Amazon’s Echo products are by far one of the most advanced when it comes to AI integration, AKA Alexa. We have seen a flurry of products under the brand and one more that has come from them is for your car. This one is called Amazon Echo Auto and we have been playing with it since some time now and it does do a good job. How well, read the rest of the review of Amazon Echo Auto.
Amazon Echo Auto Design
Amazon Echo Auto is split into two parts, the card-type main head, which gets attached to the car holder that in turn attaches to the car AC vent. The main head of the Amazon Echo Auto is where all the action happens. This is a credit card-sized device which has two buttons, one to mute, an array of 8 microphones, a micro-USB port and a 3.5mm audio jack. An LED strip runs at the bottom that has the same Alexa colours to display, when at work. A 3.5mm audio wire, USB cable and a twin USB port driven car charger also comes in the box. This is good as one can connect Amazon Echo Auto as well as one more device at the same time.
Performance
Setting up Amazon Echo Auto is not hard at all if you already are a previous user of any of the Echo devices. It syncs up quickly and to use it, one does not require Wi-Fi, it uses the 3G/4G network of your smartphone. One prerequisite is that you need a 3.5mm audio port in your car audio system. As it will connect to that with the aux cable. Once setup you can do many things with including music playback, ask for directions, get questions answered et al.
We tried it for a quite while on the busiest roads of Delhi. And 8 out of 10 times it works just fine. The 8 microphones on the Amazon Echo Auto do manage to capture your voice and commands, even when the A/c blower is running at full. Pull down your windows and ambient noise does hinder performance a bit. So, those 2 times it did not recognise us calling Alexa out is when we had a lot of road noise around us and blower was running at full. Other than that, all the skills of Alexa are available here too and one can listen to music seamlessly. Yes, your mobile data does get consumed for this, so make sure you are on a good mobile plan.
Verdict
At Rs 4,999 Amazon Echo Auto is a great addition to the car. It makes your car smarter and we have not seen anything like this coming from any of its competition. Also, as we said, Alexa is one of the best AI companions in the market and to have her in your car just makes your journey more comfortable.
Pros:
Alexa
8 mics
Cons:
No speaker within
Some might feel it to be a bit costly
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