hey! newb here
Had to weigh in on the new 'little' echo as I'm way beyond confused. I too heard about the little one.
I had to get an Echo several weeks ago (tech writer,) and since then been tinkering and researching. Did hear about a remote that one "should have" so I hit Amazon today - only to find no remotes. Zero. Looked at the rest of the page, saw something about a "Fire stick". The non-existent remote was $200 or so: the Firestick around $50 if memory serves (and mine NEVER does lol!) So I trotted to that Firestick page. (Won't be available until March 9th, btw.)
You plug this into your TV: it is a voice-command remote, I think. Except research shows it too has an Alexa, albeit not as robust as the Echo's. It requires only WiFi - not even cable TV. I saw Prime ads offering channels like HBO/Showtime for ~$2 a month: the thing evidently streams them to wherever you plug him in. The TV, or a puter monitor (according to an answered question on the Stick's page.)
I was trying to figure out what that stick would do w/the Echo, so I plowed through pages of those questions. Only hit a few that asked if it worked with Alexa: answers were mostly yes. Fell over one question that mentioned a FireTV app - and here comes the massive confusion.
Somehow I got that this app could function =as= the Firestick. Now that paralleled my thoughts since I got the Echo: why NOT have an app that functions as a remote? I've also heard rumors Amazon was pulling the remote off the market. I figured maybe they'd decided to go with an app instead - and here it was. Ran to check it out and no. Just acts as a remote to the Firestick: a remote for a remote. I hope this is remotely making sense!
Seems to me my S6 Edge could more than handle functioning as the Echo's voice remote! IE, do the same thing that Firestick does (with relation to the Echo, that is.) I'd forgotten all about the touted mini-Echo due out until I fell over you guys - now the confusion has escalated.
The big remote? Only available used - not a word about future availability. The Firestick out in a couple weeks - and the mini-Echo who knows when. I sort of get the Stick being useful if one feels the need to tell the TV what channel to turn to - especially if it does have a bit of Alexa's functionality. But if Amazon is coming out with this stick at a really reasonable price, why bother with another small Echo?
And why bother with either if an app could do the same thing? Or can an app do the same thing! lol Thanks for any illumination.
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