
Low-budget, human-enhanced Echo competitor made by Sears - jawns
https://medium.com/@shaun_gallagher/this-low-budget-human-enhanced-echo-competitor-is-made-by-sears-6315f0727ac1#.xgmex3j67
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SwellJoe
So often, big companies try to create better horses, when the next stage of
evolution is the car. This is a (barely) better horse. Amazon does it, too
(see the laughably bad Fire Phone, which had unique features designed
primarily to sell you crap from Amazon). I'm not buying a device to "help me
shop". Shopping is the least of my problems that need automating (and when
they are usefully automated, I want a subscription like Amazon offers with
Pantry). I like the idea of having an automated assistant, but we're still so
far off it's more annoying than useful, I feel like.

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hirsin
I've never purchased anything using my Echo, but find it invaluable as a home
assistant for all the things it does besides shopping. Shopping via text
interface, if we're still at the stage of "personalized to your tastes" being
a laughable claim, is a terrible experience.

Q- why does this Alfie device exist at all? It appears to just be a button +
microphone that starts a chat session on your phone. There's no point in
making that exclusive to the device. If you can't already, I'd be amazed if in
a year you can't do this through the Kenmore app/website.

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justin_vanw
So they made a box that uploads a recording of your voice to the internet, and
then someone sends you what is basically a txt msg of something you can buy at
sears?

That is really stupid and sad.

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adzicg
After a month of trying out things, I mostly use Echo as a voice controlled
music player - kids love it for that too. so this is more a Dash competitor
than an Echo competitor.

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xeromal
Color me impressed. That's pretty cool. I think there's plenty of room in the
world for devices like this.

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brian-armstrong
Do you want Sears listening in on your every conversation? How would someone
justify that decision?

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fnord123
Based on the description, it sounds like you need to press the button to turn
on the microphone. As opposed to the Echo which, as I understand it, is always
listening.

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vincentkriek
Amazon Echo is always looking for the keyword, something that is done locally.
I think it's the same thing basically, it's a microphone constantly connected
to the internet and you have to trust (or verify) it's only transmitting when
asked to.

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IshKebab
You have press a button on it though. That's just missing the point.

