Amazon Echo Device

[ro2124]

Recently considered buying one of those Amazon Echo devices, permanently connected to Internet.
Fortunately before buying it I spotted that apparently it only works in the USA.
Found this a bit peculiar as the Internet is worldwide- why would Amazon Echo only work in the USA ?

[trt]

What does it do, or the point of it?

[Mamyalynne]

//Limitations[edit]
Purchasing merchandise or digital media such as songs, by commanding Echo to buy the song, does require manual intervention—through an alternate user interface—to complete the purchase. Echo has demonstrated hit-or-miss results when asked common questions that users would expect better answers to. Echo sometimes confuses certain homophones.[27]
The current location of the device is set to Seattle (Amazon headquarters) by default and must be changed manually, but can only be set to a location within the USA. This is different from smartphone-based voice assistants that can get the actual location via built-in GPS locators. This restriction can lead to undesired or seemingly "wrong" results for questions that imply the location such as "What is the weather" (around here) or "Set an alarm for 10:00am" (local time here). There are several attempts to circumvent the USA only restriction, particularly by users in Europe and Australia. One such workaround is to set the Echo to a timezone that is exactly 12 hours difference from the local time. For example, if the current time in London is 11:30am, the user can set Echo to Hawaii Standard Time, which would be 11:30pm. This would enable Echo to report the correct time. There are two undesirable effects with using this method. One is the incorrect AM/PM notation and the second is the incorrect date. Another more sophisticated workaround is by manipulating the data that is transmitted and received by Amazon's servers as described by user "stonewater" on the unofficial Amazon Echo forum.[28] This method produces accurate and desirable results. However, it requires technological know-how with the aid of Request Maker for Chrome to accomplish the task.
Interaction and communication with Echo is currently only available in English.//

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Echo

[Old_Geezer]

Sounds like some more tech to go wrong and make life even more frustrating.

[trt]

I don't need more echo thank you, I've got Tinnitus!!!!

[THEMOTLEY1]

http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Echo-Bluetooth-Speaker-with-WiFi-Alexa/dp/B00X4WHP5E

[ro2124]

@Mamyalynne

Well, that certainly was a comprehensive answer :-)
Personally I think pretty bad design as by only making it available to USA customers they must be losing a load of customers in other English-speaking countries or expats like myself, who would like to use it in other countries -but guess they already make billions and so are not worried too much by that.

Of course one can use "OK Google" on mobile phones which is a bit similar and at least does work everywhere.
Actually I read yesterday that Google is bringing out a similar device to Echo possibly this year, if that works in every country which hopefully it will knowing Google, I can see Echo having to up their game or lose many customers.

[Mamyalynne]

To be fair, it was a C&P which is why I added the source - it does seem remiss I agree and hope they work on making it more available for those who want it.