This Car Accessory, Amazon Echo Auto Should Be Available Only For True Alexa Fans

Alexa has become one of the smartest and most useful digital assistants out there. She can help you find information on the web, control smart home devices, and more. But Google Assistant and Siri are easy to use outside the house because they are built into smartphones. Alexa, on the other hand, isn't as helpful once you leave the house. Amazon, on the other hand, wants to change that by going after the car market. The first Amazon Echo Auto came out in 2019, and this year it got an update with a brand-new look. Alexa has also gotten better since 2019 when it first came out. But the Echo Auto has its own problems. Even though I've used it for a while, I can't think of a good reason why you should get one.

What is the Echo Auto from Amazon?

Before you try to figure out why you might want an Echo Auto, you might want to find out what it is. The Echo Auto is basically a small Alexa speaker that is made to fit in your car and connect to your phone via Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable. It is powered by USB, and a cigarette lighter adapter is included to do that. It has a group of eight microphones that pick up your voice from all over the cabin, so it can hear you pretty easily. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Picture Credit: PCMag[/caption] It can access data through your phone, so the Alexa app needs to be open and running in the background on your phone for you to use the Echo Auto. If it isn't, the Echo Auto is basically useless.

A Bluetooth dongle that is very smart

At its core, the Echo Auto could be useful in older cars that don't have Bluetooth. This is because it can be plugged into a car's 3.5mm audio jack and then used as a Bluetooth dongle to connect your phone to your car. But you wouldn't buy the Echo Auto for that reason. Even for older cars, there are lots of great Bluetooth dongles that don't cost much. The real reason to buy the Echo Auto is if you love Alexa so much that you want to use her in your car instead of the Google Assistant and Siri that are already on your phone. If that's you and you use Amazon a lot, the Echo Auto is probably something you'll like. Everyone else will be a little sad, though. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1400"] Picture Credit: The Verge[/caption] Let's start with what's good about it. Alexa is pretty good at helping you find nearby places, like gas stations, as well as getting information from the web and, of course, controlling your smart home devices that use Alexa. You can also use the Echo Auto to access other Amazon services, like Amazon Music. But if you don't use Amazon's services often, you're going to have trouble. You can change the defaults, and when you set up the device, you'll probably remember to change the default music service. But as you use it more, you'll find that it doesn't work with more and more services. Who works with Alexa Calendar? That's not even taking into account the fact that Alexa used to be one of the best voice assistants, but these days it just kind of gets by. It's not breaking any records, and most of the time, Google Assistant is smarter and more useful. Siri often does better than Alexa these days. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="820"] Picture Credit: Chatbots Life[/caption] If you're really into the Alexa ecosystem and just want a way to use it more, the Echo Auto might be worth it. But everyone else should keep using Google Assistant or Siri in their cars for now, especially if they're already connected to all the services they love. https://www.gadgetany.com/news/the-top-five-home-automation-systems/