Amazon Echo: 20 Amazing Things It Can Do with Alexa

Updated on July 2nd, 2018 by Quertime Writer in Hardware

When you have Amazon Echo with you, there are so many interesting things that you can think of and the device has an assistant by the name of Alexa.

Introducing Amazon Echo

Amazon Echo comes with a cylindrical shape that includes a personal voice assistant known as Alexa. It stays on and stays connected to the Wi-Fi which allows the device to be placed anywhere in the house and at the same time has the access to the cloud services. With the help of Bluetooth, you can easily stream and listen to your favourite tracks of your mobile.

Amazon Echo can do lot of interesting things, let us get to know all these things in detail:

1. Alexa play The Beatles
You can purchase this device on Amazon and you enjoy the convenience of playing content from TuneIn, Amazon Prime, Kindle Books, Pandora, Audible and iHeartRadio. The best thing is that you get to save your phone battery. Once you have Echo, you might want to use it for your next house part instead using your old wireless bluetooth speakers.

2. Alexa, did Liverpool win
You have the liberty to ask anything that you want to, it can be cricket schedules and scores, who won the Academy 2016 or the year George Orwell born. Alexa can also be used to solve math problems.

3. Setting the timer
You can use Echo to set timer for 20 minutes. Whether you are setting an alarm for your early morning jog or the kids’ daily reading, you can just ask Alexa to do it for you.

4. Play NPR
If you don’t want to miss the latest news, you can simply instruct Alexa to stream the radio for you. Stay updated with the latest news whether it is sports news or current affairs.

5. Asking about the traffic
Alexa can guide you what are the roads that you can avoid when you are on your way to the office, which will surely save your 10-15 minutes. You can even have the estimated time of your drive.

6. Helping you at home

One of the best things about Alexa is that it can get easily connected to Wink Home Hub.

7. Finding movie timings
You can ask Alexa when The Conjuring 2 is playing and what other movie options are available.

8. What is the nearest outlet of Pizza Hut
If you have a craving for a pizza and your favourite joint is Pizza Hut, you can ask Alexa about the nearest outlet of Pizza Hut.

9. Get it translated
You can have the words being translated in your native language. For instance, you can ask Alexa to say how are you in Spanish. There is a provision of fifty languages in which you can have the translation. But, at the moment, Alexa’s foreign language speaking skills is not there, so she won’t be able to repeat them for you.

10. Asking about reordering baby food
Let us assume that you are out of baby food, then you can just sit back and ask Alexa to get it added on Amazon’s shopping cart. You can fill your shopping cart with other necessary daily stuff which may include paper towels, light bulbs, and various others.

11. Knowing your schedule

You can inquire Alexa, while you are preparing your morning coffee, about what is on your calendar for that particular day. She will swing into action and search through all the connected calendars (in the app) such as Google Calendar and pull up your daily activities.

12. Asking Alexa to add your doctor to your to-do-list
There you go, Alexa will be added to your Alexa app.

13. Ask Alexa to read the novel for you
If you have connected Amazon Echo with your Audible account, there are various commands that let you hear the novel of your choice. This gets done through the speaker, you also get to skip the chapters and flip the pages, pause & resume and carry out other features effortlessly.

14. Repeat whatever is being said
This is one fun element that Echo has. If your name is Jason then whatever you say to Alexa, she will repeat the exact by prefixing it by Jason Says. For instance – if you really want your kids to clean the mess in their room then you can use the Echo’s remote control and you can order your kids while sitting in another room.

15. Playing jeopardy
If you are a trivia lover, you will surely like the six-game show style questions that Alexa asks on a daily basis. Make sure you have answered in the same fashion in which the question has been asked.

16. Asking Alexa for a Spanish restaurant nearby
If you want to take your family for an outing and looking for a Spanish restaurant, you can seek the assistance of Alexa. She will tell you all the Spanish restaurants that are close to your location.

17. Asking Alexa head or tails
At times questions like what should we eat for the dinner and where should we go for the vacation can be a bit tricky. Sometimes, flipping a coin is the best way to settle such questions. Luckily, when you have Alexa, you don’t need a coin. She will flip a virtual coin for you.

18. Alexa, activate find my phone
If you have signed up for IFTTT then you can link it to your Amazon account. By doing this, you get to download various recipes for Alexa such as locating your phone, sending a voicemail or SMS to one of your friends.

19. Controlling lights

You can also control the lights and various household devices with the help of related apps. You can get it done by voice commands.

20. Call for a ride
Amazon has a partnership with Uber, so now you can ask Alexa to book an Uber ride.

I believe that Amazon Echo is, certainly, a smart device and it will be a common household device in the coming times. So, keep an eye on such gadgets.

Author: Hill Callie

Hill Callie is a writer by profession. She has a knack for coming up with novel ideas. She currently writes for Followthesteps. She contributes ideas for latest technology and many more. She has also worked for scores of magazines, writing exciting content on various topics.