Amazon’s Echo Intelligence System

A COLLEGE STUDENT’S GO TO

Amazon’s Echo intelligence systems are becoming more and more popular with college students.

By Meredith Troxel | Spring 2018

Hello, My name is Alexa. I am an Amazon Echo, designed around your voice. I can provide music, news, weather and more.” says Alexa, the voice behind Amazon’s Echo intelligence system.

Amazon Echos, which were introduced to the public in 2014, have become the latest hit in digital voice assistant products. With the release of the Echo, Amazon personified its voice by naming it “Alexa.” Alexa has become the new voice that can be heard in many homes including dorm rooms on university campuses.

“All of the echo devices are popular, however, among them the Echo and Echo Dot are the most popular devices,” Vinay Shivani, a customer service representative from Amazon said. “We recently had a promotion going on for the Echo Show device, so we are getting a lot of people buying those right now.”

One of the popular features with students is the ability for their Echo to be a bluetooth speaker. Brooke Surface, a freshman inclusive early childhood education major, uses her Amazon Echo Plus in that way. “It is the best bluetooth speaker I have used,” Surface said. “It’s sound quality is really good and it can get super loud.

All other bluetooth speakers are about the same price as my Echo, but don’t have the features that Alexa adds to it.” The Amazon Echo Dot was selling for $29.99 during the holidays which is the main reason why it is the most popular model with college students. The Dot is

now back to its base price of $49.99. In addition to using her Echo as a speaker, Surface uses it to check the weather, to tell the time and to set her alarm.

According to an infographic by Statista using the Echo to set the time is the number one feature. Although Surface first used it right after she got it for Christmas, she has still not been able to get it to connect to BG’s Wi-Fi after bringing it back from break.

“It’s annoying that I can’t even use it here because no matter what I try, it won’t connect to the University’s Wi-Fi,” Surface said. The University’s ITS center, which does not service or help with outside devices, does have a video on its site video explaining how to connect every Amazon Echo to Wi-Fi for personal devices. Sophomore Jake Maley, had no issues connecting his Amazon Echo Dot and asks Alexa questions almost every day.

“I mainly use it to ask questions about sports or weather and to play specific songs or artists,” Maley said. Maggie Marcum, a sophomore VCT major, said she was able to get her Echo connected to the Wi-Fi when she first set it up, but now it will not stay connected.

“The Res-Media Wi-Fi never lets it stay connected,” Marcum said. “I have to reconnect it every time and it is a long process.” Amazon and Arizona State University teamed up in 2017 and gave out 1,600

Echos for incoming students to use in their dorm room, according to an article in EdSurge. Amazon made the Echos for college students in mind.

Officials are hoping for a time where Echos are “woven into student life” and students can use them for “ordering transportation and setting homework reminders,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

John German, an Arizona State University spokesman, told the EdSurge reporter “ASU’s main motivation was to develop an opportunity for its engineering students to gain skills in voice technology, an emerging field.”

With four and a half stars and over 10,000 reviews on almost every Echo model, it is clear many people love the Echo and everything Amazon has put into their product.