Hacker News Reader

Comment by nailer | Hacker News Reader

Their consumer electronics are getting more popular, which is making people aware of Amazon quality. Right now there's a Fire TV in front of me:

- If you can get something for free because it's included in Prime, it still offers the ability to spend money on it, right beside the 'watch now for free'. If you're not paying attention, you can pay for something you already own.

- Its killer feature is voice recognition. Say 'game of thrones' and it will play Game of Thrones. It also has apps. The killer feature doesn't actually work in apps though: if you say 'game of thrones' in Netflix, it kicks you out of the app and sends you back to the home screen.

There was a post a little while ago about people wrecking their lives while working at Amazon. I could understand, but not support, someone doing that at say Apple or Tesla. But Amazon?

View on HN

My worst experience with Amazon yet is they've locked the Amazon video Android app from every Android TV device except a few select smart TV vendors and their own Fire TV devices. The result is I can't watch content I paid them for (and would continue paying for) on a device I bought through Amazon (Shield TV). They're treating lackluster Fire devices, which were supposed to be loss leaders to get you into their ecosystem, into privileged, Apple-tier garden walls. Since they lack the Apple polish and simplicity, the result is making customers like me, who are already in the garden, want to leave.

Between this, inscrutable device compatibility of Kindle content, and 2-day delivery becoming unreliable, I'm cancelling Prime after a decade because the value is gone.

BTW, Netflix lacks voice search in all of its apps. Normal Android TV is at least reasonable enough to just bring up the Netflix text search if you try to voice search, rather than kicking you out.

I agree with all of your points except for 2-day delivery becoming unreliable. I don't know where you live but they are still great, if not constantly improving in the Bay Area. Lately whenever I choose 2-day delivery, I end up getting it the next day.

Seattle (eastside) here. I frequently order things with "two day shipping" and it tells me right up front that "two day" shipping will have it here in > 2 days.

I'm curious if there isn't a misunderstanding here. Are you certain that the actual shipping time is going over what you paid for, or is it just the total time since order is greater than the selected shipping speed?

I suspect that the delay you see is in the time it takes their warehouse not only to package your goods, but to also privately deliver it through their network to the most optimal ship point. You also have to factor in whether the carrier they've chosen supports delivery on the days you expect the item to ship.

Amazon should really make the difference between processing and shipping clearer, and perhaps factor it into the delivery estimates when you purchase. I've also always wanted them to let you chose carriers if you pay for a certain delivery speed instead of picking one themselves. I always have to cross my fingers that I don't get USPS for that important item.

Yeah, shipping is still one of their strengths. Never have issues with it, myself.

I find it interesting that a "killer feature" is talking to my TV. I find the Apple remote quite easy to use within Netflix for scrolling etc. and don't really have a problem using my iPad as a remote if I want to type things.

Perhaps I am just old but voice recognition is a great feature, but not one that would "kill" the competition or make me chuck my AppleTV 3rd. gen in the bin to rush out and buy an Amazon device. I would therefore not label it "killer".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com