Two weeks ago, Amazon’s newest entry in their Echo line of personal assistant products, the Echo Dot 2, was released. At $49.99, it’s significantly cheaper than the company’s full-sized Echo, but uses the exact same friendly artificial intelligence named Alexa—meaning it can do everything the Echo does (albeit with crappier speakers) for around a quarter of the price.
After spending two weeks getting to know Alexa and her quirks, Jezebel staffers Kara Brown and Bobby Finger chatted about what it’s like to have a robot roommate who only understands what you’re saying like 40 percent of the time and doesn’t even pay her share of the rent.
KARA: Bobby we’ve both had our Dots for what? Two weeks? What were your initial thoughts?
BOBBY: Wow, has it been two weeks? Time really flies when you spend most of it screaming at your Dot for not doing what you ask. My initial thoughts are:
- I’m glad this was only $50.
- I’m glad I can control Spotify with my voice.
- This is a nice timer.
What were yours?
KARA: Wow, very similar. I heartily echo (haha get it?) the relief that my Dot only cost $50. Though, I will say, I feel like I’ve received a $50 experience. The Instagram videos I now produce are alone worth at least $15. This also feels like an excellent warning about the dangers of getting sucked in by advertising because that damn Amazon commercial led me to believe my Dot/Alexa would make my life a lot easier than it has.
BOBBY: Oh god, that commercial is what sold me, too! That woman seemed so much more productive than me. And happier! And more fulfilled! All because she had a new Amazon Echo Dot! In the weeks following my pre-order, I had this grand visions of myself talking to Alexa all the time. Getting my news from Alexa. Checking my calendar with Alexa. Calling an Uber through Alexa. But, turns out, I can still do most of that stuff much more easily with my phone.KARA: I actually would like to start using the calendar function more because it is pretty helpful. I haven’t called an Uber yet because I’m worried somehow it won’t go through? Plus, I like to see what the fare is going to cost. Does Alexa tell me that? I have no clue. I recently moved into an apartment by myself for the first time and I imagined Alexa becoming my roommate of sorts. I did tell her I was sad once to see what would happen and it got pretty dark in a “Her” kind of way.
BOBBY: What did she say? Does she have follow-ups? In my experience, the more “Her”-like questions have been met with something like, “I can’t find the answer to that question.”