内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2025/alexa-in-the-real-world-how-im-using-amazons-new-assistant-and-where-it-could-still-improve/

内容总结：

亚马逊Alexa+智能助手于2025年2月推出早期测试版，其核心突破在于通过生成式人工智能实现更自然的交互体验。用户无需依赖固定指令，即可将海报照片、邮件片段等非结构化信息转化为实用提醒。例如拍摄活动海报后，系统能自动识别内容并添加日历提醒；转发学校邮件至专属地址后，可通过语音查询开学需准备的文具清单。

尽管展现出了类私人助理的潜力，该服务仍存在明显局限：信息处理存在延迟，数据库构建依赖人工导入，且隐私安全机制有待加强。目前Alexa+对Prime会员免费开放，未来非会员月费定为20美元。

面对"Siri"和ChatGPT等竞品的激烈竞争，Alexa+虽在多场景交互中展现价值，但其代理功能（如预约维修、订餐等）的实际体验仍不及传统操作方式流畅。若想成为真正意义上的下一代人工智能助手，亚马逊仍需消除使用断层，实现更无缝的生活整合。

中文翻译：

上周六下午骑车时，我看到一张即将举办的巴拉德创客市集暨酒吧巡游海报——这类活动正合我家人的喜好。我停下车拍了张照片。

若在往常，事情可能就此止步：又是一张被遗忘的传单和一场错过的活动。但这次不同，我打开手机里的亚马逊Alexa应用，将海报照片拖入聊天框，请Alexa设置日历提醒。

Alexa从海报中提取文字信息并创建了提醒。之后当我询问时，它准确复述活动细节，方便全家商讨是否参加。

这个场景完美展现了Alexa+（亚马逊升级版语音助手）的核心优势：将非常规信息——照片、邮件、文本片段或随意提出的请求——转化为实用内容。它不再依赖刻板的语音指令或精心措辞的提问，而是能主动检测、分析并适时推送信息，让人感觉不像在操控设备，更像拥有一位私人助理。

当然它仍有不足。比如处理上传的活动海报需要时间，另一次则需要我二次确认才成功添加日程。但这已然展现了Alexa+的发展潜力。

另一场景则呈现了其跨场景应用潜力：当我收到女儿学校的邮件，只需从绑定亚马逊账户的邮箱转发至alexa@alexa.com，邮件便会存入家庭Alexa知识库。之后在客厅，轻问一句便能获取详情。

例如想了解开学日必备物品时，Alexa直接调取了校长邮件附带的常见问题解答："9月3日开学日，学生需准备若干铅笔钢笔、笔记纸及带分隔袋的笔记本。还需自带午餐或餐费。各科所需特定文具（如作文课用的作文本）将由老师另行通知。"

虽然便捷，但这个过程也暴露出Alexa+的缺陷：系统运作前提是用户主动投喂信息。尽管能对接主流在线日历，但由于亚马逊并非生产力应用的主要提供商，构建个人Alexa数据库的过程仍显手工感。

若Alexa能自动标记学校邮件中的重要信息，无需用户转发或追问，才真正称得上智能助理。

另外我必须承认，即便有隐私保护承诺，将含个人信息的邮件转发至alexa@alexa.com仍让我感到不安。

亚马逊Alexa团队无疑正致力于提升无缝体验。随着即将推出的网页端alexa.com（该功能已延期，我正在向亚马逊咨询更新进展），通过电脑与Alexa聊天的功能将使信息共享更加便捷。

2025年2月发布的Alexa+目前处于优先体验阶段，Prime会员免费使用，非会员体验期结束后月费为20美元。用户最直观的体验是生成式AI驱动的流畅对话——无需像过去那样反复唤醒"Alexa"才能持续交流。

亚马逊面临的挑战在于：Alexa不再仅与智能音箱竞争。对许多人而言，"嘿Siri"或打开ChatGPT应用已与呼唤"Alexa"同样自然。Alexa+在生成式AI领域起步较晚，期间许多人已找到替代方案。

我尚未完全接受Alexa+的高级功能。诸如安排家居维修或订购晚餐这类代理任务，使用电脑或传统应用仍然让我觉得更直观便捷。

目前的Alexa+犹如混合体：一半是未来助理，一半是权宜之计。但当其正常运作时，确实能提供有效帮助。若亚马逊能消除使用摩擦，将Alexa+更无缝融入生活，这款新一代AI个人助理才有更大成功可能。

英文来源：

Riding my bike Saturday afternoon, I spotted a poster for the upcoming Ballard Makers Market & Bar Hop — the kind of event I knew my family might enjoy. I pulled over and took a photo.
Normally, that might have been the end of it: another forgotten flyer and missed event. But this time, I opened the Amazon Alexa app on my phone, dropped the photo of the poster into a chat thread, and asked Alexa to add the event to my calendar with a reminder.
Alexa extracted the text from the poster, scheduled the reminder, and later, when I asked, recited the details so my family could decide if we wanted to go.
For me, this illustrates the best part of Alexa+, the upgraded version of Amazon’s voice assistant: the ability to take unstructured information — a photo, an email, a snippet of text, a casual request — and turn it into something useful.
Instead of relying on rigid voice commands or carefully phrased questions, Alexa+ can detect, analyze, and surface information when you need it, in a way that starts to feel less like programming a gadget and more like having a personal assistant.
It’s not perfect. Alexa takes time to process uploaded event posters, for example, and in another situation required me to follow up before it actually added an event to my calendar. Still, it’s an early sign of Alexa+’s promise.
Another use case shows the same potential in a different context. When I get an email from my daughter’s school, I can forward it from the email account associated with my Amazon account to alexa@alexa.com, which saves it in our family’s Alexa knowledge base. Later, in the living room, I can simply ask Alexa for details.
When we wanted to know what students should bring on the first day of school, for example, Alexa pulled directly from the FAQ that had been attached to the principal’s email.
“For the first day of school on September 3, [students] should bring several pencils and pens, paper for notes, and a notebook with pocket dividers,” was Alexa’s helpful response. “They’ll also need lunch or money for lunch. Teachers will let students know if they need specific materials like a composition book for certain classes.”
That moment was helpful, but the process also illustrates one of the shortcomings of Alexa+. The system only works if you take the step of feeding it the information. Alexa integrates with popular online calendars, but because Amazon isn’t a major provider of productivity apps, the experience of building your own Alexa database still feels mostly manual.
Imagine if Alexa could automatically surface or flag details in school emails without the user having to forward them or ask. That would feel more like a true personal assistant.
Also, I’ll admit, forwarding a message with mildly personal info to alexa@alexa.com makes me uncomfortable, even with assurances of privacy.
Amazon’s Alexa team is no doubt working to make things more seamless. The ease of sharing information promises to improve with the upcoming launch of alexa.com, a web-based interface that will make it possible to chat with Alexa on a computer. (This feature has been delayed; I have a message into Amazon for an update.)
Alexa+, unveiled in February 2025, is available in an early access period, via a waitlist. It’s free for Prime members, and will eventually cost $20/month for non-Prime members after the early access period.
The biggest change that new users will notice is the ability to have more fluid conversations, powered by generative AI — not needing to repeatedly say Alexa’s name to keep chatting as in the past.
One challenge for Amazon is that Alexa is no longer just competing with other smart speakers. For many people, it’s now just as natural to say “Hey Siri” or open the ChatGPT app as it is to call out “Alexa” across the room. Alexa+ was late to generative AI, and in the meantime, many of us have found other solutions.
I’ve yet to fully embrace some the advanced features of Alexa+. The tasks that can be handled with its agentic capabilities — scheduling a home repair or ordering dinner, for example — still feel easier and more intuitive for me to handle on a computer or with an old-fashioned app.
For now, Alexa+ feels uneven — part futuristic assistant, part workaround. But when it works, it’s genuinely helpful. If Amazon can smooth out the friction and integrate Alexa+ into life more seamlessly, it will have a better chance of succeeding as a next-generation, AI-enabled personal assistant.