Amazon is a gigantic trading company, but another of the great services that it also offers and that perhaps many do not know are those of cloud computing, this lately is becoming your real business .
Thanks to this, other derived services that have their base in storage systems arise, among them is the technology that we will be evaluating in this article .
So if you want to know a little about Amazon Alexa and how to get the most out of this excellent virtual assistant, stay with us until the end.
Index:
What is Amazon Alexa and what is this virtual voice assistant for? ?
Alexa es un asistente de voz electrónico e inteligente, que permite a sus usuarios controlar varios dispositivos externos o hacer múltiples consultas mediante órdenes de voz. Dichas órdenes son recibidas por un dispositivo pequeño llamado «Echo», el cual es un altavoz que implementa la tecnología de Alexa a la perfección.
This device tracks the user’s voice until it is activated by the pronunciation of the word “AleXa”. The letter “X” forms very strong and therefore uncommon consonants, which allows this speaker to immediately recognize that the user is addressing him .
This technology works by communicating directly with Amazon’s cloud servers, which guarantees us excellent service. Some of the functions of this smart assistant:
- You can make purchases online at Amazon.
- Make inquiries on the Internet and get an immediate and narrated answer.
- Ask about the weather and the forecast.
- Order fast food to the nearest food franchises that provide this service.
- Find directions quickly on the road while we move.
- Communicate with your contacts through calls and messages.
- Check the latest news on any specific topic.
- Synchronize your calendar to receive notifications about alarms, reminders and events.
- You can control home devices.
On which devices can we use the Alexa wizard?
As we already mentioned this technology is able to connect with other devices in the house that are connected to a smart home network, which connect directly with Amazon Echo smart speakers. Therefore, you can turn on and off bulbs; turn security cameras on and off, as well as activate the display on the computer, television or mobile; open and close doors; and even turn on appliances.
It usually works well with Amazonbasics devices:
- Microbes
- Wall clock
- Surveillance cameras
- Smart plugs.
- Thermostats
Amazon has reached various agreements with multiple companies of household appliances, cars, televisions, smartphones, and even with Windows to reach many computers. There are also some variants of the Echo device that are compatible with this virtual assistant.
- Plus Echo: It allows you to better control your home devices.
- Spot Echo: This model is adaptable to all rooms in your home.
- Dot Echo : Allows you to enjoy the services of the smart assistant in a more elegant design.
- Echo Link : It is a device that facilitates the management of music anywhere in your home.
What features make Alexa a unique voice assistant?
Now we will see some of the aspects that allow Alexa to be among the best virtual assistants.
- One of the unique features of this technology is the ability to adapt to new functions with just the installation of a Skill.
- We can also add the control capability that this assistant has over the other devices with which it synchronizes.
- And one last and only one of Alexa is the ability to make purchases by Internet, specifically in the gigantic Amazon store.
Alexa Skills What are they and what are the best we can install?
A Skill is simply an application that can be installed in Alexa to expand the possibilities of things that can be done. This term refers to the skills that can be added to this wizard by simply downloading and installing them.
In general, a Skill is a package of functions that all work together for something specific, where each one obeys the requirements of certain external companies that create them.
For example, if you buy a new smart appliance like a fridge, which tells you what products you have stored. In the moments that you are in the supermarket you ask Alexa from the mobile, what is left in the refrigerator to know what you need.
The only way you can receive a correct answer is for the assistant to have the Skill of that appliance installed. To get one of these Skills, just enter the Amazon store, from the application of that assistant and find the one that meets our needs.
Let’s see what are the best we can get for the Amazon smart assistant:
If you browse the 23 categories of Amazon Skills you will realize that the ones preferred by users are those of food recipes, Well, who doesn’t want to improve their culinary art from their kitchen just by doing small queries?
Cookpad
Con esta Skill podrás consultar cualquier receta y recibir las instrucciones narradas de principio a fin, y con la posibilidad de colocar pausa mientras realizas un paso.
Track By Nutritionix
Esta Skill te permite ir registrando todo lo que vas consumiendo en el día para después hacer un cálculo de las calorías y cuidar tu figura.
My Chef
Esta te permite recibir todas las instrucciones necesarias para hacer deliciosos platillos en tu hogar.
Now among the highlights we have others of varied themes let’s see:
Escape Room
Básicamente es un juego que hace una muy buena réplica a la película Escape Room, en donde debes seguir ciertas pistas para escapar de una habitación.
Bamboo
Esta te guía en todo momento a la hora de hacer tu meditación del día, y es excelente para establecer el ambiente adecuado para esta actividad.
TP-Link Kasa 
Con esta habilidad tendrás en tu Echo el total control sobre las cámaras de seguridad, luces e interruptores que formen parte de esta red.
Weather
Apart from receiving weather forecasts successful with this ability, we can also know the news of the moment.
Protect my house
This ability allows the Amazon virtual assistant to start producing realistic sounds inside your home, with the intention of looking like there are people and thus scare away the unintended people.
Tales of Clan
Disfruta de más de 100 historias entretenidas para tus ratos libres o para desestresarte.
Comparison between Alexa vs Ok Google vs Siri Which is better and in what are they different?
The Apple and Google companies have also opened up to the possibility of reaching many sites with their virtual assistants, launching devices similar to Echo. These are Google Home and Apple Homepod. But, in this case we will not evaluate them in this comparison. Although we must use their physical characteristics to identify strengths between them.
Among the most basic differences we can find that its activation mode is in different words.
While in one you must pronounce “Hey Siri” in another you must say “OK Google”, and in that of Alexa just say “Alexa, Amazon or Echo”
But, let’s see in the following comparative chart what are the most notable differences in each of them.
To reach a conclusion, we can also add that Echo is much cheaper than Google Home or Apple Homepod, and seeing the large number of Skills that has more than 20,000, in addition to the thousands of companies that support Amazon with their devices, we decided to lean heavily on Echo and Alexa.