“Alexa,” I asked the Echo display in my kitchen, “what was that song from The Hills? You know, that MTV show? Can you play it on the Echo Show in the office?”
The old Alexa wouldn’t have had a prayer of answering such a poorly worded query. (“I’m sorry, I don’t know that,” would have been the likely reply.) But the new Alexa+, now packing AI-enhanced smarts, handled it easily.
“Playing ‘Unwritten’ by Natasha Bedingfield,” Alexa said after a beat of thought—and yes, right answer! Let the MTV nostalgia trip begin.
Well, almost—instead of “Unwritten,” Alexa teed up Natasha Bedingfield’s “Strip Me,” and it did so on Deezer rather than Apple Music, which is my default music streamer on Alexa.
“Uh, wrong one,” I said. “Can you play that tune from The Hills on Apple Music?” Another beat, and this time, success: sure enough, there was the familiar theme from a show I wasted too many hours watching.
No, the new Alexa isn’t perfect, but it’s still pretty dang good, and a fair bit better than I was expecting. In fact, Alexa+’s Natasha Bedingfield mishap was one of the few I experienced during my short time with the new, AI-enhanced voice assistant.
Still in an invite-only “early access” preview and free for everyone (it will eventually be free for Prime members and $19.99 a month for everyone else), Alexa+ turns out to be much more capable and intelligent than before, controlling my smart home devices, queuing up music, fielding my weather questions, and generally doing my bidding with only a handful of flubbed responses.
I received my Alexa+ invite barely a day ago, and the revamped assistant is still essentially in beta, so what follows isn’t a formal review; instead, it’s a smattering of hands-on impressions gleaned from several hours of testing.
Many of Alexa+’s promised features and integrations still aren’t ready for prime time; for example, you can’t order groceries with your voice or takeout from Grubhub, nor can you schedule spa visits or jump to a favorite scene on a Fire TV. There are also several third-party skills that don’t work with Alexa+ yet.
That said, you can call an Uber with Alexa+ (I haven’t tried that yet), as well as make dinner reservations that don’t require a credit card (Amazon is working on that credit card issue, I’m told). Alexa+ is also surprisingly adept at taking charge of smart home devices, despite her still-shaky support for skills.
“Alexa,” I said, “the lounge carpet downstairs is dirty. Can you clean it?” Boom! Here comes my Roomba, dutifully vacuuming up the designated rug. “Actually, you can send it back to its charging station,” I added, and the Roomba stopped and made a beeline back to its charging dock.
How about smart lights? “Alexa, can you make it darker in here,” I asked, directing my question to the Echo Dot in my office. Bum-bum! With a simple pair of tones, Alexa+ dimmed the lights in my office, without my having to specify the room. “Alexa, turn the filament bulb in the office on,” I added, and Alexa+ did, all without reprimanding me for not calling it the “Hue filament bulb,” as it’s listed in the Alexa app. Finally, “Alexa, make it brighter in here” put the office lights back on their originally brightness setting. Nice.
The new Alexa isn’t perfect, but it’s still pretty dang good, and a fair bit better than I was expecting.Ben Patterson/Foundry
Next, I tried some random questions. “Can you give me a rundown of key plays in the last Yankees game,” I asked. The answer? “The Cubs won 4-1, with key plays including Shota Imanaga’s seven-inning performance striking out Aaron Judge twice. Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer in the 6th, and Seiya Suzuki scored from second on an infield hit in the 7th.” How did the Yankees do overall in that game? “The Yankees struggled overall in their last game against the Cubs. They managed only two hits and three baserunners, resulting in a 4-1 loss.” You can say that again.
While Alexa+ may have flubbed its attempt to play the correct Natasha Benningfield song earlier, I was impressed that it fished out the right track name from my mangled query, and I was also able to move tunes from one Echo speaker to another with ease: “Alexa, moves the kitchen tunes to the office,” or “Add the kitchen music to the bedroom.” No problems there.
What about the weather—or better yet, what should I be wearing on this sweltering day in Brooklyn? “It’s going to be warm and humid today in Brooklyn, with temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s. For comfort, wear light, breathable clothing like a t-shirt and shorts. Don’t forget sunscreen and a hat to protect from the sun,” Alexa wisely told me.
Things got a little rockier when I asked Alexa to plan a night out for my wife and me. Asked what concerts are happening in New York tonight (Alexa+ has a Ticketmaster integration), Alexa said it couldn’t find anything. I asked again (“Are you sure there’s not anything at all,”) and Alexa did find a Gin Blossoms concert in nearby Huntington, NY—a bit of a hike from Brooklyn, but OK.
How about dinner reservations before the concert? Alexa suggested Peter Lugar’s at 5:30, followed by an Uber ride to the show, but I pointed out that the hour-plus drive to Huntington for the 7:30 pm curtain wouldn’t leave us much time to eat.
“You’re right, that dinner window is tighter than a pair of hipster jeans,” Alexa joked. (Don’t quit your day job, Alexa.) “Let’s adjust the plan. How about dinner at 5 PM, then Uber to Huntington by 6:15 PM? That gives you 45 minutes to eat and still arrive by 7 PM for the 7:30 PM concert.” Still a pretty tight window, but fine.
I didn’t actually book anything during my short Alexa+ test, but I certainly could have, given Alexa+’s integrations with Open Table, Ticketmaster, and Uber. Indeed, that’s one of the big promises Amazon has made about Alexa+: that it will–eventually–be able to help plan your evenings or trips, as well as book them, all via voice commands.
I wrapped up the day’s testing with something in the kitchen. “Alexa, I need a quick recipe for vinaigrette dressing. Can you whip one up for me? Give me the steps one at a time—oh, and I don’t have red wine vinegar, but I do have mustard, olive oil, and balsamic.” And just as I asked, Alexa doled out the instructions, one step at a time: “In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar….”
I should note that I performed most of my Alexa+ testing on an Echo Show 8 display, but it also worked on a fifth-generation Echo Dot, the second-generation Echo Show 5, an Echo Show with Clock, and even my Echo Frames, meaning I could chat with Alexa+ while cruising around the house or even out in the world.
So, overall? What I’ve seen and heard so far, I’ve liked—so much so, that I might actually start using my Echo devices regularly again.
But will Alexa+ deliver on Amazon’s lofty promises of an AI agent who can act on your behalf? And will Alexa+ actually be worth paying for? That all remains to be seen.
This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.
Read...
