Alexa+ First Impressions: A Beta Product with Potential
The author tests Amazon's new AI-powered digital assistant, Alexa+, focusing on its setup, calendar management, email handling, and price tracking capabilities. Alexa+ aims to leverage generative AI to better understand user needs and automate tasks.
Setup and Initial Use
Setting up Alexa+ on an Echo Spot was straightforward. The app, however, suffers from a cluttered and unintuitive user interface. Connecting services like Spotify was more convoluted than expected, and some previously linked services resulted in errors.
Calendar Management
Alexa+ can access and summarize calendar events, though it occasionally interrupts when adding new appointments. While natural in conversation, there is a slight lag in responses. The voice chat history is also difficult to locate within the app.
Remembering Information
The feature to store information like frequent flier numbers had issues. Alexa+ struggled to save and accurately recall the number, reading it out as a long numeral instead of individual digits.
Email Handling
Alexa+ can summarize emails, but it may miss important details. In one test, it only identified three out of twelve important dates from a school email, highlighting the need for users to still read emails themselves.
Price Tracking
The price tracking feature for Amazon products was unreliable. Alexa+ successfully set up trackers but failed to provide current prices or acknowledge product availability. There were instances of silence and incorrect information regarding product stock.
Conclusion
Alexa+ shows promise but feels like a beta product, prone to errors and inconsistencies. Its ability to handle more complex tasks and navigate the web remains to be seen. Further testing is planned to explore its agentic AI features.