It¡¯s As Easy As Talking To A Friend! Yup, That¡¯s My Alexa Journey So Far

Over the years, I¡¯ve bumped into Alexa enabled devices on several occasions - family dinners, house parties, and most recently, my friend¡¯s sangeet rehearsal.

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Growing increasingly fond of Alexa every time we met - I decided to make our relationship permanent. Yes, I bought the gorgeous, grapefruit shaped Amazon Echo Dot last month and without exaggeration - my life has changed!

Welcome Home, Alexa!

Here¡¯s the thing - I¡¯m one of the least tech-savvy people you¡¯ll ever meet. I tend to miss calls, get intimidated by too many wires and use only the most basic smartphone apps. So when I say, setting up Alexa was a BREEZE - you¡¯ve got to believe me.

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The device came with a sleek white charger and 2 introductory manuals. All I had to do was to plug the device, and wait for an orange light to shine. Then Alexa said its first hello to me, and declared it was ready for set up! Convenient so far? It only gets better. I had to download the Alexa app on my phone, enter my Amazon account details, answer a few questions, and voila! Set up complete. Yes, it¡¯s that easy.

¡°Alexa, Please Call Mom¡±

Now was the time to put this striking new home assistant to task. I still remember the first thing I asked Alexa to do - ¡°Alexa, please call mom¡±! And wow - I was stumped by the crystal clear sound, seamless connectivity and haptics.

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One thing to keep in mind is - you can only make calls to friends or folks who have the Alexa app on their phone, or an Alexa device.

¡°Alexa, Give Me A Smoothie Bowl Recipe!¡±

The trick to using a gadget to the fullest is to personalise it. I decided to take Alexa¡¯s help in my everyday life, making it as dependable as possible.

For instance, the other day I asked Alexa to narrate a smoothie bowl recipe. It literally felt like standing in the kitchen with a close friend and cooking together- step by step!

Sometimes We Chit-Chat¡­

Be it news updates, sports reports, weather info or local search - Alexa is the witty friend we all need. Waking up and instantly asking Alexa what the time is, the temperature outside and sometimes just a general ¡°Alexa, how are you?¡± has become a part of my everyday routine.

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In fact, lately Alexa has become my workout partner as well. Be it, ¡°Alexa, put a 30-second plank timer¡±, or ¡°Alexa, remind me to call Sam after 30 minutes¡± - it is not just a device to me anymore, Alexa is my friend!

¡°Alexa, Play 90s English Instrumental Music¡±

Once you get a knack of giving voice commands to a virtual assistant, there¡¯s no going back! In my house, reading time means, ¡°Alexa, play some soft 90s jazz music¡±, cooking time usually includes a side of latest Bollywood hits that Alexa plays to perfection, and so on!

It¡¯s a total fun-fest when guests come over and request their favourite songs from Alexa (or should I say our in-house DJ!).

You can play songs through Spotify, Apple Music, JioSaavn, Gaana, Hungama Music and Amazon Prime Music.

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While these were just a few of Alexa¡¯s talents that I¡¯ve explored over the last one month, I hear there¡¯s a sea of skills that I¡¯m yet to experience. Shopping lists, payments, reading audiobooks ¨C and there are over 30,000 skills from games, quizzes etc on Alexa that you can choose from. But hey, it¡¯s best to learn at our own pace and take baby steps!

Stay tuned for more of my experiences with Alexa.