When we first tried out that feature, it seemed it required you first to give Alexa your entire contact list, and we did not want to do that and thus ignored the feature. And many of our explorers were excited about it.įor some time now, Alexa has been able to "make a call" for you. Īlexa has matured from an AI that can do simple tasks, and with whom you can interact, to an AI that ALSO helps you interact with other humans.Īs we explain in more detail below, we think this new capability has great potential. Whereas in prior explorations, you could interact with Alexa, and she could do some things for you (turn on the lights, tell you the weather, collect a shopping list), now she can enable interactions with other people as well. These two new capabilities make it extremely easy to make calls (both phone calls and video calls) to friends and family.
In addition, Alexa has gone through various "improvements" since we first explored how older adults like to interact with Alexa, and a particularly important new capability is the ability to initiate calls to people via a voice command. The big difference to prior Echo products is the screen, and this makes possible some use cases that we think are important and exciting for older adults. It has excellent audio, and can be heard from across the room without any trouble at all. In contrast, the new Amazon Echo Show has a quite different form factor, with a screen. The original Amazon Echo (on the right in the photo above) is a cylindrical piece of hardware with pretty good speakers and the artificial intelligence Alexa residing inside. Why Amazon Echo Show is Different from its PredecessorsĪmazon Echo Show (Left) and Amazon Echo (Right) a phone).įor a general introduction to the Amazon Echo, and what "seniors" think of these products, and what they use Alexa for, see Amazon Echo and Alexa for the Elderly. See the individual audio recordings on the right side of the page (if viewing this on a large screen) or below (if viewing on a small screen e.g. You can listen to audio recordings of the Longevity Explorers trying out and discussing Alexa and the Echo Show. This exploration is about the latest hardware product, the Amazon Echo Show (2nd generation), and the latest version of the artificial intelligence, Alexa - as explored by our community of older adults (the Longevity Explorers) in Q1 2019, and ongoing. But, there is plenty of room for improvement - especially in the area of "getting it set up".Īlexa is an artifical intelligence (AI) developed by Amazon, and made available in a family of hardware products with names like the Amazon Echo, the Amazon Echo Dot and recently the Amazon Echo Show. The bottom line: We think it has great potential for older adults as a tool to help enable more, and deeper, interaction with friends and family. Learn what these " seniors" think is (or is not) useful about the Amazon Echo Show what questions they have and what they think needs improvement. With the ability to make phone calls and video calls on request, Alexa and the Amazon Echo Show have added important capabilities since our community of older adults (the Longevity Explorers) first explored Alexa back in 2017. Our Longevity Explorers have been testing the Amazon Echo Show and exploring its capabilities.
Enter the username associated with the Skype account you want to connect to, and then tap "Next." Enter the password associated with that account and then tap "Sign In" on the next screen. A Microsoft account sign in screen appears. Tap "Sign In" at the bottom of the Skype Calling with Alexa screen. The Skype Calling with Alexa screen appears. Tap "Communications" in the Alexa Preferences section. A menu flies in from the left side of the screen. The menu icon features three horizontal lines. Tap the "Menu" icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Tap to launch the Amazon Alexa app on your smart device.