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I've had it!!!

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Offline jwlv

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I've had it!!!
« on: December 05, 2021, 06:33:11 am »
I'm sick of my Echo Show 5's displaying junk that I never use, need, or ever want to see. Every few weeks, Amazon adds some "new" feature (aka advertisement) to the home screen that I have to turn off through the Home Content settings. The latest was "Alexa for your day" which you can't even turn off. Then yesterday, it started advertising some Disney game skill that I don't care about. There's no setting to turn that off either.

So I've had it!!! I'm in the process of getting rid of all six of my Echo Shows.

David N

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2021, 09:53:33 am »
Thanksgiving, 2018 I bought (what I thought) just a cheap 55" tv. Turned out to be a fire tv and once I found out that I could control the tv by voice with just a $25 dot I became hooked. Filled my whole house with echos of every sort, fire tablets, blink & ring cameras, smart plugs/switches & bulbs, and more fire tv's.
I was like a kid at Christmastime filled with wonder and excitement anticipating each new update and feature. I relentlessly read and watched anything I could find to learn more.
Then came 2021.
We were introduced to "by the way". When it first started it was at least relevant. I asked to set a timer and the echo told me that I could now have it sound off on all my echos. Now that was helpful. Now it's just a bunch of garbage with no relevance and no option to disable.
Then came "alexa for your day". That alone had me start looking at Google and Apple devices. I could go on about that irritation forever and I have at Amazons worthless forum that I have since given up on.
In February the fire tv/echo integration to power on/off tvs broke. It's still broken 10 months later.
In March the black screen/no screen problems started with the shows. Then the clocks broke if you choose one with a cycling background. Guess what, that too is still broken.
Slideshow photos that used to serve as background screens for the weather, upcoming reminders, and calendar just disappeared only to be replaced by some random screen, completely interrupting the flow of pictures as the rotation went around.
Also to change, and not for the better was the music controls on the show 5. The large, easy to use play/pause, previous & next were replaced with tiny buttons at the bottom of the screen that I need my reading glasses to see. When listening to I Heart Radio the song title & artist was displayed, not anymore. Amazon has also forced commercials both at the beginning and in the middle of iheartradio streams causing me to change my wake up alarm music. If I wanted to wake up to a commercial I would just go back to my old clock radio.
Then the alarms on the show 5's started not working or self snoozing. Still broken.
Next to break was 50% of my voice commands to turn something on or off. I was constantly met with a response of "you don't have any connected vehicles" or "doesn't support that".
You would think that Amazon would be working overtime to repair not only their software/firmware but also their reputation. Instead they have doubled down on their stupidity, increasing the frequency of "by the ways" and constantly adding more garbage screens to the shows. They are always turned on by default if they even include a toggle. I'm already upset enough that I've had to set my shows to clock only in a attempt to limit the "alexa for your day" garbage  but every time I see my screen rotate I grow more angry since I then know that they added more junk overnight and I have to go search home content for the off button.
Now they have taken away email and limited the unlimited calling to 10 contacts? It has become a sick, slow painful death.
Amazon has taken something that used to be a joy and turned it into something that I have come to hate at times.
Last Christmas when amazon introduced group calling I was so happy with my show 8 that I gave one to every member of my family. Now, sadly I'm embarrassed that I unleashed the aggravation that the shows have become on them.
Amazon must be out of their mind if they think that any of us will ever buy the show 10 or show 15 knowing what we know now. Their attempted forced interaction with the devices through "BTW", IMDB ads, "AFYD" and the never ending "try this" has actually driven me further away. I no longer shop on amazon.com via my show devices for anything. Even interacting with them for trivia and games has come to an abrupt halt. I no longer leave positive reviews and if anyone asks my opinion on which ecosystem to buy into, I'm brutally honest with them.
Amazon has left me no choice but to look elsewhere and that's what I have reluctantly done. In the last 2 weeks I have bought 2 of the nest hubs to replace my show 5's. For now, the show 8 stays on the kitchen counter for the Ring doorbell. I also have a routine triggered by a button that turns on the kitchen lights with a custom command. That automatically brings up the brightness control for the lights on the shows screen that I can then adjust quickly & easily.
All of the above being said, none of my sensors, buttons, or zigbee devices will work with the google hubs. Neither will my Ring doorbell. I'm also quite invested in whole house audio with the echo link and echo studios scattered throughout my home. So for now going forward it will be non-screen echos for voice control & audio playback and google hub devices for most screen controls, alarm clock, etc.

David N

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2021, 10:09:19 am »


So I've had it!!! I'm in the process of getting rid of all six of my Echo Shows.
This is your site, right? Hope you keep it open, I would hate to see it go away.

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2021, 11:40:34 am »
The forum does have sections for Google and Apple. I suspect these sections will start to become more active.  Google for me at least, out performs Amazon in my kitchen.

Offline jwlv

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Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2021, 04:26:30 pm »
This is your site, right? Hope you keep it open, I would hate to see it go away.

The site isn't going away. I still have other Echo devices without screens. I'm just getting rid of the Echo Show devices.

That's the problem with companies that make devices and also selling the content on those devices.

It's like if NBC made a smart TV and it constantly tries to get you to watch one of their stations. After watching the nightly news, it'll pop up a message saying "Hey, did you know Jimmy Fallon is coming on in 5 minutes? Would you like me to change the channel?"

Or if Chevron made an autonomous car and every time it drives by a Chevron station, it'll say "Coca cola is on sale at this station, would you like me to stop the car here?"

That's what Alexa is doing. That's what Fire Tablets are doing. That's what Fire TV is doing. That's what Kindle is doing. If you have Amazon Prime Video, did you notice that lately it's been promoting IMDB TV? Yep, Amazon owns IMDB. And they're always putting Amazon Originals at the top of the list. Guess what else? Amazon just bought MGM studios recently for $8.45 billion. They'll be trying hard to push their Amazon-wares on you to recoup that $8.45 billion for the next 10 years.

Seriously, Amazon is way too big for its own good.

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2021, 05:26:58 pm »
I am not concerned about what is on the screen.  I have everything disable that can be disable, but I really only use the screen for weather radar, ring and calls.   It is not like I am watching the screen 24/7 to see if I get some ad.   So far the only screen I have seen is the alexa for your day -  no ads.   Now the btws is another story  :-)

I am at the point where every single time alexa messes up or give unnecessary info, I send feedback.   I like the voice feedback though I would not be too surprise if amazon discontinues it too if it gets too much use.     

David N

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2021, 07:12:24 pm »


I am at the point where every single time alexa messes up or give unnecessary info, I send feedback.   I like the voice feedback though I would not be too surprise if amazon discontinues it too if it gets too much use.     
I have my doubts it they even check that feedback. The only time I ever received a response to my feedback was when I left it via the alexa for pc app.

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2021, 09:33:59 pm »
I'm about to buy one of the 15 inch Fire units... It's a little different in design, but is still based on the Fire Tablet software, which is the basis for all. the "Show" products as well as the Spot. I'm hoping it has a "No Ads" option... I'll pay a little extra unless they start making it an annual subscription to stop ads or something... (wouldn;t that be a hoot. A Subscription to have something stop coming... LOL)... either way, as long as there is little audio from it, I'll probably be fine with whatever it does, as long as the Home Screen is customizable and holds it's configuration well.

As far as things I've tossed... The original Echo Base station was too top heavy and got knocked over several times before I nixed it. Otherwise I liked it. I also found myself bored with the Echo Auto. I have my own tunes and controls thorugh Apple Car Play, and when I traded to this new HOnda Ridgeliine Truck, I left the old Echo auto in the Tacoma I traded... hadn;t used it in probably 8 or 9 months. Got rid of all the other Show items too. Gave them away as gifts to people who are less irritated by the slower performance of them. I think all of them were Show5 as well.

All in all, I'm growing weary of the BS changes on Echo, that just show up with a software update with no option to ignore or stop updates without proofing the stuff first. I have had several updates with My Apple Homepods and no major issues with them at all. They never suggest stupid stuff either... and they don't play ads in and of the Apple kind, but do play ads in ad supported apps like Pandora or Spotify (free versions). and they evidently don;t listen in much... I'm sure some, but not mucc shows up everywhere just because I talked about it near a device one day... I may be switching all my personal echos with Home Pod Mini soon. Especially with their latest color options... Kinda dig the yellow and orange options.
2 Echo Dots 2nd gen
2 echo dots gen 3 (no clock) -2 Echo Dot 3rd gen with Clock
1 echo dot Gen 4 with clock
1 Echo Spot
4 10" Fire Tablets
1 15' Echo show
23 Hue Lights 1 Hue bridge - 1 Amazon Smart plug outlet
One Ring Doorbell Pro
4 cell phones with Alexa app installed!
You should see My Apple Device List!

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2021, 10:07:21 pm »
I have my doubts it they even check that feedback. The only time I ever received a response to my feedback was when I left it via the alexa for pc app.

they may not look at the specific feedback but I am pretty sure they keep a running total based on the feedback subject. 

Re: I've had it!!!
« Reply #9 on: December 09, 2021, 09:53:36 am »
The only thing I use my Echo Show 5 and 8 for is to view my Blink cameras. I really wish Apple Homekit had more device support so I could move away from Alexa completely.