With Echo Auto Alexa can join you in car
If you are used to having Alexa in the house, it’s easy to see the appeal while you’re behind the wheel, writes Adam Turner.
If you don’t want to say goodbye to Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant as you walk out the front door, the new Echo Auto lets her ride shotgun when you hit the road.
The palm-sized $79 (NZ$84.62) Echo Auto lets you summon Alexa in your car; clipping on to an air vent, drawing power from the cigarette lighter and connecting to your car stereo via Bluetooth or 3.5mm audio cable.
Thankfully it comes with a dualUSB power adaptor, so you can also charge your phone when you’re on the move.
The final step is to link the Echo Auto to your smartphone via Bluetooth, so they connect whenever you start the car.
Alexa is completely reliant on your phone, so you need to keep an eye on your mobile broadband usage when requesting tunes on a road trip.
Once you’ve become accustomed to having a smart speaker at your beck and call around the house, it’s easy to see the appeal of talking to your smart assistant while you’re behind the wheel.
Alexa’s good at hearing you, even when driving with the windows down, but she struggles if you really crank up the music.
It’s not just about the convenience of hands-free calls and texts, or playing your favourite music, podcasts and audiobooks without taking your eyes off the road; it’s also about asking for directions and checking traffic conditions.
Plus, Alexa can handle other tasks such as reading the weather forecast, checking your calendar, adding items to your shopping list and controlling smart home gear from afar such as heating and lights.
Connecting to your phone gives Alexa access to GPS so you can even ask her to do things based on your location, such as reminding you to put out the bins when you get home.
The downside of relying on an iPhone is that the Alexa app needs to be running in the background before the Echo Auto will connect.
Worse yet, ask Alexa for directions on an iPhone and she launches Apple maps, but you need to tap an onscreen notification and then ‘‘Go’’ to begin; making a mockery of the whole hands-free concept compared to asking Siri. Things run more smoothly on Android, launching Google Maps.
These kinds of frustrations remind you how clever your phone’s built-in smart assistant really is. Unless you’re wedded to Alexa – and depending on what you need to do – you might find it easier to mount your phone on the dash and talk to Siri or Google Assistant hands-free when you hit the road. –