Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

... and it's getting a bad rap because of those reviews. It seems that many of the "most helpful" reviews aren't actually helping since they are filled with bad information or wildly high expectations. Over and over, in the "most helpful" reviews, I read about "ads" displaying. This does NOT ever display ads, it displays Alexa skills and things to try with your device. I read that people cannot get that to stop happening. It's right in the settings: go to: ---Home & Clock--- then: ---Home Content--- then, turn off ---Discovery---, that will end the Alexa skills displaying (may cycle once after setting but then they're gone for good). I kept reading that people who want to use it as a clock were upset that the clock kept getting minimized (to left corner) to show other things. That's because, yet again, they aren't setting it up correctly. So, in the settings: go to: ---Home & Clock--- then: ---Home Content--- then, turn off ---Rotate Continuously---, that will make the Home screen always display a full screen clock. You can also just turn off any content in that list. Note that each time you go into the settings, immediately after, it WILL show you a single skill or any content you left on. But that's it. It will just be a clock from then on, until you interact with it again and then it may display a single skill or that content. Once. Then back to being a full time clock. Full disclosure: I got this to use as an alarm clock and not as a primary viewing assistant. For that, I recommend the larger echo devices. I also got this on Prime Day for $50 (rather than $90). That's a screaming good deal for what is basically a voice activated, smart alarm clock with a lot of different options. Decent Alarm clocks run $30-50 anyways so I thought I'd give this device a try for $50. I should have bought 2. Even for $90, I feel like this is a great device but if you wait, it will eventually go on sale again. I don't intend to use it to watch TV shows or movies, I have TVs, tablets and PCs for that. I saw people mentioning being disappointed in the resolution or screen quality. I don't see the problem. This certainly isn't going to compare to your $300-800 smart phone screen but it's not bad looking when playing videos or displaying the clock. It's similar to say, an iPhone 3 or Galaxy S2. I feel like the people complaining are expecting "the moon" for the money this costs. It's $90. Not $150 or $200. Just wanted to clear that up as it seems to be discouraging users from buying it as a clock/alarm clock. I feel like Amazon could make that more clear since this seems to get used for an alarm clock (or clock) pretty frequently. The included instructions are not comprehensive either. It's basically a "get started" card. They probably should include a "how to get the best clock experience" how-to. Stuff I really like: I think it is pretty cool that I can watch the daily news briefing on my alarm clock. I can get the weather for today or the week's forecast displayed. I can play music with decent sound (much better than most clocks sound) on my alarm clock. It displays the date and weather information in the top left corner and alarm time in the top right. All of that is voice activated. I can also use my voice to set the alarm (and turn it off) rather than fiddling with 3-4 buttons, or holding one down while it cycles through 24 hours. You can also manually set it in the settings with the touch screen. The alarm sound can also be set to come on quietly and gradually increase in volume. It also sets it's own time automatically. It's great to have one less clock to reset (or swap batteries). The screen can automatically dim at night or you can just manually set a time-frame to do so. The camera has an actual shutter for privacy ( in addition to the button that shuts it and the mic off). The downside to using this as an alarm clock is if the power goes out, you get nothing. There is no battery backup. If you live in an area where that happens frequently, you may want a back-up alarm (like, say, your phone) or just avoid getting this unit altogether. Aside from that, I really can't find anything to nitpick about it. This is a pretty solid little device. It looks good, it feels like the build quality is solid and it isn't enormous. It isn't as nice as the full size Echo Shows in content, screen quality and sound quality (I bought Mom an Echo Show, I have many dots), but it's a nice middle ground between those full sized units and the echo dot. I feel like that's what amazon was aiming for and they nailed it. It's exactly what I'd hoped it would be. It's a fantastic alarm clock. . . . Note: The micro USB port in the back is for hooking up Ethernet (wired internet) using an Ethernet adapter. This won't be necessary or useful for most people but if you are getting poor WiFi signal, it's nice to have that available. (I had to research that as I couldn't figure out what the point of that port was). ...I will update review if it becomes a problematic alarm clock.