what can alexa do when connected to my phone
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Any happened to the days of Alexa just being known as a black cylindrical speaker? Since the introduction of the beginning Echo in fall 2014, Amazon's AI assistant has been embedded in a number of places, including motorcar infotainment systems, Alexa smartphone apps, wireless headphones, Repeat Prove and Burn down tablets, Fire Goggle box Cube for Boob tube control, the Echo Expect with an AI-powered style assistant, and, in contempo weeks, personal computers.
Select computers from HP, Acer, and others now make Alexa available to work seamlessly alongside Microsoft's Cortana well ahead of the Alexa-Cortana partnership for Repeat speakers and Windows 10 devices, a project that still has no launch date.
Among the many surfaces that can be used to talk to Alexa today, at that place are differences both glaring and subtle. Alexa in wireless earbuds, for example, cannot do things like prepare timers or transport letters, and the Echo Prove can display visuals when you ask a question.
Alexa in personal computers comes with a set of advantages — similar the power to talk with Alexa hands-free — and drawbacks.
Here'south a closer look at what Alexa can and cannot practice on an Acer Spin 5, the first laptop with Alexa inside, fabricated available in June.
What Alexa tin do on a PC
Just similar wireless earbuds or smart speakers, Alexa on a personal computer can control smart home devices. As of May, Amazon'southward Alexa tin can control more than 12,000 devices from ii,000 manufacturers.
Alexa in the Acer Spin 5 is besides able to speak with more than 40,000 Alexa skills to let you play games like Jeopardy! or the Spongebob Challenge, or hear bedtime stories.
And simply similar the AI assistant is able to exercise in other devices, Alexa on a PC can tell jokes, show personality, and search Wikipedia for answers to your factual questions about the world.
Alexa on Acer Spin five is besides able to achieve the imperative task of existence able to answer to easily-costless vox commands, utilizing four microphones to selection upwards the audio of your vocalisation from across the room.
Alexa on a PC can testify your listing of reminders and your shopping listing, and that can be pretty handy — merely y'all cannot edit the list with a tap on the screen or click of the mouse. Instead, any edits must exist fabricated in the Alexa app.
By contrast, with the Repeat Prove, you lot can scroll through your lists to remove to-practice items or tap to edit an item on the list.
The limitations of visual cards
The most common matter people practice every day with a smart speaker is check the weather. At launch, the Acer Spin 5 tin provide v-day forecasts with loftier and low temperatures on a single visual card.
Another mutual affair done with an assistant is bank check the agenda. Here over again the Spin five tin provide results — but for a twenty-four hour period, non a more extended flow of time.
Inquire "What's on my calendar?" and you tin can see your next calendar issue, just you tin't scroll through your schedule for the days and weeks ahead, equally yous can practise with the Echo Show or Fire x tablets with Show Fashion.
In full general, visual cards on a device like Echo Bear witness, or fifty-fifty the cards yous tin can see when using an Alexa app on a smartphone, are much richer than those served up by Alexa on a PC.
This is in part due to the simpler, less illustrative user interface for Alexa on PC, but also because all the cards generated past Alexa and live in the stream are static. You are shown a stream of cards related to your activeness, but yous can't go back and tap or re-engage with them. You lot have to ask the question again.
Other things yous can practise:
- Set keyboard shortcuts so you can press Ctrl+Shift+A to wake up Alexa
- Play music or listen to the news and toggle through songs or podcasts with a mouse click or screen tap
- Action history between devices syncs on the Alexa app so y'all can keep track of what you've been doing, whether you lot were talking to a speaker or your PC
An Amazon spokesperson declined to hash out how Alexa on PCs may evolve over time or what future iterations might look like, but they said the AI banana on personal computers was designed to ensure admission to important productivity tools such as reminders, lists, calendars, and skills.
"At this time, there are some features that vary between Show Mode and Alexa on PCs like the ability to view videos," the spokesperson told VentureBeat in an electronic mail.
Shopping
This is interesting. Ask to social club near anything and the PC assistant will read y'all each item's title and give you options to buy, add to list, or scroll through a carousel of similar items to purchase. This is the only use case I came across that gives this sort of option.
Speaking to Alexa may be different if you're using a PC, smart speaker, earbuds, or Echo Expect manner banana, but unlike variations with other features, information technology seems yous tin can shop anywhere you tin speak to Alexa.
Consumers' willingness to shop with their vocalization may exist in question today, simply the wide availability of voice shopping comes equally no surprise for a visitor whose purpose is to help people store, particularly amid the ecommerce boxing ramping upwards at present, with Amazon on one side and Google Assistant and retailers like Walmart and Home Depot on the other.
What Alexa cannot do on a PC
Alexa on a PC is unable to make a phone call or send a text message itself or through the Alexa app.
Alexa on an Acer Spin 5 can play music or news from Amazon Music, SiriusXM, and iHeart Radio, but not Spotify or Pandora. As Amazon continues to button its Music app to consumers, information technology'south probably no error that the two most popular music streaming services in the United states of america were excluded from Alexa on a PC.
You get a similarly limited experience with headphones and earbuds from the mobile accessories kit.
Respond to typed commands
Once scarce among assistants from big tech companies, typing a command is now standard, available on Google Assistant and Siri on mobile devices and Cortana on Windows 10 PCs — but non Alexa.
The ability to type a command is important for moments when you want to complete an activeness only don't want to say information technology out loud to become it done, such as when you're in a meeting or yous merely want to maintain some privacy.
Launch apps or visual skills
Alexa can serve upwards skills similar most whatsoever other device connected with the AI assistant, but you can't access visual Alexa skills on a computer withal to, for example, give you the iconic blue screen when playing Jeopardy! equally you can when you play on an Echo Show. Alexa on PC is also unable to launch PC apps, and then don't expect to open apps or games like you tin with Cortana.
Act as a home intercom
Alexa on a PC is as well unable to make announcements to Echo speakers. Announcements are one-way voice letters you can send to Echo devices in your abode to tell everyone dinner is set or encourage your kid to get ready for school. The purpose of announcements is to act like to a home intercom.
Save your work
The genius of conversational computing is that it removes the need to learn how to use a graphic user interface to carry out computing tasks. Instead of navigation, you lot just talk.
To brand this practical, however, requires giving people a fashion to go dorsum to what they were doing before, because in the real earth people tend to become interrupted or distracted.
Should you listen to a song with Spin 5 and press interruption, for 10 to 15 seconds it'll evidence the music at the bottom of the app window, merely after a while it disappears and you're left with no way to return to that paused song.
Alexa on a PC gives you a vertical interface of cards you tin peruse but no mode to return to shopping, or adding an event to your agenda, or anything else you were doing. Y'all just take to start over.
This same trouble is encountered with Repeat Show and Google Assistant on the visual Lenovo Smart Display. In each case, you can begin a journey of sorts with phonation, showtime down a road to complete a task, simply lose your place if you get distracted by other duties.
Other key missing features:
- With the Spin v, if you have an Echo speaker at domicile, you're going to want to use some other wake discussion for your computer or use the keyboard shortcut, because if you lot say "Alexa, what's in the news?" or some other command inside altitude of either device, wink briefings and podcasts will run on both your estimator and your speaker.
- Prime Photos access is not supported on the PC, so you cannot view your photos.
- There is no full-screen deployment of Alexa with the Spin 5, as all interaction is relegated to a fixed-width app window. That's unfortunate since the Spin 5 offers a versatile design. In addition to the traditional notebook look, the Spin 5 can bend the keyboard backside the 13.3-inch HD display or stand up in an A shape. Combine this with forward-facing speakers and the Spin 5 makes a great computer for binge-watching shows and the like, merely Alexa fails to have reward of this. By contrast, Cortana is able to use the unabridged screen to brandish cards when answering questions virtually your schedule or other queries.
Conclusion
Unmentioned for the nigh office thus far is how Cortana compares to Alexa on a PC because in that location'due south no real comparison to make. Cortana on a PC is nevertheless miles ahead. Without the need to unlock the device, Cortana tin can go total-screen, show you your reminders and your calendar, answer factual questions, or brainstorm prototype or video searches.
This takes total reward of the Acer Spin v'south screen and power to fold in an A-shape for a affect display experience, and things get even more impressive if you begin to use a Cortana-enabled speaker like the Harman Kardon Invoke.
Visual experiences with administration like Cortana and Alexa and changing fast, but with Alexa on a PC today there's no Tap to Alexa or Show Mode for better a visual experience; few advanced assistant features; and a painfully simple user interface that tin't take advantage of the full screen.
In a word, the commencement iteration of Alexa in a PC is basic.
If you're mainly interested in the most common Alexa use cases — to answer questions, control smart home devices, shuffle Beastie Boys songs, and go the weather — then you might like the Spin 5. Simply if you're looking to buy this figurer because y'all're already function of the Alexa world and want an Alexa experience in a visual surroundings or full control of your computer, the Acer Spin 5 volition exist disappointing to you lot.
Still, the Acer Spin 5 is a versatile 13.3-inch notebook with an Hard disk touch brandish worth checking out on its ain merits, especially if y'all like Cortana and are willing to expect for Alexa to go better.
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Source: https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/14/what-alexa-can-and-cannot-do-on-a-pc/
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