Echo Auto: First Thoughts
Echo Auto is the latest Alexa voice assistant product from Amazon. Does it add useful functionality to your car? Read on to find out.
The Echo Auto Joins the Family
Amazon announced the Echo Auto back in 2018 with a slew of other products. Soon after the announcement, Amazon opened up invitations to buy the Echo Auto to Prime members at an introductory price of $24.99. Deliveries started around early summer this year, and I received mine at the end of July. As of today, it is still only available by invite.
With the Echo Auto being my third Alexa device, I was looking forward to using the voice assistant more throughout the day. Being able to do more hands-free is not only more efficient but also greatly reduces the temptation to use the phone in the car. I’ve been able to spend a few weeks with it and have formed my first opinions about it.
How is it different from other Echo Devices?
The primary difference between the Echo Auto and other devices is that it relies on connecting to the internet through your phone and your car speakers to communicate with you. The device lacks a built-in speaker, WiFi connectivity, and volume control buttons. It connects to your car sound system through your phone’s Bluetooth or directly through an Aux In port.
The device won’t work if your car is not on or if the audio source in your car is not set to your phone (or Aux port). It also will not work if your phone does not have a data connection.
Alexa still has all of the same functionality as you would find in a dot. In my time so far, I haven’t found too many features unique to the Echo Auto with Navigation being one standout.
Echo Auto Tech Specs
The Echo Auto is a relatively simple device. Think of it as a stripped down version of the Echo Dot. Below are the basic specs.
8 Microphone Array
3.5mm Audio Out
Action and Mute Buttons
Built-in Bluetooth
Micro USB (Power)
Light Bar
Who is the Echo Auto For?
The Echo Auto adds smart assistant functionality to your car. However, many modern cars either have smart assistants built-in or integrate smoothly with your phone with either CarPlay or Android Auto. Thus, only those without smart functionality in their cars or those who prefer Alexa should seriously look at this product.
The device can do everything that a normal Echo device can do such as make a shopping list or reminder, make calls, command your smart home devices, and other Alexa-enabled skills. One useful feature is telling Alexa to navigate somewhere. Alexa will then open either Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze on your phone and start navigating to your destination.
Setting Up the Echo Auto
Setting up the Echo Auto is a breeze. If you’ve set up other Echo devices, then you should have no trouble. Amazon does have a list of a few vehicles which the Echo Auto is not compatible with. Check it out here.
Here are the steps to setup the device:
- Plug In The USB Cable to Your Car (or to the Cigarette Lighter Using the Included Adaptor)
- Wait for the Light Bar on the Device to Start Pulsing
- Open the Alexa App and Follow the Instructions to Connect to the Echo Auto Using the Phone's WiFi
- Set Your Car's Audio Source to Your Phone via Bluetooth (Or Plug in the Included Aux Cable to the Echo Auto and the Car's Aux In Port)
- The Echo Auto is Now Ready to Use
My Impressions
As I mentioned before, there’s not too many unique skills to the Echo Auto. Navigation is definitely the most useful skill specific to the car. So unless you have some very useful Alexa skills or Routines that you can use while driving, you will find very little added benefit to having the Echo Auto. I found that having the ability to add something a shopping list or set a reminder while driving to be convenient, but it’s not something that dramatically changes my Alexa experience.
The Good
Navigation is a unique skill for the Echo Auto. My experience has been with it directing me to locations using Google Maps. I did find this skill to work well but only if Alexa determined the correct location I wanted. For example, if I tell Alexa to take me to a store with multiple locations, it will default to the nearest location unless I tell her the city I want to go to in the same command. If I don’t want to go to the location she says by default, she does not continue to list off the next closest store. Despite the nuances, I found navigation to be the most useful unique skill to the device.
The Bad
I had been researching what additional routines are possible but have been unable to find anything useful. I tried to set up a location based routine of welcoming me home when the Alexa app sensed that I arrived at my address. However, the location was more driven by my phone reporting where I was rather than the device. The Echo Auto doesn’t seem like a device that you really need to tie into your other smart home devices. It seems like an extension of the Alexa app which you can use hands-free.
A drawback of the Echo Auto is its reliance on a data connection for functionality. As an example, I listen to podcasts using Stitcher. Rather than playing stored podcasts which had been downloaded on my phone through my WiFi at home, it will stream the podcast from the network. This both uses data and means you are out of luck when traveling in areas with poor cell coverage.
There were several other nuances I noticed in my few weeks of use. Switching the car’s audio source to my phone when you want to use Alexa was an inconvenience as I also listen to FM radio. Some Alexa skills require you to precisely say what you want (i.e. reciting an exact phrase) which can be a pain to remember. The device had trouble hearing me during periods of heavy rain – something I encountered a few times this summer. I found some of the nuances to really take away from seamlessly using a voice assistant.
Conclusion
The Echo Auto is one Amazon device that I can definitely say I can live without. It serves more as a hands-free extension of the Alexa app on my phone and adds very little functionality that I otherwise wouldn’t have from my other Echo Devices.
I would only recommend the Echo Auto to those who think they would regularly use Alexa in the car for skills or routines they have become use to. Navigation is the only unique skill which I could see myself using regularly.
The Echo Auto needs further development from Amazon if they really want it to be a useful device in the car. It’s a fair value at it’s introductory $24.99 price, but would be a much more harder device to justify for it’s listed full price of $49.99.
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