{"id":44,"date":"2018-06-29T20:43:31","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T20:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xpress\/wp\/?p=44"},"modified":"2019-07-15T13:08:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T13:08:06","slug":"hands-on-with-the-eco-dot-kids-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/2018\/06\/29\/hands-on-with-the-eco-dot-kids-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands On with the Eco Dot Kids Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year<\/span>, Amazon\u00a0introduced<\/a>\u00a0an Echo Dot for kids, with its\u00a0$80 Echo Dot Kids Edition<\/a>\u00a0device, which comes in your choice of a red, blue, or green protective case. The idea is to market a version of\u00a0Amazon\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0existing Dot hardware to families by bundling it with an existing subscription service, and by throwing in a few extra features \u2013 like having Alexa encourage kids to say \u201cplease\u201d when making their demands, for example.<\/p>\n

The device makes sense in a couple of scenarios \u2013 for helicopter parents who want to fully lock down an Echo device before putting it in a kid\u2019s room, and for those who were in the market for a\u00a0FreeTime Unlimited subscription<\/a>\u00a0anyway.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been testing out an Echo Dot Kids Edition, and ran into some challenges which I thought I\u2019d share. This is not a hardware review \u2013 I\u2019m sure you can find those elsewhere.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Music Filtering<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a parent of an 8-year old myself, I\u2019ve realized it\u2019s too difficult to keep her from ever hearing bad words \u2013 especially in music, TV and movies \u2013 so I\u2019ve just explained to her that while she will sometimes hear those words, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s okay to say them. (We have a similar rule about art \u2013 sometimes people will be nude in paintings, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s okay to walk around naked all the time.)<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, I\u2019ve been able to establish a level of shame around adult and inappropriate content to the point that she will confess to me when she hears it on places like YouTube. She will even turn it off without my instruction! I have a good kid, I guess.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But I understand some parents will only want kids to access the sanitized version of songs \u2013 especially if their children are still in the preschool years, or have a tendency to seek out explicit content because they\u2019re little monsters.<\/p>\n

Amazon FreeTime would be a good option in that case, but there are some caveats.<\/p>\n

For starters, if you plan on using the explicit language filter on songs the Echo Dot plays, then you\u2019re stuck with Amazon Music. While the Echo Dot itself can play music from a variety of services, including on-demand offerings from Pandora and Spotify, you can\u2019t use these services when the explicit filter is enabled as\u00a0\u201cmusic services that do not support this filter will be blocked,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Amazon explains.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re a Spotify household, so that means my child\u2019s favorite bedtime music playlist became unavailable when we swapped out her existing Echo Dot for the Kids Edition which had the explicit filter enabled. [Update: following publication, Amazon\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0it\u2019s adding support for Spotify on the Kids Edition, with the option to toggle on or off the filter. Hooray! This should roll out in early July.]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Above: Parent Dashboard? Where? Maybe a link would help?<\/em><\/p>\n

You can disable the explicit filter from the Parent Dashboard, but this option is inconveniently available just via the web. When you dig around in the Alexa app \u2013 which is where\u00a0you\u2019d think<\/em>\u00a0these controls would be found, there\u2019s only a FreeTime On\/Off toggle switch and instructions to\u00a0\u201cGo to the Parent Dashboard to see activity, manage time limits, and add content.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not even hyperlinked!<\/p>\n

You have to just know the dashboard\u2019s URL is\u00a0parents.amazon.com<\/a>. (And not www.parents.amazon.com, by the way. That doesn\u2019t work.)<\/p>\n

Then to actually disable the filter, it\u2019s several more steps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll click the gear icon next to the child\u2019s name, click on \u201cEcho Dot Kids Edition\u201d under \u201cAlexa Settings,\u201d then click \u201cManage Music.\u201d Here, you can turn the switch on or off.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have a subscription music service, the Echo Dot Kids Edition also ships with access to ad-free kid-safe stations on iHeartRadio Family.<\/p>\n

Whitelisting Alexa skills\u2026well, some skills!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another issue with the way FreeTime works with Alexa, is that it\u2019s not clear that nearly everything your child accesses on the device has to be whitelisted.<\/p>\n

This leads to a confusing first-time user workflow.<\/p>\n

Likely, you\u2019ll start by browsing in the Alexa app\u2019s Skills section or the\u00a0Skills Store on the web<\/a>\u00a0to find some appropriate kid-friendly skills for your child to try. For example, I found and enabled a skill called \u201cMath Facts \u2013 Math Practice for Kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when I instructed \u201cAlexa, open Math Facts,\u201d she responded, \u201cI can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t say why.<\/p>\n

As I hadn\u2019t used FreeTime in quite a while, it didn\u2019t occur to me that each Alexa skill would have to be toggled on \u2013 just like the third-party apps, videos, books and audiobooks the child has access to that didn\u2019t ship with FreeTime Unlimited itself.<\/p>\n

Instead, I mistakenly assumed that skills from the \u201cKids\u201d section of the Skills store would just work.<\/p>\n

Again, you\u2019ll have to know to go to parents.amazon.com to toggle things on.<\/p>\n

And again, the process for doing so is too many clicks deep in the user interface to be immediately obvious to newcomers. (You click the gear by the kid\u2019s name, then \u201cAdd Content\u201d \u2013 not \u201cEcho Dot Kids Edition\u201d as you might think! Then, on the \u201cAdd Content\u201d screen, click over to the \u201cAlexa Skills\u201d tab and toggle on the skills you want the child to use.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The issue with this system is that it prevents Echo Dot Kids Edition users \u2013 kids and adults alike \u2013 from discovering and enabling skills by voice. And it adds an unnecessary step by forcing parents to toggle skills on.<\/p>\n

After all, if the parents are the ones signing in when visiting the Skills store in-app or on the web, that means they\u2019re the ones choosing to enable the Skills, too.<\/p>\n

And if they\u2019re enabling a skill from Kids section, one would assume it\u2019s for their kids to use on their device!<\/p>\n

The problem, largely, is that FreeTime isn\u2019t really integrated with the Alexa app. All of this \u2013 from explicit content filters to whitelisting skills to turning on or off calling, messaging and drop-ins \u2013 should be managed from within the Alexa app, not from a separate website.<\/p>\n

Amazon obviously did minimal integration work in order to sell parents a pricier Echo Dot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To make matters more confusing is the fact that Amazon has partnered with some kids skill publishers, similar to how it partnered with other content providers for apps and movies. That means there\u2019s a list of skills that\u00a0don\u2019t appear<\/em>\u00a0in your Parent Dashboard that also\u00a0don\u2019t require whitelisting<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This includes: Disney Stories, Loud House Challenge, No Way That\u2019s True, Funny Fill In, Spongebob Challenge, Weird but True, Name that Animal, This or That, Word world, Ben ten, Classroom thirteen, Batman Adventures, and Climb the Beanstalk.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s confusing that you can immediately use these skills, and not others clearly meant for kids. You end up feeling like you did something wrong when some skills don\u2019t work, before you figure out this whole whitelisting system.<\/p>\n

In addition, it\u2019s not clear that these \u201cPremium\u201d skills come with the FreeTime subscription \u2013 most are not available in the Skills store. If your FreeTime subscription expires, it seems you\u2019ll lose access to these, as well.<\/p>\n

Overall, the FreeTime experience for Echo feels disjointed, and there\u2019s a steep learning curve for new users.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Your FreeTime Unlimited 1-year Subscription<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also frustrating that there\u2019s no information on the FreeTime Parents dashboard about the nature of your subscription.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t confirm that you\u2019re currently subscribed to the paid product known as FreeTime Unlimited. You can\u2019t see when that subscription expires, or when your first free year is up. It\u2019s unclear if you\u2019ll just be charged, or when that will take place. And there\u2019s no toggle to turn the subscription off if you decide you no longer need it.<\/p>\n

Instead, you can only \u201cmodify\u201d which credit card you use with Amazon\u2019s 1-click. Seriously. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Above: want to manage your subscription?<\/em><\/p>\n

Below: hahaha, good luck with that!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I still don\u2019t know where to turn this subscription off \u2013 I guess the option to disable it doesn\u2019t even appear until your free year is up? (Even clicking on \u201cFreeTime Unlimited\u201d from Amazon.com\u2019s subscription management page routes you back to this useless Parent dashboard page for managing your 1-Click settings.)<\/p>\n

So, ask me in a year, maybe?<\/p>\n

That said, if you are in the market for both a\u00a0FreeTime Unlimited subscription<\/a>\u00a0and an Echo Dot, you may as well buy the Kids Edition.<\/p>\n

FreeTime Unlimited works on Fire tablets, Android devices, Kindle, and\u00a0as of this month, iOS devices<\/a>, providing access to over 15,000 kid-safe apps, games, videos, books and educational content. On Amazon devices, parents can also set screen time limits and educational goals.<\/p>\n

The service by itself is $2.99 per month for Prime members (for one profile) or $4.99 per month for non-members. It\u2019s more if you buy the Family subscription. Meanwhile, the\u00a0regular 2nd gen Echo Dot<\/a>\u00a0is currently $49.99. So you\u2019re basically looking at $50 + $36\/year for FreeTime Unlimited if you bought these things separately as a Prime member.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Echo Dot Kids Edition<\/a>\u00a0comes with one year of FreeTime Unlimited and is $79.99. So you\u2019re saving a tiny bit there. Plus, you can always turn FreeTime off on the device, if you\u2019d rather just use the kids Echo Dot as a regular Echo Dot \u2013 while still getting a free year of FreeTime for another device, like the kid\u2019s iPad.<\/p>\n

Still, watch out because Echo Dot often goes on sale \u2013 and probably will be on sale again for Prime Day this summer. Depending on the price cut it gets, it may not be worth it to buy the bundle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Other Perks<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are other perks that Amazon tries to use to sell the Echo Dot Kids Edition to families, but the most notable is \u201cMagic Word.\u201d<\/p>\n

This feature turns on when FreeTime is enabled, and thanks kids for saying \u201cplease\u201d when they speak to Alexa. Yes, that seems like a small thing but it was\u00a0something that a lot of parents were upset about<\/a>. They thought kids\u00a0were learning bad manners<\/a>\u00a0by barking commands at Alexa.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know about that. My kid seems to understand that we say \u201cplease\u201d and \u201cthank you\u201d to people, but Alexa doesn\u2019t get her feelings hurt by being told to \u201cplay Taylor Swift.\u201d But to each their own!<\/p>\n

This feature will thrill some parents, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n

Parents can also use FreeTime to pause the device or configure a bedtime so kids don\u2019t stay up talking to Alexa, but honestly,\u00a0LET \u2018EM.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far better than when they stall bedtime by badgering you for that extra glass of water, one more blanket, turn on that light, now crack the door\u2026a little more\u2026a little less\u2026Honestly, escaping the kid\u2019s room at bedtime is an art form.<\/p>\n

If Alexa can keep them busy and less afraid of the dark, I\u2019m calling it a win.<\/p>\n

FreeTime with the Echo Dot Kids Edition also lets you set up \u201cCharacter Alarms\u201d \u2013 meaning, kids can configure Alexa to wake them up with an alarm click featuring characters from brands like Disney and Nickelodeon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0hilarious<\/em>\u00a0to me.<\/p>\n

Because if you have a kid in the preschool to tween age range who\u00a0actually requires an alarm clock to wake up in the morning<\/em>\u00a0instead of getting up at the crack of dawn (or maybe one who has gone through years of training so they DON\u2019T ALSO WAKE YOU UP AT THE CRACK OF DAWN OH MY GOD) \u2013 then, I guess, um, enjoy character alarms?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, let me stop laughing\u2026.Hold on.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure somebody needs this.<\/p>\n

Sorry for laughing. But please explain how you\u2019ve taught your children to sleep in? Do they go to bed at a decent hour too? No seriously, email me. I have no idea.<\/p>\n

The Echo Dot Kids Edition can also work as a household intercom, but so do\u00a0regular Echo devices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can turn off voice purchasing on the Kids Edition, but\u00a0you can do that on regular devices, too<\/a>\u00a0(despite what Amazon\u2019s comparison\u00a0chart<\/a>says.)<\/p>\n

Plus, kids can now control smart home devices with the Echo Dot Kids Edition \u2013 a feature that shamefully wasn\u2019t available at launch, but is now.<\/p>\n

And that cute protective case? Well, a regular Echo Dot is actually pretty sturdy. We\u2019ve dropped ours probably a dozen times from dresser to floor (uncarpeted!) with no issues.<\/p>\n

I like how Amazon tries to sell the case, though:<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nI guess if your kid plans to do CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENTS by the Echo Dot, you may need this.<\/p>\n

In reality, the case is just cute \u2013 and can help the Echo better match the kid\u2019s room.<\/p>\n

The Echo Kids Edition, overall, is not a must-have device. You\u2019ll have more flexibility with a regular Echo and a little old-school parenting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, Amazon\u00a0introduced\u00a0an Echo Dot for kids, with its\u00a0$80 Echo Dot Kids Edition\u00a0device, which comes in your choice of a red, blue, or green protective case. The idea is to market a version of\u00a0Amazon\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0existing Dot hardware to families by bundling it with an existing subscription service, and by throwing in a few extra features … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.themehouse.com\/xlink\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}