Hardware

Published on June 25th, 2020 | by Andrew Bistak

Amazon Echo Auto Review

Amazon Echo Auto Review Andrew Bistak
Score

Summary: Alexa Auto is now available for your car and it works very well!

4.5

Smart car!


Okay… Alexa holds a place of importance in our home and when I heard that Alexa would be coming with us in the car, I was in Smart Assistant heaven. I could drive and ask Alexa a whole plethora of questions, including directions, listening to messages, changing music with just my voice and more importantly, do basically everything that we can with our home Alexa device.

That’s right, Alexa (car) has come to Australia and she is coming on all our road trips!

Unboxing Photos

Alexa, drive me home!
Alexa, play California by Grimes
Alexa, turn our living room lights on
Alexa, turn on the kettle
Alexa, why is Donald Trump still in power? (Unfortunately this one even stumped Alexa)

At its core, Echo Auto is a hands free smart assistant for your car and is powered by your vehicles USB and Bluetooth for audio.

It’s quite a small device that you can position where ever you see fit in the car and it comes with an air mount for additional attachment options.

We positioned ours just near the automatic gears that has a small tray and more importantly is near the USB port for power and cannot move while driving.

Installation is relatively non-existent and you basically download the Alexa app (if you don’t already have it) on your smartphone and search for Echo Auto. This will pair Echo Auto and most people already have their smartphones paired with their cars to stream audio which is what this device will do. If you don’t, you will need to pair your phones Bluetooth to your car.

Setup Photos

 

Alexa, how do you say ‘thank you’ in Japanese?
Alexa, who’s the prime minister of Canada?
Alexa, drive me home
Alexa, call Sarah
Alexa, order a pizza
Alexa, add bread to shopping list
Alexa, announce I’m heading home
Alexa, what’s the weather tomorrow?

The only caveat with Echo Auto is that you need the Alexa app to be running or it cannot pair with your cars audio. As a safety precaution it will also ask if you are the passenger when you are accessing the app because as we all know, you should not be using your phone while driving.

Once the installation is complete, you’re ready to start your Echo Auto journey which is brilliant because now Alexa can come to you to the shops, work or even on your next family holiday because of how small and portable this device is. You can also mute the microphone which will turn the device from blue to red… see images below;

Final Thoughts?

What more can I say but this is ALEXA for your car and works just as well as your home Alexa devices. The only slight drawback is that you do need to be running the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone but apart from that, welcome to my car Echo Auto!

Recommended!

Features

  • Add Alexa to your car – Connects to the Alexa app on your phone and plays through your car’s speakers via auxiliary input or your smartphone’s Bluetooth connection. Includes Vent Mount.
  • Designed for the road – With 8 microphones and far-field technology, Echo Auto can hear you over music, A/C, and road noise.
  • Go beyond radio – Voice control Echo Auto through the Alexa app to stream from Audible, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, SiriusXM, and radio stations with TuneIn and iHeartRadio.
  • Just ask – Use your voice to play music, check the news, make calls, add to your to do-list, manage your calendar, and more.
  • Designed for your privacy – You can press the microphone off button to electronically disconnect the microphones.
  • Check for compatibility – Echo Auto is not compatible with all cars and phones. See if it will work for you below.


About the Author

When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.


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