Amazon Echo Unboxed in the Kitchen!

I put in my pre-order for Amazon's new voice-activated, personal assistant speaker doohickie they've named Echo some time back. It finally appeared on my front stoop, and here's what happened:

Damn, that sounded so dramatic and exciting! And I didn't even save pictures of the packing box! LOL! Here is a shot of the internal packaging, with a frosty beverage and a Sharpie to indicate both size of the box and bs level of this particular unboxing.

Anyway, after removing the Echo's box from Amazon's standard shipping packaging, I found a very plain, black box. Very mysterious looking and hi-tech "clean." Upon opening the black box, I was confronted with the high contrast, but still clean packaging seen here. No muss, no fuss. It looked cool and exciting and yes, it got my techie juices flowing...

Inside this lovely package we have the Echo itself, a 9.5"X3.5" tower speaker, a power adapter, a remote control and mounting device for the remote control. You can see a box of Kleenex on the Kitchen table in background of the first shot, this should give you a good idea of this item's size.

Before I move on, I want to point out...the magnetic mounting holder for the remote is one of the most awesome ideas ever! The Echo is very likely to become relegated to everyone's kitchen and making the remote so kitchen friendly was a fantastic idea. The "holder" is magnetic, so it will just slap right on your fridge and stay put. The batteries in the remote make them very friendly to slapping into said holder and staying put. The curves match, the remote fits well. An elegant and simple solution to an incredibly annoying occurrence--who hasn't misplaced a remote?

Anyway, app downloaded, batteries installed in the remote, Echo powered on. Wi-Fi info entered, and my Echo started getting friendly. Voice recognition is much better than expected, without any training. (A brief voice training session is available in the companion app, and continuing corrections are also available through the app:  the app lets you see what your Echo "heard" and make adjustments.) The connection to my home network was very simple, through the companion app. Absolutely no issues connecting to my Amzn account and streaming music nearly instantly.

The sound quality was considerably better than I'd expected, and perfectly acceptable for a small apartment/kitchen listening environment. It won't rattle your windows, and so needs an audio out.

Recognition of voice commands through speaking was phenomenal, Through the remote, slightly less so, but still considerably better than expected.

It's an attractive, effective device for music playback, especially if you are already tied into Amazon's digital economy. (Disclaimer: I am an amzn warehouse employee. I do not hold Amzn stock, though I do receive a percentage of my annual pay in stock. I am not being paid for this review.)

If the Amazon Echo had a line out audio connection, it would completely exceed my expectations and my needs. As is, it's going to be relegated to the furthest remotes of the kitchen, and likely to be forgotten soon...