Check your e-mail! Your chance to get an Echo Auto may be running out soon
Big thanks to long time reader and commenter Edward Boyhan who let me know in a private message (Edward has given me permission to share who told me) that a limited time offer to get an
Echo Auto (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
had been e-mailed.
Edward had missed that e-mail…as had I!
I got acknowledgement that I had requested one…back on September 20th of last year…close to ten months ago. I hadn’t heard anything since, although I’ve definitely been thinking about it. I last wrote a piece on it in March, when Amazon released a set up video, making me think release was imminent:
When Edward alerted me, I searched my e-mail for “Echo Auto”. I’ve been awash in Amazon e-mails, in part because of
Amazon Prime Day (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
which is July 15th and 16th….just days away. I simply hadn’t noticed this one.
The e-mail informing me I could now get one came July 8th…and it expired seven days after that, according to the text (the site suggested I had more time, but still limited).
This is still pre-general release…I agreed to receive an e-mail asking for feedback as part of that group.
I was only allowed to buy one…but I could make another request, which I have done. My Significant Other is not really techie, and will benefit more from having Echo Auto in the car than I will. I do really want one for each of our two cars, though, so I have requested another invitation.
What is it, and why would a non-techie get more use out of it than a techie?
They are really touting its ability to hear you…over air conditioning, road noise, and more. I use Alexa in my car a lot already, through my phone. My main use is to listen to text-to-speech…to have it read Kindle books to me. I jokingly say that driving is no longer wasted non-reading time. I can continue to do that…but it means I have to tap a button on my phone (it’s legal in California, where I live, to do a “one-touch” operation on your phone while driving, as I understand it). My SO won’t have to do that…they’ll just speak.
It’s going to be able to navigate, access TuneIn, play Prime Music, run Amazon Skills (I have four free skills of my own available as part of the Flash Briefing: Bufo’s Alexa Skills), make phone calls, and more.
I’m really excited about this, and I do think it will make a difference in our lives. I’ll let you know how it is.
The pre-release price? $24.99 (it will roughly double that).
I also added an airvent mount for $14.99.
I ordered it late yesterday…it’s supposed to arrive today at our Amazon Locker!
Bottom line: if you already requested an Echo Auto (maybe last year), make sure you haven’t missed the e-mail. If you didn’t request one, you can do that now, but I don’t know how soon you might get it.
Thanks again, Edward!
Join thousands of readers and try the free ILMK magazine at Flipboard!
All aboard The Measured Circle’s Geek Time Trip at The History Project!
Bufo’s Alexa Skills
* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. 
Shop ’til you help!
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
I Love My Kindle 