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Amazon Echo's 100+ Amazing Features
Top 100 Amazon Echo Features
These are the top 100 Amazon Echo features since its release in late 2014.
Discover amazing Alexa skills, smart home applications, and incredible third party support from Spotify, Nest, and more.
The Echo has come a long way since its launch and the Alexa voice assistant has practically become a household name, but which features truly stand out?
Echo's New Hardware
1. Echo Dot
2. Amazon Tap
3. Echo Show & Echo Look
4. Echo Spatial Perception
5. Local news flash briefings
6. Amazon Echo launch in UK, Japan, India and Germany
7. Echo Spot
8. New colors, skins, and fabrics
9. Alexa smart routines
10. ESPN radio
11. BBC and NBC news
12. TechCrunch and CNET
13. Echo launch in Canada
14. Alarms from Finding Dory, Alec Baldwin, and Missy Elliot
15. CNN News and the Washington Post
16. Echo Dot Kids Version (FreeTime for Alexa)
17. Amazon FireTV/Stick voice control
18. Traffic information for multiple points
19. Set & name multiple timers
20. Multi-room audio
Multi-Room Audio and Echo Spot
Some of the biggest features included new product launches like the Echo Spot, Amazon Tap, and Echo Show.
In particular, the Spot was a smart clock that included a tiny touchscreen for video calling.
The Echo also expanded outside the United States into the UK and Germany with software updates that introduced new dialects, a smarter AI, and device awareness with Echo Spatial Perception.
Along with new devices, we saw updates to things like alarms/timers with new tones from "Finding Dory" and Missy Elliot as well as a slew of different news feeds and podcasts.
Amazon Music & Spotify Support
21. Amazon Music Unlimited
22. Spotify Premium
23. Pandora music station
24. Bluetooth playback controls (pause, resume, skip songs)
25. Listen to Kindle books
26. Hear audiobooks from Audible with playback controls (skip chapters)
27. Set repeating alarms either daily, weekly, or weekend only
28. Local restaurant and business info from Yelp
29. Theater showtimes and movie information from IMBD
30. Google, iCloud, and Outlook Calendars
31. Order and Reorder Prime eligible items
32. Track Amazon packages
33. Customized sports update for favorite teams
34. IFTTT recipes to generate multiple commands/rules
35. Connect to other Bluetooth devices
36. Associated Press and Engadget
37. MLB.com gameday audio
38. USA Today
39. Amazon Alexa Easter eggs
New Music Stations
Amazon's launch of Amazon Music Unlimited gave your Echo devices even more music options with its low cost monthly subscription service of $3.99 a month.
The caveat is you have to have an Echo product and be a Prime member, but there are other options too. Alexa can play Spotify Premium songs, Pandora, or music from a Bluetooth connected device.
You can also control playback with pauses, resumes, and volume controls either within a music service or by connecting to another Bluetooth speaker.
Those playback controls also pertain to audiobooks and your Kindle eBook collection with the ability to skip chapters and return to where you left off in the story.
Top Amazon Alexa Skills
40. Amazon Alexa Skills
41. Domino's Pizza
42. Uber and Lyft
43. Sleep and Relaxation Sounds
44. 1-800-Flowers
45. Logitech Harmony
46. Fitbit
47. Amazing Word Master Game
48. 7-Minute Workout
49. TrackR to find lost phone
50. "The Wayne Investigation" for audio storytelling
51. "The Magic Door" choose your own adventure
52. Find My Phone
53. Akinator
54. Ask My Buddy
55. Patron Tequila and The Bartender
56. OurGrocies for synched shopping lists across iPhone and Android devices
57. StubHub
58. 1-Minute Mindfulness
59. Yo Mamma Jokes and 4A Fart (sound effects)
60. Campbell's Kitchen
20 Best Amazon Alexa Skills
Some of the greatest additions of the past two years have been in the form of "Alexa Skills".
A few premiere skills include Uber, Lyft, Domino's Pizza, Logitech Harmony, "The Wayne Investigation", and Capital One, but there are thousands of skills to choose from.
You can ask for a variety of crude jokes, sound effects, and recipes or perhaps listen to new audio stories, play games, and quiz yourself on a multitude of topics.
The possibilities are endless as more and more skills are added daily, but be on the lookout for higher quality skills to come. Amazon has partnered with so many companies that it won't be long before your favorites are on this list.
The Alexa Smart Home
61. SmartThings
62. Nest
63. Wink & Phillips Hue
64. Insteon
65. Automatic skill for cars
66. Alarm.com and Scout Alarm
67. August Home, iDevices, and SkyBell
68. Caseta Wireless
69. Yonomi
70. Nexia Home Intelligence
71. Haiku Home for fans
72. TP-Link Kasa
73. LIFX for colored smart lighting
74. Rachio Sprinkler control
75. Vivint.SmartHome-Complete
76. Iris connected home control
77. Ecobee, Emerson, and Honeywell thermostats
78. BMW Connected
79. Genesis for G80 & G90 Hyundai Genesis auto owners
80. Control4 Smart Home
Amazon Is King of the Smart Home
Google's Home may be more intelligent than the Echo but its smart home skill-set does not compare to Amazon's.
With partners ranging from Nest and Insteon to TP-Link Kasa, Iris, and Yonomi; there's never been such a vast integration across so many platforms.
You can control your lighting, fans, TV, thermostats, smart locks, and even check your car's mileage/fuel level with "Automatic". Heck soon you'll be able to tell Alexa to start your car for you with skills like Genesis.
Alexa will be a huge platform for automakers in the near future.
Most of these skills also integrate with IFTTT so you can create multiple recipes to trigger combined actions. While not every smart home skill is perfect and there are several limitations, it's a sign that the internet of things market is ready to burst.
These integrations will only get better and better with time.
Alexa Voice Calling & Texting
81. Voice Calling & Messaging
82. The Voice
83. Food Network
84. TV Shows (SyFy, Netflix)
85. KidsMD
86. PGA Tour
88. Cat and dog facts
89. Garageio
90. Big Sky local weather app
91. Ooma for voicemails
92. Twenty Questions
93. Animal Game
94. Receive NCAA Football scores/schedules
95. EarPlay
96. Twitter Reader to read timeline, mentions, likes, trends, and retweets
97. Control scenes with Philips Hue, SmartThings, and Insteon
98. Dash Wand with Alexa
99. Alexa on Amazon mobile app
100. Google Home
Future of Amazon Echo
Finally Amazon has begun to entertain us by bringing snippets from "The Daily Show, "The Voice", SyFy, and Food Network into users lives.
There's even a few skills to tell you about different movies/shows playing on cable and streaming channels like Hulu, Amazon Video, and Netflix.
Along with those gems and a few more games or smart skills, there's the bigger picture of improved AI and the launch of intelligent digital assistants with the arrival of Google Home.
It's been a profitable few years for the Amazon Echo, but the next two years will push for greater innovation as Google and Apple come aboard.
These are the top 100 Amazon Echo features, but expect 100's more soon.
So what is your favorite feature or what did I forget to add? Feel free to comment below and let me know.