Amazon Dot is back

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01DFKC2SO?ref_=pe_1840220_207393860_ods_Email_Home_DR_crm_EchoDotlaunch

Woohoo! Thanls for the heads up, I just pre-ordered 3 :slight_smile:

The v2 looks identical except I think they replaced the swiveling top piece for volume with simpler buttons - i couldn’t see any other changes. Also, $40 cheaper - an absolute steal at $49 each.

Now we just need them to implement the push fucnionality, and figure out a way to not have 5 of them all answer at the same time …

@aimc They all will not answer at the same time using ESP, see below from Amazon website:

Echo Dot can hear you from across the room, even while music is playing. When you want to use Echo Dot, just say the wake word “Alexa” and Dot responds instantly. If you have more than one Echo or Echo Dot, Alexa responds intelligently from the Echo you’re closest to with ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). ESP will be available via a free over-the-air software update, coming soon.

Wow, cool - I had hoped something like this would be coming - with the pending Sonos integration, the DOT is now a killer device :slight_smile:

Thanks for the heads up! I bought six because I couldn’t pass up on getting one for free… They got me!

I was tempted, but I already have 2 plus the echo - I was thinking, maybe one for the garage, one for the porch and perhaps the deck, then I came to my senses!

Yeah, with Google Home looming on the horizon, this was a very strategic move by Amazon to get new users locked into the echo system. Google Home is not going to be affordable enough out the gate to allow for buying one for each room, so Amazon is definitely vying for potential Google Home customers with their 6 and 12 packs.

I just pre-ordered 2, but I was tempted to go for the 6 pack. Already have an Echo and 1 first gen Dot, so I am REALLY hoping Amazon takes a note from Google Home and is working on a way to have the echo and dots communicate with each other, because that is the only real thing Google Home will have over Amazon… they need to talk to each other.

I’m assuming they’ll have to talk to each other to do this: If you have more than one Echo or Echo Dot, Alexa responds intelligently from the Echo you’re closest to with ESP (Echo Spatial Perception). ESP will be available via a free over-the-air software update, coming soon.

Yeah, technically they would be talking to each other to know which one should respond, but I was referring to a more active form of communicating, such as being able to tell the Echo in my living room to play music on all devices, or telling the one in the living room to play music on the one in the bedroom… more direct communication with commands and such, because that is what Google Home is bringing to the table.

Gotcha. I’d like to be able to say “turn on the ceiling fan” because I have a dot in the living room, instead of “turn on the Living Room Ceiling fan”, and “turn on the Bed Room Ceiling fan”

Yeah, that would be nice, but since most people’s lights, fans, and other home automation devices are controlled via 3rd party systems, like Home Assistant and Hue, there would be no way for Amazon to determine what devices in your house are associated with what room the Echo or Dot is in, so the ESP wouldn’t really be able to extend to that type of finite control, unless each individual Echo and Dot could have its own list of devices, then you could have multiple fans with the same trigger name. So maybe that would be an update for future.

If amazon at leas reported which dot heard the command, HA would then have the smarts to do the right thing with it.

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I’ve been thinking about getting a couple of these. What do I give up if I don’t get Alexa too? Will HA be able to perform the functions that Alexa would do?

Not sure what you are asking - Alexa is the digital that Echo. Tap and Dot have, as far as HA is concerned there is no difference.