Amazon Echo is already the most intelligent and personable Bluetooth speaker out there, but Alexa is expanding her wealth of knowledge even more, this time, with robust Fitbit integration.
Once your Fitbit account is synced up with the Echo, Alexa will be able to provide verbal feedback to your fitness-related queries. Sure, you could get the same information by opening the Fitbit companion app, but Alexa's verbal feedback could be just what you need to work towards your goal.
To trigger the Amazon Echo to shout out bits of your daily fitness progress, start with "Alexa, ask Fitbit…" and fill in the blanks with the metric you're curious about. Here's an example: "Alexa, ask Fitbit how many flights of stairs I climbed today."
You can quiz the intelligent assistant on at least ten different areas that make up your overall health portrait with Fitbit. Feedback from Alexa for calories burned, steps taken and sleep tracking, (the usual suspects) are all supported. Even more granular details, like water consumption, weight, and resting heart rate can be recited by Amazon's speaker.
Is this worth buying an Echo for?
It depends! The Amazon Echo has certainly burst through our expectations in terms of its longevity and ever-expanding support for clever IoT applications, like the numerous IFTTT if/then "recipes". You should definitely consider it if you're a tinkerer and want to get more out of your connected products, like the Fitbit Charge HR or Fitbit Surge, to name a few examples.
On the other hand, relying heavily on the Amazon Echo (at least, the original model) for your music needs might result in a bit of disappointment, as the speaker itself doesn't sound all that good.
Amazon did, however, recently announce a few, new products that should alleviate that issue. The verdict is still out on the new Amazon Tap, a smaller, more budget-friendly version of the Echo. But the Echo Dot, which just contains the voice-activated brains of Alexa, plugs into any set of speakers to boost the experience.
- Is Amazon Echo a passing fad, or something more?
