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Comment by ViktorRay | Hacker News Reader

I use Siri on my phone every day. Mainly to set timers and alarm clocks or to check the weather.

I don’t believe I’ve ever used it regularly for anything else. Maybe once in a while I’ll be driving and I’ll ask Siri for directions to some place.

It’s difficult to see why anybody would bother paying monthly subscription money for Alexa. If you have an iPhone Siri can do all the basic stuff (set timers, look up the weather) that Alexa can.

Do some people use Alexa to adjust their home lights and stuff? Would non-wealthy people actually pay money in the form of a monthly subscription just so Alexa can adjust your home lights?

Seems like Amazon’s strategy here doesn’t make sense to me. But I’m not Jeff Bezos so what do I know….

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We use Alexa every day for lights, weather, and timers for cooking. It understands us correctly 98% of the time. The compelling thing about it is that it works purely by voice. I don't have to push any buttons. We have 4 Echos in different rooms so I don't have to have my phone on me all the time.

you used your phone to adjust the lights at home and checking the weather?

Talk about inventing problems.

I live in Colorado, the weather can vary 30F in just a few hours. If I'm in a hurry to leave, it's pretty useful to get the weather for the next few hours without having to stop and grab a device.

According to my research, 30f swing does not appear linear and i cannot tell if that would be significant or not.

Still, my main point was the lights. I guess I am well into minority situation since turning them on/off is easier than talking to a thing or, god forbid, using a phone.

From experience, I just as baffling to these people as they are to me.

I have a house with 3 levels and when I moved in, 2 of those levels had analog thermostats. I'd be watching TV in the basement with the heat set to 68, go upstairs to bed, and realize I'd left the heat up so I'd trudge back down stairs, change the temperature, and then go back to bed. I ended up replacing everything with Nest thermostats within a few months so I could adjust them from my phone if necessary. Then Alexa came along and I could just lay in bed and tell it to do things, which was even more convenient.

I also have kids that are terrible at turning things off, so I've stuck one smart bulb in each of their rooms and quietly conditioned them to prefer that light to some of the switch-activated lighting so I can just centrally switch them all off once they're gone or when leaving the house without trekking around.

> Still, my main point was the lights. I guess I am well into minority situation since turning them on/off is easier than talking to a thing or, god forbid, using a phone.

My dad uses Alexa routines for lights and shutters. Turning the shutters up when the sun rises, and down again when the sun sets.

I don't use the lights, doesn't seem worth it. Companies in that space seem to either charge insane prices, or go out of business regularly. Not to mention the space is fragmented by zigbee, zwave, and wifi. Add a $5 esp8266 to a bulb, switch, or thermostat and it increases in price 10x or more.

However I can tell you that it's really handy to set timers for cooking, checking weather, or even just checking the time when your hands are busy or dirty.

I have a single smart plug that I use to control a light that's inconvenient to reach, but frequently needed.

Siri has no trouble controlling that.

I often use Siri to play music, either from my library or from the free Apple Music radio selection. It rarely has trouble with that (provided the environment isn't noisy).

I use it regularly to add items to the grocery list when my hands are full or covered in raw chicken or something.

I don't think there's a lot Alexa can do that Siri can't, besides letting you spend money directly on Amazon products (if that's still a thing).

Would I pay a subscription to do these things if that were the only way to access them?

Honestly, I don't know. It's hugely convenient to be able to do it, and it's definitely become habit to do so in various ways. I would absolutely be pissed at Apple if they pulled a move like this.

That’s part of the point I’m making though.

Why pay a subscription to Amazon for Alexa when Siri offers all this for free?

I can understand if someone pays a one time payment to get an Alexa smart speaker for convenience. But a monthly subscription? Doesn’t make sense when Siri is free

Yep, no worries—I didn't make it clear, but I'm absolutely agreeing with you ^_^

It’s all good. Glad we agree haha

is Jeff still involved in this kind of decisions?

Indeed; to my eyes, Amazon has set course more directly towards enshittification since Bezos left day-to-day involvement.

I wonder if ‘customer obsession’ means less to his successor;or maybe the new boss’ success is judged differently (eg profit) than in Bezos’ time?

> Amazon has set course more directly towards enshittification

Maybe, but I have not noticed any significant change in the day to day quality of the service compared to when Jeff was around. Have you?

Ads in prime video is a recent example

Good point, I don't use any of the prime content so I would not know.

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