WellDressedCar

I thought I'd share my experience with Amazon Echo Auto.

I'm still waiting for my 992 to be built, but there are many things I've been able to do with an Echo Auto tucked away beneath the center armrest of my Audi A8L. I plan to put one in my 992 when it arrives.

I'm an iPhone user and I thought the Echo Auto device would be a waste of $50, but I picked one up on Amazon Prime Day last summer for a song to experiment (I just noticed they are selling them for ). I find it is way more accurate than Siri when you ask it things and also plays better with third party apps, like SiriusXM (Siri doesn't to my experience). It's also highly integrated with Spotify, so you can ask it things like, "Hey Alexa, play that songs that goes "doo, doo, doo...dah, dah, dah.." And then it plays the appropriate song by The Police. Siri definitely doesn't do that.

Some of my favorites I use every day:

"Alexa, what's new?" Alexa starts to play my favorite podcast list, which includes the 4-minute news update from NPR, Bloomberg Market update, etc.
"Alexa, open the garage" Alexa talks to my smart home-enabled MyQ garage door and opens it (I can also tell Alexa to close it).
"Alexa, turn to SiriusXM Chill " Alexa plays channel 53 from my satellite radio internet account which streams in higher res than the in-car satellite tuner.
"Alexa, play my jazz playlist from Amazon Music" She plays the jazz playlist in high res...

Since I hid the device inside the center console of my Audi, I thought it might not hear my commands, but I was wrong. It's microphones are extremely powerful and hear me just fine when I summon it. The device pairs with the bluetooth system of the vehicle, as well as your smartphone. This way, the device is the microphone to hear your commands, but uses the vehicle's audio system to play sounds. It's really seamless and a nice feature to add for low cost.

Thought I'd share as I found the 992's PCM looks pretty, but is already obsolete since its voice features suck compared to what a smart phone and peripheral devices like Alexa Auto can do. YMMV.

detansinn

The voice actions that you describe all work with the PCM speech command support already in the car. It really is quite good and a big leap over the prior generation.

PBM

no pun intended, I echo Det. previously being an audio control skeptic in past..... I am finding all manner of use of the audio control in this car great

WellDressedCar

Really? I can’t wait to try them out. Will they be able to control smart home actions, like turning on the rear garage exterior lights and unlock the rear entrance to my house? Or add ideas to my shopping list? I haven’t been able to play with the PCM much in the showroom, so I’m curious what other features it has.

detansinn

Tuning your radio, selecting stations (exactly as in your example) -- Yes
I wouldn't bother with an Echo for that functionality, given how well the PCM works.

If you have an iPhone, via CarPlay, you can easily use Siri to do those other smart home functions that you describe.
Of course, I don't bother, because my garage exterior lights go on automatically when it gets dark and off when they're not necessary. I have Mortise locks on my house and nearly all of the smart home lock options presume that you've got some Kwikset-class deadbolt setup -- so no smart locks for me.