It Can Control Your Smarthome Devices
Outside of kitchen stuff, controlling your smarthome devices is probably the best use for the Dash Wand. It’s like having a little voice remote that you can take with you around the house, especially if you don’t have Echos spread out everywhere.
You can use it to control lights, thermostats, outlets, switches, and more, and you use it just like you would your Echo by giving Alexa a command to turn on and off a device in your house.
You Can Ask General Questions
What’s the weather? What’s on my calendar? How old is Tom Hanks? These are all simple questions that you can ask Alexa through the Dash Wand, and it’ll give you the answers you’re looking for.
You can even use it to do conversions of different measurements, like cups to gallons, ounces to cups, and more, solidifying its strength as a great kitchen assistant.
It’s Not Hands-Free
Unfortunately, the Dash Wand’s Alexa capabilities have some pretty big limitations. Most importantly: you can’t use it hands-free, like other Alexa products.
It Can’t Play Music
While the Dash Wand has a built -in speaker, the device can’t be used as one, so to speak. This means that you can’t play music, podcasts, or even your flash briefing on the Dash Wand itself.
Luckily, this isn’t really a huge issue, since the speaker is pretty horrible—even worse than the Echo Dot’s speaker. However, it’s still something you should know, since if you were to ask Alexa on the Dash Wand “What can you do?”, she’ll weirdly say that she can play music.
You Can’t Set Timers, Alarms, or Reminders
It doesn’t really make much sense at first, but after knowing that Alexa needs to wake itself up in order to sound off on an alarm or timer, it starts to become logical. Alexa can only be woken up by pressing down the button on the Dash Wand, so alarms, timers, and reminders just wouldn’t work on the device—leave that to the Echo.
The Volume Can’t Be Changed
Oddly enough, you can’t change the volume of the Dash Wand, even by saying something like “Turn the volume down”.
You Can’t Use Calling, Messaging, or Drop In Features
The newest features to come to Alexa are calling, messaging, and Drop In, which allow you to chat with other Alexa users using Echo devices or the Alexa app.
However, the Dash Wand is exempt from any of these new features, which again, makes sense if you keep having to press down the button in order to talk—it’s not that convenient.
Photo Credit: Mike Seyfang/Flickr.
