Gadgetory

it's been almost a year since we've taken a close look at the Amazon app it wasn't an always listening device like the echo or the dot so when we needed to use Alexa in the CNET smart home the tap was an afterthought but thanks to a new update that's all changed and the tap is now much more useful the portable cousin to the Amazon echo the tap does all of the same things as Amazon's other Alexa devices it acts as a personal assistant setting reminders or searching the web it acts as a smart home controller and it plays music and tells jokes the difference is it's battery-powered so you can take it with you on the go the need to tap the tap is what made it the outcast of the Alexa devices but thanks to that update this ugly duckling just became something beautiful just hop into the settings of the Alexa app flip the switch to activate hands-free mode and then just say Alexa because the tap is finally always listening impressively even though this device wasn't initially designed to hear you from far away its microphone range keeps up well with the other echo devices it comes with the ESP feature already enabled so if multiple echos hear you only the closest one responds the benefit of the tap is that you can easily take it to places the other echos just can't go so now I can access Alexa hands-free even when I'm nowhere close to an outlet keep in mind this feature will affect the battery life but you can always mute the mic or turn off the feature if you're not going to use it for a stretch of course if you don't have Wi-Fi Alexa doesn't work it's just a Bluetooth speaker at that point though you can use a hotspot to connect it on the go if you'd like as a Bluetooth speaker on its own its average but it's a better speaker than the echo dot and it keeps up at the echo is for our sound quality for less and now because you can enable that hands-free mode it's a great device that I'm happy to recommend if you want to take Alexa on the go