Showing posts with label Eufy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eufy. Show all posts

Friday, March 15, 2019

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Creating More Work

I enjoy my smart home things and keep adding to the list. I'm not sure they save me time, but I love the convenience of them - especially the voice control for muting the TV while my hands are wet from washing dishes or telling the HVAC unit to turn the air on while I'm in the middle of working out.

The only downside is I keep coming up with new problems to solve - some of which didn't exist prior to buying all these smart devices. For example, I don't have a good place for my Eufy Genie (Amazon Echo Dot clone) in my bathroom. I don't have a spot to put it and we don't have enough plugs to power it.

The solution... $40 to get this outlet shelf and an outlet with USB ports.



Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Monday, January 22, 2018

Alexa Cannibalism

Interesting chart about what things are now being done with Alexa and her friends... I know we stream a lot of music (vs. doing it from our smart phones), so that fits. We stream WUOT (the local NPR station) on our phones. If WUOT added a skill for streaming, that would also move off our phones to the Echo Dot/Anker Eufy Genie. I'm not seeing that Alexa replaces much time with tablets, the TV, or our computers - other than doing some basic voice commands for lights, thermostat, etc.




See the article at Business Insider.

Monday, January 15, 2018

ZOLO Halo - Amazon Echo Clone

So Anker/Eufy is adding a better speaker to their Alexa device line up - the ZOLO Halo. (And yes, their naming is as bad as some of the Chinese radios.) I like my Eufy Genie - great purchase from a value perspective when I got it for $20. I don't feel the need for a better speaker, but if I did, then I'd definitely consider the ZOLO Halo at $40.



Thursday, January 4, 2018

Eufy Smart Bulb

So, I'm all in on the Alexa/Google enabled home as you can tell. I'm enjoying playing with the various plugs, switches, etc. I even got one of the Eufy Smart Bulbs ($12) for Christmas despite my uncertainty about the benefit of going the smart bulb route.

It works just fine from the app or using Alexa voice-control, but:

1. Bulbs eventually go bad.
2. There is no button on it, so I can't turn it on if the internet is down.

Still, $12 isn't a lot for a little experimentation.

Eufy Genie (Amazon Echo Dot Clone) - Follow-up

I bought a couple of the Eufy Genie devices - one for $29 and one for $19. They are basically clones of the Amazon Echo Dot. They seemed like a good deal at $29, but then the Dot was reduced to $29. If I had know that was coming, I would have stuck with the official product for the same price.

My decision seemed to be really bad when I got them out of the box and started using them. I felt like I could time the responses from Alexa with a calendar. The good news is that, after some automatic firmware updates, I can say its performance is on par with the Echo Dot. If you can catch one for $19, it's definitely the way to go.




Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Eufy Genie (Amazon Echo Dot Clone)

I've been thinking about getting another Amazon Echo Dot for a while now. I was especially tempted when they were available as refurbs for $40.

So, it should be no surprise, that I bought the Eufy Genie for $29. Eufy is a division of Anker - which has a good reputation for the quality of all their phone accessories.

The Eufy Genie is very similar to the Echo Dot, but is missing a few features like Bluetooth and the ability to complete calls between Alexa devices. I've never used the Bluetooth, so that's a non-issue for me and Eufy says additional features will be added via firmware updates. I read a few reviews and folks were split on saving a few dollars vs. getting the actual Echo Dot. For me, I think I'll be happy with it even if it isn't perfect. We have one Echo Dot today and I wouldn't mind having several more. If this works well then I can save some money, but otherwise it might go in a less used location.