How to Place a Call using the Amazon Echo

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Over the past 2 weeks, Amazon has been busy updating its Amazon Echo product lineup to give it the ability for it to make (free) calls to anyone else around the world from an Android or iOS device.

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How? Here is a step-by-step tutorial on what to do:

Download the Alexa app for your smart phone for Android or iOS.
Launch the app as you do with any other.
Tap the Chat icon at the bottom.
Tap the icon in the upper-right corner (that looks like the outline of a person).
This will show you a list of your contacts that have the updated app and can receive calls from Alexa.
To make a call, Tap a Contact’s Name.

Now that the app has been updated, on your phone, and has access to your contacts, you can also make a call directly from the Alexa device, like this:

“Alexa, call mom.”

That’s all there is too it!

When you place a call, it’ll ring on another user’s phone through the Alexa app, or on every Echo connected to their account. If you want, you can send and receive messages using the Alexa app from the same page you’d place a call. Alexa will either play your recorded voice or translate your text and speak out your message on the other end.

There are a couple of hiccups Amazon needs to iron out. The call quality is good but not great — voices sounded a bit hollow on my Amazon Echo Dot. Also, the person at the end of the line can hear you say “Alexa hang up,” which is sort of awkward. Also, you need to ask your friends to update their apps in order for this to work. That isn’t always easy.

Now you know 🙂