Echo Plus (2nd Gen) – Premium sound with a built-in smart home hub - Heather Grey Fabric

We originally bought these because my partner was expected to be partially disabled following spinal surgery, which was delayed because of the pandemic. The whole Echo range enables so may things to be controlled purely by voice commands, whether by turning on or off lights or dimming them, playing music, even controlling some TVs. The Echo Plus is a cylinder, which is available in several colours so that it will blend in well with your décor, or that can be hidden away. It has a solid and robust feel to its construction, with a rubberised non-slip base. It might survive being accidentally knocked off a shelf a couple of times by a cat or child, [please do NOT try this]. It has multiple high quality speakers built into it , which can be linked to a second Echo Plus for true stereo. If you have suitable cabling it can also be wired to play through an existing HiFi system. Its own speaker has a good bass tone. Although I haven't tried it, myself, apparently it can also be used as a very high quality Bluetooth speaker for other devices. On the top are four buttons, one to disconnect the microphone, which will make the light glow red, volume up and volume down buttons, and a fourth button called the 'Action Button' is an alternative to waking Alexa up to listen. The lighted rim shows different colours depending on what the Echo Plus is doing. For example, it shows red if the microphone is switched off, yellow if you have Amazon notifications, blue and green when accepting instructions. Turn up the volume on my short video to hear the Alexa Echo Plus in action. As with the Echo Dot, the array microphone on the Echo Plus is omni-directional and seems to work at up to 5m (probably further if you shout!). The power supply is a custom one, so if your cat chews through the cable you'll need to replace the whole power supply. It would have been better if Amazon had chosen to use an USB-type charger, with either USB-Micro or the modern USB-C connectors. You will need your wi-fi credentials available when you set up the device for the first time. On first start-up, the Echo Plus will give you voice instructions in several European languages. If you already have other Alexa devices it may be able to pick up wi-fi credentials and other similar settings from them, but not always. If your router supports a guest network, it is best to put it onto that for security. This applies to all the 'Internet of Things' devices in your household, as some Internet of things devices have security flaws that can be abused to get access to the computing technology on the same network. When you buy it for yourself it can arrive directly registered to your Amazon account, with access to your Amazon Music or similar accounts. If you wish to listen to international radio stations then a free Tune-In account, which I use for some Japanese stations, can be registered to the Echo, as can a range of BBC services or Spotify. If you have any books on Amazon Kindle then you can ask the Echo Plus to read the book to you. This is really useful if you are disabled or just plain tired. All of the Alexa devices in a house can be linked, so that you can make a call from one to the other, by saying something like: "Alexa, drop in on the Living Room". This also work for calling friends. Unlike some of the lesser Echo devices, this also supports ZigBee, allowing it to link to a range of smart devices, such as Philips Hue bulbs, but without the need for a specific hub. On initial set-up, using the Alexa app on your smartphone, it is a good idea to make a few tweaks: 1. Switch off ordering by voice, so you don't accidently acquire something the family were talking about. (More➡Settings➡Account settings➡Voice Purchasing➡Off) 2. If you don't want the Echo announcing all your deliveries and order information all the time, go to (More➡Settings➡Account settings➡Notifications➡Announcements) 3. Switch on Follow-up mode, so you can add on additional commands without restarting the dialogue. (Devices➡[New Echo Dot]➡Follow up Mode➡On) 4. Tell the Echo where it is in your home by creating a group (eg Bedroom) and adding any other devices, such as Hue lights that are in the same room, to that group. Then phrases like "Alexa, Dim the light" will work for the light in the same room.

Speaking as someone who is entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, I previously viewed the Echo devices and Alexa with some scepticism about adopting a new smart system. Experience from a toe on the water with an Echo Dot bought on an Amazon special offer was however a revelation. Alexa turned out to be so easy to use and versatile and, before we knew it, we wanted to try smart lighting. The Echo Plus bundled with a Philips white Hue light seemed the ideal way to tray out the possibilities. The Echo Plus has a built in zigbee hub...what that means is that you don’t have to buy another hub to make smart devices (such as the Hue light bulbs) work. Set up was incredibly easy , we use ours with a BT broadband Smart Hub and have had no issues. Alexa voice control is simply amazing....the 8 microphones easily pick up instructions from anywhere in the room only rarely does Alexa get stomped. The Alexa app (for us on iPhones and iPads) was also simplicity itself to set up and from that we can amongst other things set alarms, reminders, control lights. You can also allow Alexa to access your iOS calendar. I would however point out with regard to Hue lighting that the Echo Plus on its won will allow you to do the majority of everyday control functions for the lights but, if you want access to all the Hue features such setting your own bespoke colours, then you will still need to buy the Philips Hue Bridge. We eventually did exactly that and the Hue Bridge also works seamlessly with all our Echo devices and Alexa. Sound quality of the Echo Plus is excellent and betters many Bluetooth speakers at this price level that we have used. Assuming that you are a Prime customer, you can of course access Amazon Prime Music. A limited albeit still fairly extensive music catalogue but, if you pay for one of the additional plans, unlimited access to all Prime Music is available. One point to note for Apple Music users (like us) is that Apple is evidently working with Amazon to bring Apple Music to Echo devices later this year, in a similar way to what is currently available in the US. That is excellent news and will only enhance the Echo’s capabilities and usefulness. The Echo Plus itself is a relatively good looking mesh covered cylinder with buttons on top and the famous blue ring that activated when Alexa is communicating or waiting for reaction. We bought the charcoal grey version which sits quite happily in our living room. You could easily position this in any room without it looking out of place. But beyond that is of coarse the undeniable fact that Alexa makes this and other Echo devices special. Ask her for a radio station, a joke, the weather, a news briefing....all easily done and set up. ‘Skills’ are easy to add from the Amazon site to enhance Alexa’s capabilities and all those we have adopted so far have been free. As described earlier, Add additional equipment such as the Philips Hue range and you can have voice controlled lights, motion sensors, cameras...it goes on and on and, be warned, once you start and see the possibilities, you find it difficult to stop! We have since eventually bolt a system including Echo dots in other rooms plus lights and sockets....once you use them, you don’t want to go back! The Echo Plus has been a big hit with us and has so impressed the wider family that others have also taken the plunge and bought one. Easily recommended.....even by a committed Apple user!

Good value

No, this will never be a Sonos in terms of sound quality but it's the best compromise out there sub £200. The sound is clear, retains clarity at maximum volume and the pass is responsive and punchy. The equaliser can be tuned to your preference but straight out of the box it is a top quality speaker. Most impressively, at high volume the far-field mics can easily pick up your voice for the wake word. The design is nice, clean and blends with home decor very well. The mics' responsiveness seems better than my 3rd gen echo dot however I must make it clear it has all the same Alexa functions. The internal thermostat is a nice touch and would combine well for a routine that includes Hive. I'll be honest, I did not buy this for the Zigbee hub which is probably what increases the price by so much. Most things connect to the Echo Plus via 3rd party apps if not direct and so I'm struggling to find a use for that. Currently I only use bulbs and my TV for 'smart' use and this just shows that Philips are milking people for money with an extra hub when there are bulbs which can connect via the Smart Life app, saving a lot of money. The top of the Echo Plus is a fingerprint magnet so wipe down once in a while. One major let down is the lack of 3rd party support from other streaming services - TIDAL and Apple Music need to get on board in the UK as they have both recently made their services available in the US on Alexa. Once companies like these fully integrate, it will be hard to advise of another 'smart' speaker that does everything so well. One of the best purchases I've made recently.

Set up is very easy , adding devices is pretty easy too , sound quality not earth shattering but pleasant enough , however can vary quite dramatically depending on the surface you place it on , sounds brilliant on long worktop with tiles behind ! Less so on softer or more cluttered surfaces . Purchased in sale and also two more from the refurbished range so value for money was outstanding!!! Stereo pairing was straight forward and does sound decent , however disappointingly doesn’t work over Bluetooth so couldn’t use with tv as I planned. Then there’s an issue with voice commands as to which one pics up your voice so initially found myself trying to throw my voice at the speaker that had replied 😂 In the end named one of them echo for voice awake 👍🏻 Voice recognition is pretty good and responsive for 95% of the time , but when she has dumb moment it’s stupidly dumb resulting in frustration......😂😂 Apple Music integration works well so happy with that as whole family uses it together . So all in all the hardware is damn good value and of decent quality , the iOS app however is jumbled and unclear , with lots of menus taking you to other menus named something different in another (you guessed it) MENU !!! Not all smart devices that are added are put in smart home category, so cannot trigger routines from them , which is frustrating as hadn’t wanted to get an additional hub . Also the layout and searching of skills is not great , and there are frequent app crashes when searching skills ! Over all it does do it’s job but very inefficiently and could be cleaned up and simplified a lot ! Home management would be nice if everything you add was added as smart home device ! Think there’s more potential to be found with some software improvements for sure but personally I am happy with them and use them a lot .Drop in feature is ace ! No more shouting up the stairs to kids with headsets on , or listening to music , and conveniently not hearing you !!! Would definitely recommend them just understand the limitations, and hopefully some software upgrades may come too 🤞🏻

I have to say that having reached my 60th birthday without the need for having one of these then i thought well i really wont need one now. Christmas 2019 was nearly upon us and i am not sure if some of you relate to this but just about everyone in my family asks me 'is there anything that i really want?' as i am quite often reminded that i have everything,but of course i haven't. So when my Daughter said 'would you like one of these Dad?' i thought well i would never buy it myself but as a gift why not. I am not that great when it comes to setting up devices so when i tell you it took me about 10 minutes i actually surprised myself! All i can say is if you are undecided, just go for it, i have it in the man cave where i spend quite a lot of my time, and just to be able to say 'ALEXA play whatever song you want to hear it is quite amazing,in fact she has not let me down as yet. I also like the 'ALEXA' start my day' and it will tell you the breaking news plus weather and everything you need to know having just got up. I am still learning and finding out new things daily but all i can say is i think it is a wonderful item and sometimes i cant quite believe the vast amount of info that is there at your command. When it comes to playing the music of your choice i was really surprised by the rich tone and general output from this device, and when it comes to volume you will not be disappointed, you can have it as low as you want or i am sure that if you was having a party it would be more than enough, i haven't tried it anywhere near full volume and the reason i know is that my neighbours either side of me have not had 'For Sale' signs up recently! I have not set up lights or any of that sort of stuff but trust me i will and from what i can make out it is just sooooo easy! I am not completely sure but I think that my Daughter paid £89.99 for it before Christmas but at the moment it is £139.99 which is still a great price and i am sure i will add a couple of dot's to the system unless of course beforehand i get asked what do i want for Xmas or my Birthday! Anyway got to go as Alexa has just told me my dinner is ready so Bon Appetit and give it a go, you know it makes sense !! :)

I had been a little reluctant to get one of these until I had a decent play with one at a friends house and promptly ordered this the following morning. Set up was pretty easy. You need to download the app and from there you connect your wifi router to the device. The device then has it's own Amazon wifi you connect your phone to that controls everything else. A brief moment of impatience and then turning on and off again and away it went. I'm a Prime user so went for the free 3 month amazon music trial that I get emailed constantly about and so far it's been great. The playlists seem a little repetitive but I need to have a proper look around the Amazon Music content which looks very much like iTunes. Alexa is much the same as Cortana or Siri in having lots of amusing responses featuring comments relating to sci-fi films, Game of Thrones etc. Asking Alexa to play Absolute Radio prompted an immediate activation of the radio app and you can scroll through the stations just by uttering 'Alexa, next'. I have a an accent so at times you need to put on a bit of a fake posh accent for it to fully understand but my other half insists it's just ignoring me deliberately. I'd love the option to change Alexa's voice such as with a satnav. I bought a Hue lightbulb with the Echo which has proven to be very useful as we both now have the Alexa app on our phones and can remotely turn on a downstairs light when one is up for work before the rest of the house is awake. You can set the brightness too without it being a bulb marketed as having a dimmer option. The sound quality is pretty good. It's definitely on the bassy side and would probably suit a larger room than I'm using it in but you can just unplug it and move it around. I've encountered many tinny speakers over the years and this certainly isn't one of them. As with a lot of electronics it could do with having a longer power cable but it isn't stupidly short. In all there is a lot of stuff you need to read up on about what all Alexa can do My next to try is shopping lists you can then access from the phone app but there appears to be continual additions to what you can train it to do from the skills page on the amazon website. Given what just a decent speaker costs, this has proven to be well worth the money in only a week.

I bought this echo plus to help me out with my disability, and it didn’t disappoint. I have mobility issues so getting up to turn the light on and off also fire fans etc. is a bit of a chore but with Alexa I control everything by voice and the app is also a bonus. Alexa also connects to my mobile so when I fell over and couldn’t get to the phone, I used Alexa to phone my husband for help otherwise I would of been on the floor for hours before he returned 👍 The sound from the internal speaker is also very good with good bass, I was quite surprised considering the size. I also have purchased an additional echo dot for the bedroom. With Wi-Fi light bulbs, sockets and switches my full house is now controlled. The echo plus has its own built in hub so takes all the strain of my internet hub. I did my research on which was the best smart home device, Amazon echo was by far the most supported by third parties and up to now I have not had any issues connecting anything I have bought. I am now looking at a Wi-Fi vertical blind closer to complete my list but unfortunately they are still a bit pricey. I have nothing but praises for this device, very easy to set up and the list is endless. If your having second thoughts just do it, you won’t regret it. Only one drawback is Alexa still can’t make me a cup of tea and fetch it over, patiently waiting for the future Alexa robot LOL 😊