Review: Eufy Genie – A Great Alternative to Amazon Echo Dot

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If you are looking to try out Alexa and do not want to spend the money on an Alexa Dot (gen 2 or gen 3) or want to try a non Amazon brand you need to take a look at the Eufy Genie. Its a voice-controlled smart speaker with Amazon’s intelligent Alexa voice assistant. It does almost everything Alex Dot does and is usually cheaper than the Alexa Dot (2nd Gen) and is cheaper than the Alexa (3rd Gen).

Eufy Genie – Features and Specs

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There’s a lot of good information about the Eufy Genie on the Amazon sales page. Below is the copied text of the important facts. For more information, check out the sales page.

• eufy Genie is a voice-controlled smart speaker with Amazon’s intelligent Alexa voice assistant. Just say the wake word “Alexa” and Genie plays music, controls your smart home devices, answers your questions, sets calendars, reports the weather and news and more.(2.4GHz Wi-Fi Network Support Only, No Bluetooth) If you have more than one Eufy Genie or Echo in your home, Spatial Perception Technology intelligently selects the Eufy Genie or Echo closest to you to answer your request.
• Built with a 2W speaker that delivers dynamic audio and room-filling sound, so you can truly enjoy your favorite playlists from streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Pandora and iHeartRadio. Call or message almost anyone hands-free with your Eufy Genie and instantly connect to other Alexa-enabled devices in your home using just your voice.
• Enables a true voice-controlled smart home experience. Use Genie to control all Alexa-compatible Eufy smart products, such as RoboVac 11c and Lumos LED Smart Bulbs, in addition to other brands that work with Alexa.
• Easy setup with the free EufyHome app. Use the Amazon Alexa app to access 10000+ skills and services, such as Sirius XM, Domino’s Pizza, Uber, ESPN, NPR News, and much more. Plus, Genie is always getting smarter. Future updates include: Alexa messaging and calling. (EufyHome requires a smartphone or tablet running iOS 8.0 (and above) or Android 4.3 (and above) to operate.)
• What You Get: eufy Genie, AC power adapter (5ft/1.5m), AUX cable (5ft/1.5m), user manual, safety instruction card, our worry-free 12-month warranty and lifetime technical support.

• Eufy Genie – The Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa
• From eufy, the brand that lights up your life – Delightful solutions that make your house a home. Smart technology and innovative design that make your life easier. Created by the same team as Anker—renowned for exceptional quality and innovation
• The Smart Home Core – Once connected to your home’s 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network (5GHz networks not supported), voice interaction with your home opens up. Control all your Alexa-compatible smart devices, find out if you should carry an umbrella today, stream your favorite playlists and more just by asking Genie.
• An Exceptional Listener – Genie uses an AudioSmart far-field voice processor. The AudioSmart voice processor detects sound in 360°, isolates and removes noise, then utilizes echo cancellation to hear your voice during music playback or voice prompts.
• Superior Sound – An audio driver using HiFi-grade material delivers strengthened sound with minimal distortion and works with the advanced sound processor to deliver dynamic audio in crystal-clear sound.
• Always Improving – Genie is ready out-of-the-box to help you around the house, but new features are added all the time via the Alexa app. Just download the upgrades to enjoy the new updates.
• Worry-Free Warranty – At eufy, we believe in our products. That’s why we back them all with a 12-month warranty and provide friendly, easy-to-reach support.

Eufy Genie – The Review

Back in November 2018 I was one of the winners of a community contest over at  the Anker Forums. This contest allowed me to pick out three things from any of their product lines for free! One of the products I’ve been wanting for some time was the Eufy Genie and I just had to add it to the list of goodies I was to receive from Anker.

Unboxing

The Eufy Genie came in a nice box with pictures and specs of the device. The device upon opening was nicely packed for display but still secured so it wouldn’t be damaged.

After taking everything out and looking over everything, I found the Efuy Genie to be built well. If size is an issue, it is slightly larger than the Google Home Mini. Its about the same diameter the Home Mini and slightly taller. On first impression, It doesn’t look as nice a Google Home Mini or Alexa Dot 3rd Gen. I think it looks better than the Alexa Dot 2nd Gen in my opinion.

The Build Quality

The Genie is comes in black plastic with a matte rubber top and a non slip rubber bottom. The top has all the controls. There’s A blue LED ring that only lights up when speaking with Alexia. The ring also changes to a green blue color when in operation but turns off after a second or two. After its finishing talking with you, the Eufy logo lights up with White LEDs for a few seconds. The volume controls are plus and negative signs on the tip. When you press either one, the ring will turn for a second or two. You can also mute the device. The button is on top of the device as well. If you press the button a red LED light turns on until you press the button again. On the side of the device, you will find a Micro-USB port for power. Right next to that port is an AUX port.

The Set Up

The setup is pretty easy. Make sure to have the Alexa App installed and the Eufy Home app installed. Download the app, turn on the Genie, look for the device in the Eufy App and follow the instructions. To teach it commands, you use the Amazon Alexa app.

The Test

As to testing, I ran the device through asking a variety questions, turning smart devices on and off, giving me updates on weather, checking my calendar, playing music, and making phone calls.

In addition the above tests, I also tested distance. If I raise my voice form another room, the Genie will hear me and do what I ask. If I yell from 2 rooms over it can hear. In the same room it works even better. Just keep in mind, you need to speak clearly to it. If you mumble or stumble over your words, it gets confused. But this happens on smart voice assistant devices.

Every once in a while, it picks up your conversation and answers a question it thinks you asked. Its weird, because we never said Alexa or a word that sounds like it.

As to the commands, it works great. It answers questions about almost anything it can find on the internet. Its also a learning device. So over time it learns from you and from programming. There are always new skills that you can teach it.

As to playing music, I used Spotify. It can’t find my playlist, but it will play a certain artist or a radio station. Just the other day I was able to get Alexa to find one of my playlists!

Asking questions such as today’s schedule, tomorrow’s schedule, what’s my travel to work looks like today, and the weather works great. But I found the internet speed also effects how fast your answers are answered. I found the internet speed wasn’t really issue with the Google Home Mini.

I wasn’t impressed with the music quality. I almost never use music on the device. But it does have an AUX port so you can add it to your home theater or portable speaker system. Just remember if the power is off on the speaker, you won’t have sound .

Making calls is interesting. You can tell Alexa to call someone from your contacts, but the number comes up unlisted or doesn’t show the right number. This is according to one person I called from the Genie. Also, if you make the call, its like using it as a speaker phone. It works great. If you want to switch to your phone, you can’t. The phone doesn’t even show that you are making the call.

Final Thoughts

After using this device for several months, I find it to work well. I haven’t had the chance to compare the Amazon Echo Dots to the Eufy Genie and would love to. At some point I will pick one up. But the Genie is a lot cheaper than the Echo Dots and works just as well (from what other reviewers have said) and can do most of the things the Echo Dots can do.

If you are looking to save a little a money and get your hands on an Alexa Device then this is the device for you. I highly recommend the Eufy Genie. It isn’t my favorite design but it works for our needs and with the AUX I can turn any speaker into a voice enabled smart speaker and control internet radio with my voice.