4 ways Alexa+ improved my life in ways I never expected

Alexa+ has been available for most of the year, being released back in February. Anybody with an Amazon Alexa-enabled smart home has options to upgrade to the more advanced version of the voice assistant. It uses generative AI to take Alexa’s abilities to another level.

If you’ve previously used Alexa in her base form, you know there are some frustrating aspects to her. But Alexa+ offers a much smoother experience and delivers a more well-rounded product. Alexa+ is an added benefit of Prime access, meaning many people are eligible to use it. I’ve enjoyed Alexa+ for months now, and there are a few things that it does that I’m really excited about.

Talking to her makes things so much simpler

Alexa+ is a better version of Alexa

Previously, you had to say “Alexa” any time you wanted to talk to it. This piqued the voice assistant’s abilities, as it starts to listen to you once its name is said. Not only did you have to say its name to start a conversation, but you also had to say it any time you wanted to follow up with a voice prompt as well.

This was the biggest change for me with Alexa+. Conversing with the voice assistant has become just that: more conversational. The new voice is completely different than the robotic and stilted one that was previously used. This one sounds more elegant and more human, which is both a bit terrifying and also very helpful. When you ask a question, you don’t have to say its name again when you’re following up.

You don’t have to feel like you’re talking to something that isn’t going to help you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to ask Alexa something only for it to say “Sorry” and then not help me. With Alexa+, those instances have been few and far between, as the AI assistant has become more adept at answering questions, handling automations, and more.

The more conversational tone is a nice feature because it makes you feel like your smart home is becoming smarter. It almost makes it feel like you have your own personal assistant, and one that actually gets things right. Former Alexa had immense limitations, whereas Alexa+ feels limitless.

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Smart home automations are so much better

It takes being a hub very seriously

Credit: Brent Dirks / MakeUseOf

If you’re using Alexa+, you’re going to be using it with an Amazon smart speaker. Whether it’s an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21, you have your pick of options to use Alexa+. But its understanding of context is what sets it apart from the previous iteration. Alexa+ can handle multiple tasks at once, especially when it comes to smart home automations and routines.

Asking them to dim the lights in my daughter’s bedroom was something that I’d do frequently. Then I’d have to wait until she complied before asking it in a separate prompt to dim my bedroom lights as well. Now, you can just say “Alexa, dim the lights in both bedrooms,” and it will complete the tasks without much problem.

Being able to recognize that doing two tasks at once is achievable is a huge advancement for Amazon. It feels like this is a completely different system from what was in place before. I’ve asked it to lower the thermostat slightly while also turning on the front light, and it handles both without an issue.

I have multiple Amazon Alexa-enabled devices in my house, ranging from my Ring security cameras to smart bulbs. I can bring up the Ring camera feeds on my Echo Show 8 and ask to go deeper into the video clips with ease. Alexa+ can control all these devices with simple prompts, rather than making them complicated. I like to use Alexa+ to add things to my Skylight Calendar, which it does so with great accuracy and speed.

Alexa+ just knows more than Alexa does

The knowledge base seems deeper

Credit: Amazon

I will frequently ask Alexa questions to either help me settle an argument or give me knowledge about a random question I thought of. I’m constantly asking it to give me up-to-date scores on different sporting events. Plus, I can get the most out of it by asking it questions regarding some of the more common topics I research.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the original Alexa is when you ask it a question and are hit with a “Hmm. I’m not sure how to answer that.” Alexa never tried to follow up and ask questions so that it could potentially figure out what it is I was asking of it. Instead, it would just give up and shut off.

Alexa+ works with you to get the answer to your questions. It can ask a follow-up question to better understand what is being asked of it.

If it doesn’t understand the prompt, it will let you know, but then try to remedy that. The multiple LLMs that Alexa+ relies on to help its generative AI search provide a greater knowledge base.

While I’m still a bit leery about uploading documents to Alexa+, you can do that to personalize your experience even more. You can provide it with a lot of information regarding your life to help it better assist you. Alexa+ can make your life easier if you give it information about it. The more Alexa+ knows about you, the more it can personalize your content and help you go about your day.

For example, Alexa+ can take notes from a class and turn them into a quiz for you to use while studying. It can learn who in your family has a shellfish allergy and understand how not to plan something with shellfish if that person is coming to your next party (you’d need to upload a guest list for it to understand). It has more abilities to learn and seems like it wants to know more.

Using it to book reservations is awesome

Date night is taken care of

Alexa+ can go above and beyond to help me plan a date night. I’m not always the best at remembering to plan a romantic evening. Every once in a while, I’ll remember and go to book a reservation. But with Alexa+, I can just ask it to book a reservation using my OpenTable account. What was impressive was that it took care of finding out what time the restaurant had available.

I didn’t have to chase the restaurant down or even open up the app on my phone like I normally do. I also found out that Alexa+ could book me a haircut appointment as well. The barbershop I go to uses Vagaro to book their appointments, and I just asked Alexa+ to lock in my next haircut.

Alexa+ can also buy pretty much anything you want it to on Amazon. You can reorder something, buy something completely new, or even search for things with ease. I had Alexa+ order flowers to be picked up from my local Whole Foods Market, which was a great perk for date night.

Alexa+ can do so much

When you’re using Alexa+, it almost feels like you’re dealing with another person. The customer service robots that people get so frustrated with pale in comparison to how helpful Alexa+ is. It can help you automate your smart home, provide you with answers from its deep base, and even book reservations for dinner. Alexa+’s conversational tone is the biggest perk, in my opinion, because it’s the future.