To find out whether Alexa is still the best smart assistant for my family, I\u2019m going to test Amazon\u2019s AI-powered devices, experiment with AI queries, and write out my thoughts in a multi-part series. With this series, I hope to offer consumers insights as to how well Alexa works in various real-world situations, not company demos.<\/p>\n
Alexa needed to catch up<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/alexa-devices.jpeg\")
Image Credits:Amazon<\/p>\n
Amazon\u2019s assistant, which once gave its users Star Trek vibes as they ordered their home computer to close the blinds or turn off the lights or order milk, no longer seems as revolutionary in the ChatGPT era. Today, people can engage with AI via text and voice chat. Modern AI chatbots and AI-powered services can answer so many more questions, are imaginative, can reason, can create images and art, and generate videos, and with the agentic AI, they can even perform online tasks on your behalf.<\/p>\n
In February 2025, Amazon announced a complete makeover of its digital voice assistant<\/a> with the arrival of Alexa+, powered by generative AI. That service began rolling out slowly to customers in March and is now available to \u201cmany millions\u201d of users, Amazon says. The system is also model-agnostic, meaning Alexa+ can use whatever she needs in the moment to answer the question or complete the task. Alexa+ is using models from Anthropic and Amazon Nova<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n The company teased that this improved Alexa could do more than set timers and alarms, control smart home devices, and answer questions. She leverages generative AI to make sense of information stored in Amazon users\u2019 accounts, understand their schedules, and their preferences. She can remember things, process files, and summarize a Ring camera\u2019s footage.<\/p>\n Notably, Amazon says it\u2019s been working with partners to allow it to take actions for people, like booking dinner reservations or Uber rides, or buying concert tickets. Integrations with Amazon\u2019s own grocery service could also have it make shopping lists by speaking to it, and then have those products delivered. Essentially, it\u2019s aiming to bring agentic AI into the home.<\/p>\n But before we can get to that, let\u2019s see how Alexa+ handles the basics. <\/p>\n In the first part of this series, I\u2019m going to set up Alexa+, use the app, and ask the assistant some questions that only the new Alexa+ can do. Later, I\u2019ll test the agentic AI features and smart home integrations.<\/p>\n Setting up Alexa+ on an Echo Spot<\/p>\n Device: Echo Spot Before moving to my new home, I put Alexa+ to the test on a brand-new Echo Spot after being accepted into the beta. Since I couldn\u2019t yet hook up smart home devices in the Airbnb that\u2019s served as a temporary residence for over a year, I initially tried to test the device\u2019s AI in other ways.<\/p>\n Mainly, I wanted to know if Alexa+ was really all that smart and useful, and if she could do all the things Amazon promised.<\/p>\n Setting up the Spot was easier than it was with past devices, as now you only need to scan a QR code to get the process started in the Alexa app. The app connected automatically to the home\u2019s Wi-Fi; no more weird toggling between the device\u2019s network and your own Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n On the next screen, I accepted the invite to upgrade to the new Alexa+ for free, knowing that it\u2019s still possible to downgrade to the old Alexa service at any time, if things go wrong. <\/p>\n Onboarding included a short video that explained that Alexa would learn more as I use her, and instructed me on how to talk to Alexa. I then connected my Google account, giving Alexa access to my inbox and calendar.<\/p>\n I ended up on a blank page after doing so, oddly, but after closing the window, the screen informed me that my \u201cAccount Linked.\u201d (Disclosure: I am running the iOS 26 developer beta on my iPhone, so maybe that\u2019s the problem?)<\/p>\n On the following screen, I picked the services I wanted to use with Alexa+, which today include OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Uber, and Thumbtack. I checked all the boxes, then moved to the following screen to grant the necessary permissions, one by one. <\/p>\n While it\u2019s a bit tedious to do so \u2014 and something that could be even more tedious in time as more services are added \u2014 I did appreciate that it felt like I was in control of the data sharing and could see exactly what each service was requesting before agreeing.<\/p>\n The following screen confirmed that Fodor\u2019s travel planning service was already integrated with Alexa+, but it didn\u2019t require permissions. It also noted that services like Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Vagaro would be added later on.<\/p>\n The Alexa app itself is still sorely lacking in user interface design. Despite many updates, the app still feels somehow both plain and too busy. It lacks color and traditional mobile app navigation patterns, and it tries to cram too many examples of \u201cthings to do\u201d on its home screen.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, trying to locate how to do the necessary first steps \u2014 like linking my preferred music service \u2014 is buried in the interface. Nope, you don\u2019t tap on your profile icon, Settings, and then scroll down to \u201cPreferred service providers.\u201d For some reason, that\u2019s where you set your preferred News, Calendar, and Email providers, but not your preferred Music service.<\/p>\n Instead, you tap on the hamburger menu at the bottom of the screen. You then tap on the \u201cMusic & More\u201d screen. (What\u2019s the \u201cMore\u201d? Podcasts? Audiobooks?)<\/p>\n I set Spotify as my default music service, the default choice for artists and genre stations, and the default for podcasts. There was no option to set my default audiobooks service. <\/p>\n In this section, there was also a list of services I had previously linked with Alexa. Here, Amazon\u2019s Audible \u2014 which I would prefer to set as the default for audiobooks \u2014 was listed alongside other streamers, like Pandora, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and others. But when I tapped on Audible, I simply got an error that says \u201cYou\u2019ve reached the end of Alexa\u2019s knowledge. Just kidding. This skill no longer exists. Click here to go back.\u201d<\/p>\n Uh, OK. I mean, would it not make sense to just remove the broken thing that no longer exists?<\/p>\n In any event, I\u2019m here to try Alexa+, not yell at a poorly designed mobile app. <\/p>\n I\u2019ll figure out audiobooks later, I guess.<\/p>\n Note for this series: <\/p>\n In these tests, I may have shared personal information with Alexa that I will not be publishing. In those cases, I will put a description of the item \u2014 like \u201cchild\u2019s school\u201d \u2014 in [brackets]. I have also slightly changed some of the dates, times, and numbers to further obscure any personal information that could be used to develop an understanding of my accounts, meetings, or household routines.<\/p>\n Can Alexa+ manage the family\u2019s schedule?<\/p>\n Busy households, especially ones with kids, often use a family calendar to track activities, doctor\u2019s appointments, errands, meetings, classes, and more. Our family calendar is maintained in Google Calendar, accessed on our phones through the native Google Calendar app, and on Mac desktops via the calendar app Fantastical.<\/p>\n Amazon suggests that Alexa+ can help summarize your day, add new events to your calendar, identify conflicts, and more.<\/p>\n In practice, Alexa was fairly adept at letting me inquire about the schedule and various events, but she interrupted me when I was asking to add a new meeting to my calendar. I said, \u201cCan you add a meeting to my calendar on August 6 at 2 p.m. with [entity] about\u2014\u201d Here she cut me off to ask, \u201cWhat would you like to title this meeting?\u201d<\/p>\n Annoying, but not end-of-the-world terrible, I suppose.<\/p>\n I was more easily able to ask things like \u201cWhat\u2019s on my calendar today?\u201d and follow up to ask further questions \u2014 like if there were any meetings later in the week or to repeat one of the appointments. I didn\u2019t have to say \u201cAlexa\u201d again to continue the conversation. It felt more natural, but there\u2019s a very slight lag with her responses at times.<\/p>\n (As an aside, when I went to find the history of my voice chats for writing this post, I asked Alexa where they could be found. She told me to look in the app\u2019s Settings under the More menu, then look for Alexa Privacy or Review Voice History. She\u2019s wrong. Neither option was there. I did, however, find my history from the \u201cRecent Chats\u201d link on the app\u2019s home screen. Alexa, c\u2019mon! Know thyself.)<\/p>\n Alexa, remember this<\/p>\n Another thing Alexa+ is supposed to be able to do is store information on your behalf. To test this out, I asked her to remember my frequent flier number. This interaction went poorly.<\/p>\n Me: Alexa, can you remember my Delta SkyMiles number?<\/p>\n Alexa: Sure, I\u2019d be happy to remember your Delta SkyMiles number for you. What\u2019s the number?<\/p>\n Me: *opens mouth to speak*<\/p>\n Alexa: I\u2019ve added that to Remember This in the Alexa privacy section of the app. Also, keep in mind that anyone who has access to any of your Alexa devices can use their voice to hear its contents.<\/p>\n Um, what? I tried again.<\/p>\n Me: Alexa, can you remember my SkyMiles number?<\/p>\n Alexa: Certainly! I\u2019d be happy to remember your SkyMiles number for you. What\u2019s the number? OK, saved it.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t even take a breath!<\/p>\n Curious, I asked her what she thinks the number is. She responded, \u201cI don\u2019t have your SkyMiles number saved yet. Would you like to tell me your number now?\u201d<\/p>\n Me: Yes.<\/p>\n Alexa: OK, go ahead and tell me your Delta SkyMiles number.<\/p>\n Me: [says the eight-digit number]<\/p>\n Alexa: OK, saved it.<\/p>\n Me: What\u2019s my SkyMiles number?<\/p>\n Alexa: \u201cSix hundred fifty-two million, four hundred eighty-six thousand\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n (Note: I changed the number for the purpose of this post, but yes, Alexa read it out like a long numeral instead of just saying 6-5-2-4-8-6, etc. Not helpful!)<\/p>\n Alexa, read my email<\/p>\n Alexa+ can now supposedly understand documents you upload in the Alexa app or forward to her at alexa@alexa.com using the email address associated with your Amazon account.<\/p>\n To try this, I forwarded an email from my child\u2019s school. These come frequently and have a lot of useful information in them, but are often lost in the inbox. Perhaps if Alexa can handle this task, a new Gmail forwarding filter is in order?<\/p>\n Me: Alexa, summarize the recent email from school.<\/p>\n Alexa: The recent email from [my child\u2019s school] is a welcome-back letter for the 2025-2026 school year. It announces an \u201cEarly Start Day\u201d orientation on August [date] for new students, with an information session for new parents that evening. Regular classes begin on August [date].<\/p>\n Me: Was there any information specifically for [grade] in that email?<\/p>\n Alexa: I don\u2019t see any information specifically for [grade] in that email. The letter mainly covers general school information, orientation dates, and important deadlines for all students.<\/p>\n Great, that worked, it seems. But here\u2019s where things got a little trickier.<\/p>\n Me: Are there any important dates I should add to my calendar?<\/p>\n Alexa: *repeats the important dates from above*<\/p>\n Me: Can you add those to my calendar for me?<\/p>\n Alexa: (Which must have misheard me?) Checking your calendar. Sarah, your calendar is looking busy. You have [activity] ongoing until August 16th, you have [activity]. On Thursday\u2014<\/p>\n Me: (interrupting) I was asking if you could add the dates in the email to my calendar for me?<\/p>\n Alexa: Certainly, I\u2019ll do that. (Pause) I\u2019ve added the following dates to your calendar:<\/p>\n Course Correction Request Period from August [date] through August [date]<\/p>\n New Student Orientation Early Start Day on August [date, time]<\/p>\n First Day of School on August [date]<\/p>\n Is there anything else you\u2019d like me to add?<\/p>\n While this process seems efficient and is certainly helpful in a pinch, you\u2019ll notice I left it up to Alexa to determine which dates were \u201cimportant.\u201d As a result, she picked the three dates closest to today. The email itself, however, contained a list of 12 important school dates, including things like Meet the Teacher Night, Open House, Midyear Graduation, and more.<\/p>\n All of them were formatted the same way in the email under the heading \u201cImportant Dates.\u201d Had I only relied on Alexa and had not read the email itself, I would have missed these.<\/p>\n Oh, dear.<\/p>\n Alexa, help me save money<\/p>\n Another Alexa+ promise is that she can help you track prices on Amazon so you can save money when things go on sale. All right, I\u2019ll bite! I like online shopping.<\/p>\n I decided to try tracking a couple of things, including one skin care item and a Coach handbag. These are things I definitely don\u2019t need, but want \u2014 the kinds of things where a discount could prompt a purchase.<\/p>\n Me: Alexa, I want to know when the Glow Recipe Plum Plumping and Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid Skin Care Serum goes on sale.<\/p>\n Alexa: Just a second\u00a0\u2026 I\u2019ve set up a deal tracker for the Glow Recipe Plum Plumping Serum. I\u2019ll notify you when it goes on sale.<\/p>\n Me: How much is it right now?<\/p>\n Alexa: *silence*<\/p>\n Me: Did you hear me?<\/p>\n Alexa: Checking on that. Yes, I heard you. I\u2019ve already set up a deal tracker for the Glow Recipe Plum Plumping Serum. You\u2019ll get a notification when it goes on sale.<\/p>\n Me: How much is it now?<\/p>\n Alexa: *More silence.*<\/p>\n OK, I guess we\u2019ll wait on that one.<\/p>\n Next up, I tried the handbag.<\/p>\n Me: Alexa, I want to know when the Coach Swinger handbag goes on sale.<\/p>\n Alexa: Certainly, I\u2019ll check that. Got it! I set up a deal tracker for the Coach Swinger handbag. I\u2019ll let you know when it goes on sale.<\/p>\n Me: Is it out of stock in blue?<\/p>\n Alexa: *Silence*<\/p>\n Me: Is the Coach handbag I just asked you about out of stock in blue? (Note: It was, per Amazon\u2019s website at the time of the request.)<\/p>\n Alexa: Let me check that for you. (Long pause) I found the Coach Swinger handbag, but it\u2019s currently available in black. The blue option isn\u2019t showing up in the search results, which might mean it\u2019s out of stock. Would you like more details about the available options?<\/p>\n Me: No.<\/p>\n The Coach Swinger handbag in blue does show up on the product page on the web, for what it\u2019s worth; it\u2019s listed as \u201ctemporarily out of stock.\u201d The bag is also available in both black and red, but Alexa only mentioned the black option for some reason. Not super helpful.<\/p>\n And we\u2019ll have to wait to see if it ever goes on sale.<\/p>\n Off to a slow start<\/p>\n With these first introductory tests, Alexa+ seems very much like a beta product. She\u2019s trying but is prone to making mistakes and not being thorough. Sometimes, she doesn\u2019t even seem to hear me or doesn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n Given that many of these are out-of-the-box features that don\u2019t require integrations, you have to wonder how well Alexa+ will do at navigating the web and taking action for you.<\/p>\n In the next installment of this series, I\u2019ll continue testing the AI and will try some of the agentic AI features with Alexa+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I owned a lot of Alexa-powered devices in my former home: There were Amazon Echos in most rooms,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,43006,35527,2574,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-51054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-alexa-plus","10":"tag-alexa","11":"tag-amazon","12":"tag-artificial-intelligence","13":"tag-artificialintelligence","14":"tag-au","15":"tag-australia","16":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/artifact-expression-2000x1125-1.jpg\")
Image Credits:Amazon<\/p>\n
Default music service: Spotify (Premium)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2016.jpg\")
Image Credits:TechCrunch<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2022.png\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2023.png\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2024.png\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2025.png\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2026.png\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2029.png\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_2035.jpg\")
Image Credits:Alexa app screenshot<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-06-at-11.58.22AM.jpg\")
Amazon.com screenshot.<\/p>\n