The Amazon Echo continues down the path of being one of the must-have devices for home use. With the latest update, the device can now tap into Yelp and give users the names of the best restaurant for fish or the top local supermarket.
Yelp recommendation is a huge addition to Echo, and in our mind, could make the device more of an asset in the home than it was before. Just ask Echo where to find the best fish restaurant and the results should pop up on the Alexa app situated on your smartphone or tablet.
"You can now ask Echo for info on local businesses and restaurants and Alexa will give you the details-straight from Yelp. To get started, go to Settings in the Alexa App, select your device, and add your address," according to Amazon.
For the Yelp feature to work, Amazon recommends adding your local address in the Echo app. According to Amazon, more local Yelp search results are coming soon, but until then, users can take advantage of using the feature to find the best places to purchase Halloween costumes and candy.
We should point out that the search results are delivered to the user via Alexa.
Here are some tips to get the most out of Yelp via the Alexa app for the Amazon Echo:
If you want to search for restaurants or businesses nearby, we recommend saying, "What [businesses/restaurants] are nearby?" Should you require the phone number of nearby restaurants and business, Amazon recommends using the following phrase, "Find the phone number for a nearby [business/restaurant]."
To us it seems quite intuitive, but it will all boil down to how well the Echo can recognize what users have to say and deliver the correct results. We know that voice recognition is not yet perfect, especially for those with a strong accent. However, if the Echo can pull it off for most people, then Amazon would be well on its way to becoming the first company to have a voice recognition software that works wonderfully.
