Skills – Trusted Smart Homes

I guess you are already as tired as I am of having to always say Alexa every time you want to turn on the lights, control the thermostat or place an order and being replied with the same accent or language every time. It could be tiring but here is a step-by-step guide on how to change Alexa Name and voice for better enjoyment of your Smart Home. Alexa, Amazon's voice assistant, has a lot of cool features that make it look more human than robot or computer. You can change the voice to any accent or language of your choice and you can also change the name that you call her with. In this post, I will be giving you a step-by-step guide on how to change the name and voice or language of your Alexa for better enjoyment of your Smart Home. Towards, the end I'll be giving you a productivity tip that Alexa can help you with. So if you want to explore this feature, Here's how to Change Alexa Name and Voice in 10 Seconds How to Change Alexa Name Before giving you the steps I have to point out that you can't just choose any name like 'Bob' or 'Harry' or 'Christabel' to call your voice assistant with instead of Alexa. Instead, you can only change 'Alexa' to 'Amazon', 'Echo' or 'Computer' if you're not convenient with saying Alexa all the time. I changed mine to 'Echo' because it reminds me to always do my outdoor workout and keep fit as often as I say it(The Echo you get when you go hiking). So you should choose whatever suits you best. It can be easily changed by following these steps: Pick up the device that use to control Alexa's settings(that is either your smartphone or tablet).Open the Alexa app.Click on the Hamburger menu(the three horizontal lines) in the top left corner.Click on Settings.Select the device for which you'll like to change Alexa's name.Click on Wake Word.Select either Amazon, Echo or Computer as the new name from the drop-down menu.Hit OK. After you've done that, you'll notice that Alexa's colour will turn orange for a brief moment which means that the change of the name was successful. When it's done, it starts responding to the new name. If you also want to change the voice, then... How to Change Alexa Voice or Accent Before doing this, it's important to note that Alexa only has a female voice. I personally would have loved a Male voice assistant but the feature isn't out yet (I'm hoping that Amazon includes it in one of their future updates). Nevertheless, you can still change the accent, tones, intonation or the language to make it more convenient for you. For example, if you want her to speak in an Australian or British accent based on your personal preference or to match your family's speech pattern you can easily get that done. But I must warn you that Changing Alexa's voice makes it harder for Alexa to understand you if you aren't speaking in that accent. So if you want to do the switch, let's get to work: Open the Alexa app on the device used to control your Alexa gadgets.Click on the gear icon on the bottom right corner. Select the device you want to change. Scroll down and tap Language (your current language should already be displayed).Tap the drop-down menu and select the language of your choice. Click Save Changes. Click Yes, Change to confirm. And you're through with it. Your options for English accents are United States, Canada, India, Australia and the United Kingdom. Now, the productivity tip... An interesting thing about this is that you can use it to learn a second language. If one of your 2019 goals is to learn a new language or you are living in a country where English isn't the generally spoken language then Alexa can tremendously help you. It may be challenging sometimes but I use Alexa to learn french. She does a good job in that area helping me to get a lot of practice time. I just set her to be in French and I ask her questions on things I'm learning and she answers me in French so I get to learn the right accent to pronounce those words. It also reflects changes in the Alexa app. Whatever new language you select for Alexa changes the text in the app to that language this even helps me learn more. Now, it's over to you. Which name do you prefer giving your Alexa device? Drop a comment in the box below. I'll also like to know whether you intend using the productivity tip I gave. Also, drop a comment in the box below and I'll sure keep in touch... Cheers