3 ms·

I agree with this. I think voice is a curiosity that feels like it's futuristic and thus makes Echo Dots a great gift, but isn't actually all that useful when c

by dkrich 8y ago

I agree with this. I think voice is a curiosity that feels like it's futuristic and thus makes Echo Dots a great gift, but isn't actually all that useful when compared to a software interface which is why I believe Apple not going head over heels into voice and home speakers was the right strategy. I've never observed a single person actually use an Echo to make a purchase from Amazon or really do anything besides check the weather or set a timer. Would love to hear from someone who has but it just doesn't seem like something people actually do in real life in my experience.

npunt 8y ago
Yep - cheap enough and cool-futuristic enough to be a gift, regardless of usage. I know several folks who are very tech oriented that have them, and they're used almost exclusively as voice command light switches, or infrequently timers and music. I also know regular folks who have them and they sit unused. That's just my anecdata but I have heard this echoed (heh) from many other people. I think there's three fundamental problems: 1. Voice is not as efficient an interface for a variety of problems that visuals are better suited for. 2. Use cases where voice on a smart speaker in a home may excel are dependent on other home-related smart appliances, which do not have broad market penetration. Basically a home speaker is like talking to your home, but if it's not connected to other parts of your home, it's purpose is mostly lost. 3. There's a minimum threshold of usage under which you don't remember exactly how to use the device or what it's capable of, or make a habit of integrating it into your daily activities. This is true of all devices, but for devices that are used infrequently like voice speakers it's a real issue. So even in cases where voice is efficient, the user will fall back to a less-efficient but better understood interface, usually the smartphone. On the last point, psychologically this is the forgetting curve, whereby things you learn that you do not reinforce through successive activities over time will fade away from memory exponentially. There are strong use cases for voice, most notably in a car, but that's outside the scope of smart speakers.
- bunderbunder 8y ago
  To #3 - I had a lot of fun with my phone's voice assistant when it first came out, and consequently figured out how to get a lot of use out of it. Then, fairly recently, I switched my phone's UI over to a new language I'm learning, and it pretty much killed it for me. This time around, I just can't be arsed to learn all the exact phrases I need to know to use anything more than headline features like checking the weather and texting without taking my phone out of my pocket.* I think it's like text adventures. Decades ago, I could deal with all the crappy parser idiosyncrasies. But not anymore. Novelty can earn you a lot of patience. * And even that gets annoying. -- Hey, computer, is it going to rain? -- ~BEEP~ It is not raining where you are at this exact minute. 20 minutes later, it starts raining.
- sigi45 8y ago
  I'm using mine exclusive for music, timer, weather and my lightswitches. And those basic functions are so useful that I use it daily and miss it outside of my home. I also own 4 of them.

by dkrich 8y ago

npunt 8y ago

Yep - cheap enough and cool-futuristic enough to be a gift, regardless of usage. I know several folks who are very tech oriented that have them, and they're used almost exclusively as voice command light switches, or infrequently timers and music. I also know regular folks who have them and they sit unused. That's just my anecdata but I have heard this echoed (heh) from many other people. I think there's three fundamental problems: 1. Voice is not as efficient an interface for a variety of problems that visuals are better suited for. 2. Use cases where voice on a smart speaker in a home may excel are dependent on other home-related smart appliances, which do not have broad market penetration. Basically a home speaker is like talking to your home, but if it's not connected to other parts of your home, it's purpose is mostly lost. 3. There's a minimum threshold of usage under which you don't remember exactly how to use the device or what it's capable of, or make a habit of integrating it into your daily activities. This is true of all devices, but for devices that are used infrequently like voice speakers it's a real issue. So even in cases where voice is efficient, the user will fall back to a less-efficient but better understood interface, usually the smartphone. On the last point, psychologically this is the forgetting curve, whereby things you learn that you do not reinforce through successive activities over time will fade away from memory exponentially. There are strong use cases for voice, most notably in a car, but that's outside the scope of smart speakers.

bunderbunder 8y ago
To #3 - I had a lot of fun with my phone's voice assistant when it first came out, and consequently figured out how to get a lot of use out of it. Then, fairly recently, I switched my phone's UI over to a new language I'm learning, and it pretty much killed it for me. This time around, I just can't be arsed to learn all the exact phrases I need to know to use anything more than headline features like checking the weather and texting without taking my phone out of my pocket.* I think it's like text adventures. Decades ago, I could deal with all the crappy parser idiosyncrasies. But not anymore. Novelty can earn you a lot of patience. * And even that gets annoying. -- Hey, computer, is it going to rain? -- ~BEEP~ It is not raining where you are at this exact minute. 20 minutes later, it starts raining.
sigi45 8y ago
I'm using mine exclusive for music, timer, weather and my lightswitches. And those basic functions are so useful that I use it daily and miss it outside of my home. I also own 4 of them.