Take a look at "Roger - Next Level Voice" (Android)

[Iamok2go]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rogertalk.roger

Alexa connect & control with great potential...

Dave

[DParker]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rogertalk.roger

Alexa connect & control with great potential...

Dave

Am I missing something?  That's a link to a "walkie-talkie" app for Android.  There is no integration with Alexa or any other service indicated.  So what are you referring to by "Alexa connect & control"?

[Iamok2go]

That's what I thought...installed and was surprised to see the echo listed. Works well.

[DParker]

That's what I thought...installed and was surprised to see the echo listed. Works well.

What is it that "works well"?  What does it do with the Echo?

[Iamok2go]

Echo appears as a contact allowing you to talk remotely to your echo ftom a smsrrtphone...

[DParker]

Hmmmmm...interesting integration.  But I don't see any real practical value in being able to talk to my Echos when not at home, since there's nothing useful I can do that way that I can't do easily via the other mobile device apps I already have.  And certainly nothing that makes me want to expose my Echo account to some little shoestring app development group I've never heard of before.

[Iamok2go]

Permissions granted thru your Amazon account.

[DParker]

Permissions granted thru your Amazon account.

Yeah, I got that.  You're still giving them potential access to your Echo (and by extension, parts of your Echo and Amazon account).

[jratliff]

Thanks for sharing. I have made personal skills for the Echo and on the Amazon developer site there is another area that says "Alexa Voice Service" to "Bring voice capability to your connected device." I assume they used that to connect their app.

I can see that being useful if I didn't have all the same smart home stuff connected to Tasker and AutoVoice. I'd like to see a Tasker to Alexa Plugin then I wouldn't need duplicate device commands on Echo and my phone.

[dredigi0]

I checked it out this is another great alternative to using a echo remote, slight lag but nothing unbearable...very useful app.

As for permissions, it works through your amazon account to talk to echo so you have to sign in to amazon through it...leaves you wondering about security

[mike27oct]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rogertalk.roger

Alexa connect & control with great potential...

Dave

Very interesting, and a little research informed me that it was first built as an iOS app about a year ago.  And, to the skeptics here, just Google for confirmation it is not a app from unknown hackers who want access to your Echo.  Ever heard of Spotify? Same developers with a well funded base.  Just Google for: "Roger - Talk More Often" and you will be sure to get to the FAQs, etc.

Even if this is not so useful for Echo, it appears to have good potential for other uses.

I'm installing it on my iOS devices to check it out.

[DParker]

And, to the skeptics here, just Google for confirmation it is not a app from unknown hackers who want access to your Echo.

Nobody said they were.  Speaking for myself I said they were a company I've never heard of.  That's 100% true.

Ever heard of Spotify? Same developers with a well funded base.

More accurately, it was founded by two guys who used to be engineers for Spotify, and consist of only 6 people total.  It's not like you're dealing with Spotify or its management.  They may well be as pure as the driven snow, but I still have reservations about providing that sort of access to any of my online accounts to such an unknown (to me) entity, especially for something that I find to be of little/no real value to me.

[mike27oct]

Yes, true, although at least we know more about the company than we did before, and they appear to be on the up and up.  Haven't had time to install the app yet, but did read the iOS reviews of the app.  One reviewer who said he is very blind said he liked the app a lot since typing was out of the picture for him.  I am quite vision impaired myself with one completely dark eye and the other quite gimpy from too many surgeries. So when I leave iMessages on phone, I dictate them, I don't type.  So, the guy's comment here got my attention.

Anyway, after installing it, I will be curious if this app is worth being a "keeper".

[ricardovice]

Hi everyone, Roger co-founder here.

As some here mentioned before, Blixt (my co-founder) and I started Roger after 5 years of growing Spotify around the world, which meant we've long lived away from our friends and family and simply missed talking with them. So we started working on a voice platform that would make it actually enjoyable to talk despite our busy schedules, and that's how Roger came to be.

Since it's a platform, we have a number of integrations including Alexa, which we built first cause we wanted to use some of the skills on the go. We've been in touch with the good folks at Amazon and are working on a number of other things that will make this cooler specially if you own an Echo, but more on that soon!

Let me know if you have any questions.

[mike27oct]

OK, Gang, I got Roger installed on both an iPad and an iPhone this morning, but I was having issues, and eventually tapped "chat with someone" in Roger app and lo and behold I was chatting via Roger with Ricardo -- the Roger founder who posted the message right above this one!  I told him one reason I wanted to use Roger was for the tie-in with Alexa.  I never mentioned this forum to him at all.  He is a sharp guy and came here on his own.

Anyway. thanks again for all the help, Ricardo!

Also, I came here today  to give a big Thumbs Up to the Roger app.  I have not used it for conversations yet, other than the ones I had with Ricardo, and the sound quality is great. 

What I have been exploring now is Roger and the Alexa app integration.  It works fine, too.  It does things that the Alexa app really ought to do, like I ask Alexa the time, the weather today, the 7-day forecast and Alexa responds in her voice to answer the questions within the Roger app.  It even told me the score of the Yankee-Mariner ball game right after the game ended.  It read me my shopping list and to-do list.

What it cannot do is play Prime music or TuneIn radio; (says not supported) but maybe someday it can do this, too.

After installing Roger, I have a few pointers.

1.  Install it first on the device you most often will use, and get it running well before you install it on another device (i.e. install on iPhone first, then the iPad.)

2. If you have any issues installing/using Roger, tap on "chat with someone" and don't uninstall app and try to re-install, as that caused me problems.

3.  Tap to chat with Ricardo; he has inadvertently volunteered to be this forum's default "Roger Guru" by posting his message here!   

Ricardo, again thanks for helping me out today and stopping by this forum to introduce yourself.

OK, everyone, get Roger installed; you will like it.