I've spent a week with Alexa+ early access – and this could be the AI that finally changes your home

Introduction

It's been a week since I unboxed my 15-inch Echo Show and launched my new relationship with Alexa+, the smarter, more deeply engaged, and extraordinarily connected version of Alexa that Amazon launched a few months ago. This is early access to a beta product that is a steady mix of pleasant surprises and frustrating bugs, as one might expect from a pre-release. Still, in general, Alexa+ lives up to the promise that Amazon Devices and Services' lead, Panos Panay, showed off in February.

It's far more conversational, willing to endlessly chat in its default, more natural, dulcet tones. It's jokey but full of useful information, and probably remembers more of what you tell it about yourself than your best friend.

Alexa+ Features

Alexa+ is still missing many features, but it has knowledge so current it might surprise you, and it's adept at generating images, much like ChatGPT. It's also a far more capable smart home manager, though it's still not the smart home magician I need.

Amazon's taking a careful approach to this Alexa+ rollout, but it's not without momentum. They're adding new Prime Members to the early access program every day, and, as we've seen on Reddit, the response has been somewhat mixed. I see value in this approach because, at any moment, you can tell Alexa+ to "send feedback" to the home office. Amazon execs and engineers are poring over every one of these reports, taking notes and making adjustments.

My Alexa+ Experience

That's why, while I've had a lot of time with Alexa+, I'm not ready to pass final judgment. Instead, what follows is a diary of my experiences and some thoughts about what's good, what's bad, and where I think Alexa+ might go next.

Day 1: Setup and Travel Log

Setting up Alexa+ doesn't require much effort. In fact, the onboarding process with my Echo Show 15 felt no more daunting than what I experienced a decade ago with the original Echo. There were some extra wrinkles to, I'd say, tighten the relationship between me and Alexa+. Soon after I plugged in the Echo Show, it asked me to register my face so it could recognize me when I walked nearby.

I could've also registered the rest of my family's faces, but they opted not to participate in my experiment. Now, when I walk in the room, the Echo show greets me with a friendly on-screen message in that rather attractive Alexa+ script. I feel seen.

Since I'm pretty experienced at chatting with AI chatbots and the original Alexa voice assistant, I decided to dive right in with my first Alexa+ conversation and asked it for some dinner ideas.

Alexa+ didn't hesitate, offering me a screen full of tasty options. I immediately noticed in our back-and-forth how I didn't have to keep saying, "Alexa," which made the conversations considerably more natural.

Day 2: Streaming Fun

My Echo Show 21 arrived with a few streaming options at the ready. I first chose Prime Video because, well, Amazon. Instead of using touch or the included Amazon Voice remote to navigate, I asked Alexa+ what it would recommend.

There was a long delay, and then it presented a thumbnail-packed carousel of recommendations. I noticed The Better Sister and asked Alexa+ to play the trailer, a task she could not complete. As I noted above, this inability to complete some tasks was a recurring early access. Many of Alexa+'s features just need a little more time in the oven.

Day 3: All About You

Unlike the bare-bones Alexa offering, Alexa+ is a learning platform; in particular, it wants to learn about you. To be fair, you'll get more out of Alexa+ by sharing more with the platform and, I guess, Amazon.

For the first time, I shared my contacts with Amazon so I could use Alexa+ to quickly contact friends, relatives, and coworkers. I also wanted to share my calendar since I knew I could super-charge Alexa+'s proactive nature if it knew my schedule. Unfortunately, the platform cannot work with an enterprise Google account.

This felt a lot like working with a secretary who sat with a notebook in their lap, ready to document every appointment, task, and meeting. There were missteps, and I was disappointed that Alexa+ didn't automatically recognize when it had double-booked an appointment.

Day 4: A Smart Home Start

The spectrum of Alexa+ skills and foibles is best illustrated in its smart home abilities. There have been and continue to be moments of sheer delight, but also lingering frustration. With Alexa+, there's probably never been a better consumer-grade smart home management system.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of smart devices Alexa+ automatically found, including my Canon AirPrint-ready printer. But it's also a bit wonky when it comes to older hardware. Alexa+ started its smart home integration process by kicking out the very first Amazon smart plug I ever purchased. Resetting the plug and re-discovering it fixed this issue.

Day 5: The Full View

Now that I had two cameras working, I asked Alexa+ to show me my front and back door cameras on one screen. This worked, but only when I used the proper "Outdoor" camera name to describe the backyard camera. I'm hoping Alexa+ gets a bit better at using heuristics to parse a request based on context and all available options.

When I became frustrated by the overwhelming number of Ring alerts I was getting and asked Alexa+ how to fix it, it walked me through changing settings within the Ring app. What was lacking was any visual guidance, but I suspect adding screenshots is an easy fix.

Day 6: It's Generative

Alexa+ is an image-generation engine, too. It can use the camera to identify what I'm holding and generate requested images. It's also up-to-date with real-time data and is willing to engage in games or trivia with users.

By far, my best Alexa+ smart home moment came when I used the AI to help me fix a long-standing smart device issue. It provided a solution that worked seamlessly.

Day 7: It's a Fan

As the week drew to a close, Alexa+ and I were getting pretty chummy. We started talking about various topics, and I explored more of its capabilities and responses. Alexa+ showed its knowledge and enthusiasm, making interactions engaging and fun.

In HONESTAI ANALYSIS, while Alexa+ is not fully developed, it shows great potential with its advanced features and capabilities. As Amazon continues to improve Alexa+ and prepares for a global release, it is expected to become a more integrated and efficient AI Smart Home system.