have been some unrealistic expectations from people, this device does not make the tea, or coffee, does not park your car or communicate with the spirit world.What it does do amongst other things is play music, give updates on news, weather etc and you can ask it various questions on knowledge or local information. It is not a mind reader but it does learn. As an example, I asked for my local weather update but it gave one from an area in the USA as phonetically they sounded the same, therefore the next time i asked I specified the location in the UK and hey presto now when i ask I get the correct area.I was actually surprised on the sound quality being as good as it is, it is a small but heavy unit which gives the feel of good build quality and a decent speaker, however it is a smaller unit a little bigger than a tin of baked beans therefore the sound will not be quite the same as a full size hi fi unit in the same way that the speakers on flat screen TVs are not as powerful hence the sound bar.For my music the sound is excellent, i do not need to vibrate the walls of the house with high volume and never did with a hi-fi, if you regularly listen to heavy metal or something else at high volume you will alsways need a bigger system but for my generously sized kitchen the volume is just right.I am an Amazon unlimited music account holder which obviously helps, some people seem to have been expecting free music which is unrealistic, i have downloaded 5 new albums this month for less than the price of buying one CD in the shops so to me that too is excellent value.You do need to download the Alexa app to your phone and i would suggest you need a decent broadband provider/system, had i been with my previous provider i would not have purchased the Echo as i dont think it would have worked well enough, that is not a criticism of Alexa or the Echo but more a reflection between good and bad broadband coverage and signal strength in the home.You do need to 'activate' various Alexa functions, some useful and some fun and gimmicky.As an avid cook, being able to hands free play music, skip a song or get news updates while having my hands full is so handy as is the ability to add reminders as i often forget certain events until its too late!Alexa will play music from its prerecorded selection of genres such as classical, pop, easy listening etc, i can only assume one needs to be an Amazon music account holder in some way in order to access this.For me the hands frees voice activated system works really well, it does struggle to understand my step daughter but then so do I, half the time. As Alexa does not lip read or read expressions, if you talk too quickly, mumble or perhaps have a thick accent then Alexa may struggle but then so would the average person in a real life situation and again, if you update interactions on the Alexa app app this will assist the system to learnI love this device and will be adding to it over time, maybe the household control is a way off but I can communicate with the echo dot in the bedroom and use it as an intercom (well the Mrs does!).So in a final conclusion i would say this is a great device to have in the home, if you are an Amazon customer already it is certainly worth it, yes there are some subscriptions which i would expect and already had prior to the echo which has opened me up to a whole load of new music.Be realistic with your expectations for it, its is mainly music and interaction and you probably would need decent internet to fully appreciate,

I don`t have any need for a Smart Phone so I don`t own one - however I was able to set up my Amazon Echo /`Alexa` using a Laptop & Wi-Fi after receiving some very helpful details including links to YouTube videos and the Amazon Alexa Set Up website from the Amazon Echo Forum.I will never want to operate any Smart Home devices or make telephone calls using Alexa I just wanted the facility to `Ask Alexa` questions and to be able to ask for Music tracks by the artists name.I thought that there was free `Amazon Music` [`2 Million tracks`] and that Amazon Unlimited Music [`50 Million tracks`] was a subscription service but I have now found out that I will have to pay for `Amazon Unlimited Music for a single device`= £3.99 per Month IF I can find out exactly how to subscribe to ONLY that ?I am quite happy to pay approximately £48.00 per Year for the Music that I want - only about the cost of 4 or 5 Music CD`s.I probably misread details about the `Amazon Music` [2 Million tracks] because when I bought my Amazon Echo / Alexa I could not decline a `Free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime` so I was probably reading details from webpages that I had gone to using links from the MANY Amazon Emails about `Prime Membership` that I have received since purchasing and setting up my Echo - all of that information would be about the facilities offered by Prime Membership which does include the basic `Amazon Music` [`2 Million tracks`].I am very happy with the Speakers and the Microphone on the Amazon Echo - the Microphone picks up my voice from 5 metres away without me raising it above normal speech level [You must pronounce `Alexa` correctly - not `Lexa`] and the Speakers give a good sound - comparable to my Sony Hi-Fi system which has 2 x Speakers.While I was researching whether I could set up an Amazon Echo without a Smart Phone [using a Laptop & Wi-Fi] I found out a VERY IMPORTANT point for purchasers of the Amazon Echo / Echo Dot and related products:You MUST purchase the device using ONLY YOUR AMAZON ACCOUNT DETAILS because Amazon `register` the device to work ONLY with those details - people who have received the devices as presents without the purchaser identifying them as `Gifts` have had problems meaning that they could NOT Set Up their Echo`s.When I was searching to find out whether I could set up an Amazon Echo without owning a Smart Phone [ I had read `NO` many times on Google searches] I found many problem threads on the Amazon Echo Forum where people had received an Echo or an Echo Dot as a Gift and when they tried to Log In to carry out the `Set Up` process using a different Email address and Password to the purchaser their new Echo / Echo Dot would not Set Up and they received an Error Code which was subsequently stated to be for a `Lost or Stolen` device.I can imagine that there will be a lot of disappointed people who try to set up their Amazon Echo / Echo Dot presents or related devices on Christmas Day because of the above !If the Error Code is generated I believe that ONLY Amazon Echo Customer Services can rectify the situation - possibly requiring the original purchaser to have to contact them ?I hope that this review has helped future purchasers - especially the details about purchasing with your existing Amazon Account details - or of course if you don`t have an existing Amazon Account you can set up one so that you can buy an Echo / Echo Dot using those details.Chris