Podcasts Technology Voice in Canada Podcast The Echo Ring Light Rainbow of Colours

The Echo Ring Light Rainbow of Colours

Published: Sept. 17, 2019, 7 a.m.

In this episode, Teri will talk about the ring light on Echo devices, why it’s there, and what type of information we can get from it. 

 

Enjoy!

The previous episode that Teri did on the interesting features that recently came to Canada got some very great feedback. Alexa in Canada listeners were very appreciative of being made aware of the features, tips and tricks. That prompted Teri to enlighten Alexa users about the ring light.

What is the Ring Light?

  • It’s a light that is formed like a ring which sits on top of the cylindrical shaped Amazon Echo devices.
  • On the Echo Spot, there is a round light around the display. On the other visual display Echo devices, like the Echo Show and Echo Show 5, there is a band of light along the bottom, not a ring light.

The Importance of the Ring Light

  • Amazon put a lot of thought into developing the ring light because if a user is looking at their device, it is a way for them to get some feedback about what’s going on, and it also has some security implications.
  • One of the things that people are concerned about is when the device is listening to them. By glancing at the light that is displaying on top of the device, a user gets a hint as to what is going on with the device at any particular moment in time.

Different Colors of Lights

  • Solid Blue Light/Dark Blue Light: One might see a spinning Cyan within this color. This is the color that comes up when the device is starting up.
  • When one doesn’t see any color at all, it means that it is working (assuming it’s plugged in and everything has been set up properly) and Alexa is just waiting to hear the wake up so that she can receive a command.
  • Once a user wakes Alexa up, they see a solid darker blue color with a small area of Cyan pointing in the direction of where the sound is coming from. Alexa has the ability to figure out in space where a person is speaking from, which has a lot of implications, including that when you have multiple devices, that is how Alexa knows which device should be responding to a user.
  • Once a user has given their command, they see a solid blue and Cyan as Alexa responds.
  • Other colors that provide useful information include an orange spinning light which spins clockwise to indicate that the device is connecting to the WiFi network.
  • When there is a solid red light, it means that the user has muted the device, and so Alexa is not listening.
  • A pulsing yellow light means that Alexa has a message or a notification for the user, in which case, the user will need to say, “Alexa, play my messages” or “Alexa, what are my notifications?”
  • People can be on a phone call or drop in on other users using their devices, and this is where a pulsing green light comes up as a sign that there is an incoming call or someone is dropping in on the device.
  • A green light spinning counter clockwise means that the user is on an active call or drop in.
  • A white light indicates how high or low the volume is. When a user adjusts the volume level, they should see the ring of white light get bigger or smaller corresponding with the percentage of volume.
  • A spinning white light can also indicate that Alexa Guard is on. Alexa Guard is a way for Alexa to listen to sounds such as glass breaking when you are away. This feature is currently only in the US.
  • The purple light tells us a couple of things. A pulsing purple (or violet light) is an indication that an error occurred during your WiFi set up. A single flash of purple light after an interaction with Alexa means that “Do not Disturb” is turned on.

 List of resources mentioned in this episode:

Other useful resources:


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