The Amazon Tap, the portable speaker of the Alexa lineup, has now gotten an update which enables you to use Hands-Free Mode. What this means is that you can simply say “Alexa” followed by your query, like you can with the Echo and Echo Dot. Prior to this update, you would need to go ahead and press the microphone button on your Amazon Tap to talk with Alexa, and the reason for this was the fact that the Tap is a portable speaker, so it’s not plugged in all the time, and by having the speaker listening for that wake word all the time, it would use more of the battery. Obviously enough customers wanted the feature, that Amazon added it to the Tap. The retailer does note that with Hands-Free Mode enabled, users will see around 8 hours of battery life. So it’s still a good idea to keep it plugged in, especially if it’s sitting on your desk all day long.
You’ll need to enable Hands-Free Mode on the Amazon Tap, which can be done by heading into your Alexa app and choosing your Amazon Tap. From there you can just flip on the toggle for the feature. After that, you’re all set to start asking Alexa all kinds of questions. Or even tell Alexa to turn on your lights, or order you an Uber. It makes the Tap a whole lot more useful, and considering it’s priced between the Echo Dot and the Echo, it definitely makes it an even better option for those that want a pretty decent speaker, but also want Alexa.
Those that may not know what Alexa is, it’s basically Amazon’s own personal assistant, which began in the Echo. Since then it has been put into all kinds of other devices, including cars, refrigerators and much more. With Alexa, you can ask it questions, she can also read off the latest headlines, and even order you pizza. There are thousands of skills available for Alexa, and many more being added almost everyday. So there’s loads of things that Alexa can do, and currently Amazon is ahead of Google on this front.
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