Amazon Echo Dot Heuristic and Usability Evaluation
By: Nick Sananikone and Thai Chu
Heuristic Evaluation:
Amazon’s Echo is one of the most popular smart devices on the planet. With more than 100 million devices sold and dominating nearly 70% of U.S smart speaker users, Amazon’s Echo beat rivals like Google and Apple to hold the top spot in the smart speaker market. However, are Echo devices especially Echo Dot good and better than Google’s Home or Apple’s Homepod? Let’s take a look at the device through a heuristic viewpoint.
Appropriate Functionality
The technology should meet usability, mobility, visibility, and durability needs according to the settings in which it might be used. The technology should function effectively in the user’s environment by being easy to use and integrate into one’s daily life and routine.
Smart speakers are created to feel like personal assistants in our houses. So, it is understandable that the Echo Dot is designed to mimic a person, it has a voice that sounds and answers like a human being. Moreover, the Echo Dot speaks the user’s language and conveys information in a familiar and easy to understand format. Having users use system-oriented terms will make Echo Dot feel too machinery and goes against its core design. The Echo Dot is usually placed in a family house environment. It has a small form factor and not too flashy designed so that it can be installed and fit anywhere in the user’s home.
Not Irritating or Embarrassing
The technology should not irritate or embarrass the user, even after using the product repeatedly and regularly over a long period of time
Thanks to its minimalistic design, the Echo Dot does not irritate or embarrass the user in terms of its appearance. The Echo Dot small form factor fits right in the house environment and can make users forget its presence. Regarding its functions, the Echo Dot requires users to issue a wake word before any feedback is given. This prevents the Echo Dot from suddenly performs random actions and intrudes on the user’s daily life. Moreover, users have options to change the wake word as well as the voice of Echo Dot if they find the default ones irritating.
Protect Users’ Privacy
The system allows users to keep personal information private. Users can control what, when, to whom, how, and how much information is made public. Any public information is kept abstract.
Privacy is one of the weaknesses of Amazon’s Echo Dot. Due to the limit of current technology, the way Echo Dot functions may affect the privacy of users. Echo Dot uses cloud computing to process user’s commands instead of processing them locally. This makes the Echo Dot always “listen” to the surrounding and may send conversations or commands to Amazon’s server without the user’s consent or knowledge. Amazon has revised Echo Dot privacy-related features throughout the years. The Echo Dot now allows users to delete voice recordings as well as some private information. The Echo Dot also has a physical mute button that will immediately mute the microphone when pressed. Even though these changes are good for users, they are barely enough. In default, Echo Dot will collect and use users’ recordings to improve its services and develop new features. The Echo Dot will also use users’ messages to improve transcription accuracy. These features can be disabled only in the Echo Dot app and not turned off by default.
Use of Positive Motivation Strategies
The technology recognizes when target behaviors have been performed or goals have been met and use positive reinforcement strategies to promote continued progress.
Echo Dot lacks motivation strategies to promote continued progress. The device is designed to respond to short commands and will enter sleep mode when a command is completed. The Echo Dot will sometimes ask users if they want to hear more about certain information, but those moments rarely happen. Moreover, there is an option that when enabled, users can ask follow-up questions without repeating the wake word. This feature somewhat motivates users to continue using the Echo Dot.
Usable and Aesthetically Appealing Design
The visual design of the technology is attractive and appealing and adheres to basic usability standards.
The aesthetic design of the Echo Dot focuses on simplicity. It is designed in a wide range of calm colors; gray, charcoal, plum, and sandstone. Echo Dot has a cloth-covered finish and rounded edges which make it look very appealing in any environment. The device itself is small and easy to pick up form factors. Users can easily carry the device and place it almost anywhere in the house. The Echo Dot also has physical buttons on top of it, so that users can use them if speech commands don’t work.
Accuracy of Information
The technology should not inaccurately record or misrepresent the user’s behavior.
Another weakness of Echo Dot is how often it’s inaccurately recorded or misrepresented the user’s behavior. Even though the Echo Dot included 4 microphone array to recognize users’ voices, the range of these microphones is limited. Users will need to be within range and speak in a clear voice in order for the Echo Dot to record users’ commands. Oftentimes, the Echo Dot will ask users if it recorded the correct command and whether the users want to continue with the command or not. However, that scenario rarely happens, and the device will continue to misrepresent the user’s command.
Appropriate Time and Place
Information, feedback, and assistance are provided at an opportune time and place
There is really not much to talk about the Echo Dot regarding this principle. Since the Echo Dot only responds, assist whenever the users activate it. Therefore, the device will always assist the users at the appropriate time and place.
Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable time.
The visibility of the status is a very important concept that every system should be applied. Showing the current state will let users understand more about the system and allow them to make correct decisions to reach their goals. Amazon’s Echo Dot does include functionalities that show the current status and satisfy the Visibility of system status principle. The device has a light ring that changes colors depending on the current state of it. Moreover, Echo Dot can also change the motion of the ring as well as a combination of colors to further communicate its status to users. There are more than 10 ring colors and motions that Echo Dot will display depending on the current state. Furthermore, the device incorporates sound feedback that can also let users understand what’s going on. Various sound prompts will be played combined with ring colors and motions. I think the Echo Dot meets the requirement of displaying the system status.
Customizability
Users should be able to customize aspects of the technology
Echo Dot does include a lot of customizable features. Users can create and customize Routines, a feature that lets Echo Dot automatically perform actions or a series of actions. Users can also change new sources, music services, and a lot more.
After looking at the Echo Dot through a heuristic viewpoint, there is a list of strengths and weaknesses that the device can improve upon. There should be more options in the Privacy aspect of the Echo Dot. Collecting user’s data for improvement as well as messages for transcription accuracy should not be turned on as default. But my wish for the future Echo Dot is that everything should be processed on the device itself. Specifically, Amazon should include some kind of customized AI chip on the Echo Dot so that it will be able to process data locally. This solution could eliminate the privacy problem we all currently face. By having the data stored and processed offline, users won’t have to worry about companies listening or analyzing their data. The Echo Dot won’t need to send any information to a server in order to understand commands. Moreover, locally processed information will reduce the feedback time of the device. The Echo Dot no longer needs to send and receive data from the server; delays and latency are out of the picture. Another improvement is that the device should use a better or include more microphones to improve user speech recognition.
Survey/Usability Evaluation:
The following interview was conducted with a Temple University female student who is currently studying accounting. Not really a tech-savvy person, but is aware of such tech. She lives on-campus and leaves the Echo Dot at her family’s place in the suburbs.
Interviewer: Quick question, do you use Amazon Echo/Echo Dot?
E: I have one and have used it a few times, but with being away at college and coming back here, I have not been using mine in recent months or even plugged it in. Why?
Interviewer: Thank you. Well, I am doing a survey for one of my classes. And I need to talk about people’s experience with [Amazon Echo] to complete a certain task.
E: Ahhh, I got you.
Interviewer: Mind tracing back to memory lane and explain your experience with it? You can give me as much detail and whatnot as possible…
E: I enjoy using it. I have an Echo Dot that I have in my room. I used it for alarms in the morning, playing music, and saying up-to-date with the weather and the news. My family has the normal-sized Amazon Echo and we use it to play music around the house. I don’t use it often due to the reports and rumors that Amazon listens in on conversations. I realized that going away to college, I did not want the Echo to be plugged in and potentially listening to my family’s conversations and tracking when I am home or not, as that seems like a liability. So when I go away to my campus, I unplug it and have it sitting in my room…
Interviewer: Good info thanks…
The next interviewee is a Drexel University CCI CST student and a father of 3. He uses the Echo Show to go along with the Echo Dot. He is very ambitious about his work and technology.
Interviewer: Do you use Amazon Echo at all?
C: Yeah! Why? What is up?
Interviewer: I’m doing a survey for a class of mine, and I just want to know your experience using it to complete a task.
C: When I use it, it does what it is supposed to; it works!
Interviewer: What are some commands do you ask Alexa?
C: When I use my Amazon Echo, I like that when I want my lights to go off or on, I am able to say a few simple words. When I want it to play my music playlists and videos for my kids, it does exactly that…
Interviewer: Now when you mentioned video for your kids, you mean like playing it on a tablet, but the Echo plays the audio?
C: I use the “Echo Show” also. But for the Echo itself, it is mainly used because it works as a remote and a music system.
Interviewer: Perfect! Thank you so much!
This interviewee is a male Drexel University CCI sophomore student and a fellow classmate in INFO 150.
Interviewer: Hi, do you use Amazon Echo?
S: Yeah
Interviewer: Can you tell me about your experience while using it? What do you use it for?
S: We use it mainly to check the weather, ask questions like would ask Siri, and play music.
Interviewer: Thanks!!
S: Sure.
This last interviewee is another male Drexel University CCI student. He loves technology, but isn’t up-to-date with it, nor really cares about it much. He received the Echo Dot as a Christmas gift.
Interviewer: Hey, random question, do you use Amazon Echo?
N: Yeah I do. I don’t use it as much though.
Interviewer: When you do use it, what was your experience with it?
N: When I use the Echo Dot, I normally use it to know what the weather is going to be like for the day and to play music. Most of the time, I use it to play music. I usually have music playing from a pre-made shuffled playlist or from a local radio station. I don’t really know any other commands or things you can do with Alexa. I can see how other people with a lot more smart devices and stuff would use it, but I do not have that much.
Interviewer: Okay cool. Thanks for the information!
N: Yeah, sure thing, anytime.
