Move Over Lexi – Roger Puts Amazon Alexa in Your iPhone for Free
If you love the Amazon Echo and its virtual assistant Alexa and want to find a way to take it with you on the go, these new iPhone aps are for you.
Over the past week, two different iPhone apps have crossed my desk which add Alexa to the iPhone. One app, Lexi, costs $5 in iTunes, while the other app, Roger, is free (and is available for both Android and iOS).
Lexi supports a wide range of the Echo’s functionalities like remotely controlling your smart home devices and placing orders as well as the ability to install and turn skills off from the Alexa App. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with Alexa’s music or ebook services, so you’ll still need to get an Echo or other official hardware if you want to stream your audiobooks or ebooks.
But even with that limitation, it still looks nifty in this promo.
That’s great, but is it worth $5?
There’s a competing app called Roger which costs nothing and offers what could be even more functionality.
Originally conceived as a simplistic walkie-talkie-styled app, Roger recently relaunched as a virtual assistant platform which integrates with Slack, Dropbox, Alexa, voicemail, and more. (Roger even works with IFTTT, just like Alexa).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc1vDW7ZZNM
The Roger app has been out for a while now and has been in beta for a couple months, so this is old news for some. But that’s a good thing because it means there are enough Roger users who have tried Lexi and can tell us how they compare.
I dislike having my gadgets talk to me (they interrupt the flow of my three-sided arguments with myself) so I won’t try either Roger or Lexi. But I do want to know what you think.
What do you think of the apps?
Comments
tubemonkey May 12, 2016 um 7:43 pm
I downloaded Roger to my Android phone to try out Alexa. Guess what? She won’t play any music. I kept getting responses like this:
Prime Music is not supported on this device.
Spotify is not supported on this device.
Pandora is not supported on this device.
Without music support, this app is useless to me. I uninstalled it.
Muratcan Simsek May 13, 2016 um 8:35 am
I never found one that works for me. Downsides of having a weird Turkish accent. For those who don’t know, accent of Shae from Game of Thrones.
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