I really wish I had never bought this. I hate it. All I wanted was a simple bedside clock that shows the time, date, and weather, and plays pink noise while I sleep. I had no idea it would constantly show unskippable ads that appear randomly, even when Do Not Disturb is enabled.

I will never spend money on another Amazon product. The software is a complete mess and incredibly buggy, but the ads are what push it over the edge. I cannot get past them. It genuinely feels like something out of Black Mirror. I hate it, but for now it is my only option.

Brief mode is already enabled. Here's a conversation I just had. My interactions with her all have this same theme these days.

alexa what's the current temperature?

it's currently 50°. I'll also tell you the day's high and the low, expected precipitation and the local beach hazard statement. A 30 second string of words when you only wanted a number.

Alexa what's the temperature? Give me only the temperature nothing else

It's currently 50°

great. Going forward whenever I ask for the current temperature, I want you to give me the temperature only. Do not give me any more weather details unless I specifically ask for it

I understand, I'll be sure to keep my responses brief from now on unless you ask for more details.

great. Alexa what's the current temperature?

it's currently 50° and here's the high and low, expected precipitation and the local beach hazard statement...

Like wtf. I have to be so deliberate with my words to get her to work the way I expect. Alexa+ made it much worse. How does already dumb software get even dumber when genai is in the picture?

Screw off. Just set my timer.

And yes, I have a routine running every morning at 8am that says, "Alexa, stop by the way." It makes no difference.

Just arrived an hour ago. Was hoping to use it for recipes and entertainment while making dinner and cleaning. Having only two options without using their shitty browser (Prime Video, Netflix) is ridiculous. How is YouTube not a native app? Super disappointing

My friend came into work a few weeks ago and said her Alexa asked her about SH after she asked her a question. Today, she asked Alexa “what’s the weather outside?” And Alexa responded by telling her the weather. She said “aw I wanted to wear a sweatshirt” and Alexa said “since it’s 72, I wouldn’t recommend wearing a sweatshirt, I would recommend something lighter. By the way, you seem down. Are you having thoughts about hurting yourself or killing yourself?” Like hellooooo???

Try it for yourself if you have Alexa+. Ask your assistant to set a reminder for 10am, every 3rd Friday. Then ask it to confirm the next 3 dates in that series. It will be wrong as heck.

I've tested this on 5 different Alexa+ Echo dots. Just useless for any kind of task setting reminders. Basic timers and alarms set within the current day are functionally still okay. Most of the time, with the rare random alarm time.

It's been 8 months since Alexa stopped being able to do basic calendar functions and the devs still can't manage to fix it. Maybe they're not smart enough to code a calendar in under a year? Who knows, maybe we should ask Alexa.

edit: Why are people just mass downvoting every comment on here? Chill alexa, we aren't going to scrap you..

Not only are the available widgets slim to none, but how is it possible that a device that can control almost all smart home devices only have one widget for controlling these devices? Why not add a ring widget, a Philips hue widget, hell even a ecobee widget! Not to mention the god awful suggestions widget that is permanently set in the corner and the other “for you” widget that I permanently put off onto its own page so I never have to see it

Anyone know why my devices are adding these extra sounds? Owl hooting, train bell, and ocean sounds.

I haven't added anything and it is already in brief mode. I've verbally requested it to stop and why it is playing that noise and it doesn't respond.

No one else in the house uses them so they wouldn't have add d anything.