Amazon Alexa 4+

I supply & install a lot of home automation gear ranging from smart plugs to (eWeLink & Tuya) smart switches (mainly electrical accessories) & one thing my customers are complaining on is that you cannot set scenes. You can trigger routines but even with that it doesn’t have the facility whereas if you have a spare module in a smart switch you cannot use that to turn a smart plug on. Or you cannot use that spare module to control a light in the corridor to make it a 2 way (assuming there’s also a smart switch in the corridor too).

What you can do is only limited in the eWeLink app itself & not Alexa. Since all devices like smart switches & smart plugs are showing up in the Alexa app I really think Alexa should add this feature of triggering other smart switches with a spare smart switch module that’s available in say the lounge smart switch. Will certainly be 5 stars once this facility is added.

I bought the original Echo Dot a couple of years ago and recently moved house and bought the new one with the clock face. Original lives in the living room and newbie is on my bedside table. I love just speaking to Alexa to hearing my podcasts, music and to answer my random questions! Setting alarms and reminders is so easy but sometimes you have to shout at Alexa 3/4 times before it works for you. Also if at bedtime I ask it to play something for a set time it will tell me that my music/audiobook/podcast is “playing now”. Very frustrating. It is a minor gripe though.
Where I live now we’re having a bit of a heatwave and we can all hear each other shouting “ALEXA….” which is so funny. My next door neighbour and I share the same taste in music so we just put original Alexa between our front doors and play our music and sunbathe which our gorgeous view of the lake. It’s so quiet and peaceful at the front and chaos with 6/7 echo devices playing and everyone turning their own louder then the other person goes louder and it’s madness. Instead we are peacefully enjoying our tunes and relaxing with no other noise. Highly recommend getting one to anyone who doesn’t already have it and I’ll probably be buying another for my guest room!! Love it!

I use the app to control various devices in the house & make groups etc. if I’m at home on WiFi, I can load everything up immediately. If I’m remote on WiFi or 4g I’m constantly having to refresh, close fully, then reopen, update if needed, and so on just to get it to show me what’s online, what’s playing etc. and even then it’s hit and miss.

When I go out I put the echos and dots on for the dogs to have a little background noise. I have thin windows so they can hear everything. But when the speakers play it calms them and covers these noises. Great! However, sometimes the stations playing can go off or there may be an error and a quick change in station resolves that… when I’m home!! I can’t properly monitor from afar to make sure everything is still playing as it should be.

9/10 it will tell me it cannot load and to refresh the app! So should it go off the dogs can hear everything and will bark. Tempted to go back to a standard DAB if this app doesn’t get sorted! I don’t get why it doesn’t want to work from afar. Any internet connection should be enough to dial back into my home network. I never have an issue with my cameras so not sure why I constantly have issues with Alexa