Ordered an Invoke today. Anyone else?

[1DaveN]

Groove (the app) still exists and is still supported - it's just the subscription service that ended. Nevertheless, out of the box, the Invoke won't play music stored on your LAN any way that I can see. I think this is a necessary feature, so I'm going to be watching for it.

 

[1DaveN]

That pretty much summarizes my view as well (and I bought a black one from the Microsoft Store yesterday as well). My wish list so far: play music stored on my LAN. Give me the headlines I'd see in the News app on the PC or phone. When I ask for news, it seems to choose a random channel from one of the free radio options. One time it started playing ESPN - nice that she can do that, but not what I had in mind when I asked for news.

 

[noirsoft]

I picked up the black model from Best Buy.

I still think it's frustrating how many people here are talking about "Microsoft is going to drop this" -- It's a Harman/Kardon product! It's up to Samsung to provide updates, not MS. But of course, people who come to these forums just to bash Microsoft are not known for their intelligence...

 

[RSB54]

This makes me madder at MS than all the rest, dumping Groove. and now with no alternative to play all my OneDrive music via Invoke, it will have more impact that just "mobile". GRRR.

 

[RSB54]

One thing that people are forgetting here is that the Cortana service itself is what Microsoft is producing. The hardware is being put out by Harmon Kardon. All of the products being mentioned are, by and large, consumer-focused hardware products. Microsoft seems to be focusing a lot on services and Cortana is one of those services that has a lot of reach for consumer and enterprise purposes. I don't see Cortana being dropped anytime soon and, as long as third parties are producing the hardware, I don't share the same concerns that I might have if this was another Microsoft-built wearable or phone device. I'm loving my Invoke so far and would consider getting an additional one to put on another level of my home.

Umm, Groove was a service. Ditched like the rest, meant nothing.

 

[bellyer]

Groove was a service that cost a huge amount of money in licensing and other fees. Cortana is different and does not have the same sort of overhead costs.

 

[sluggish_user]

Got mine yesterday. i like its sound rendering than bose soundlink revolve. Cortana or not, it's worth the money.

 

[graple]

I went to Best Buy yesterday and to my surprise, when I looked on the floor displays, it wasn't there. I asked a sales associate if they had the HK Invoke with Cortana they had to look it up on the computer and there was 1 in the entire store, I repeat just ONE in the whole store!
The sales associate had to go back into their stock room to search for it. I was floored. How are consumers supposed to purchase a product that isn't even displayed on the floor of the store. That isn't a good strategy to create interest in a product at all. If I didn't know that the product was available yesterday from following tech sites, I would have probably have walked out thinking that it wasn't available. That is a hell of a marketing strategy there, which in my opinion is one of Microsoft's major achilles heels!

I purchased the ONE that they had in store, but I had to order another one for a family member, which I just got an email from Best Buy that it will be delivered on Wednesday. The sales associate said that all the accompanying stores in the near by area also received just one per store, except one store that got two. I was standing there thinking to myself, have I just made a big mistake by purchasing a product that seemingly wasn't even being pushed by the developers? Wow.

I am just dipping my toes in the smart home arena and tonight hope to pair my newly purchased Phillips Hue stuff with the Invoke. Hope it will go well. However, when I actually set the Invoke up last night (set up was surprising easy and quick), it sounded amazing! The sound was deep, full 360, crisp and clear. I can hear it throughout my entire home. I have to say so far I am impressed with the Invoke.

 

[DOGC_Kyle]

There's no way to play your own music with it? Only streaming? I've already purchased CDs and ripped them, I don't need or want streaming.

It seems like it doesn't do anything that a Windows device can't do better. I already have Cortana to play music, answer questions, make calls. The only benefit of the Invoke would be as a speaker, but if it can't play local music then that defeats the purpose.

 

[genod]

I picked it up today. The kids like it and it sounds great. There are a couple of things I wish it would do.

1. I have multiple calendars on my outlook account including a shared family calendar (outlook.com). The invoke will not see shared family calendar and we depend on it.
2. I wish Cortana on the Invoke could do reminders, for example, every morning at 7:30am to tell the kids it is time to get ready for the school bus.

I'm not sure I'll keep it. I've got time to use it before I can return it to the Microsoft store. We'll see. Right now it is a novelty. the hardware makes it worth it, however. I'm torn.

 

[iSeeiSheep]

I bought mine yesterday at BestBuy, the staff didn't even know they had it in stock until I described it.

Pros:

• Setup was really easy
• Free music services are really easy to setup, almost too easy
• With the free services if the song you like is playing Cortana attempts to play it for you
• With Spotify that is when I found the benefit to be much better. I now realize why Microsoft killed off Groove, which ultimately was probably a smart business decision considering they could always buy Spotify outright.
• Cortana works great with my Office 365 subscription and she can easily read my appointment schedule
• Cortana is coming to both BMW and Nissan, so that might cause me the buy a BMW next upgrade time
• Free Skype calls... this feature is really sweet. Folks don't complain that you don't have a Skype number for free please!

Cons:

• My Skype services didn't work for me the same day but the next day it started working. I have no clue why I had lag, but it magically worked
• Dan said the Skype subscription was limited to six months, but there was NO indication of a time limit on the Microsoft store or the box itself. Did I miss something?
• Profiles are a must have feature, but I am sure this can be accomplished with software
• Cortana needs a DOT equivalent device so I can talk to her in every room in the house.

Overall I would rate her a 5/5 considering the 20 year olds in the house said she beat the heck out of Siri. I have still yet to leverage home automation, but that should be a no brainer to make work.

 

[techiez]

I picked up the black model from Best Buy.

I still think it's frustrating how many people here are talking about "Microsoft is going to drop this" -- It's a Harman/Kardon product! It's up to Samsung to provide updates, not MS. But of course, people who come to these forums just to bash Microsoft are not known for their intelligence...

Isnt Cortana a server based AI assistant, developed and maintained by MS?

 

[lmoritz]

@ISeelSheep Actually the Skype subscription is for one year. You are right, there is no explicit mention of it, but when you connect your device to Skype it automatically takes effect. Logon to Skype and view your account. You will find it there.

 

[anthonyng]

Anyone have an idea what won't work if next chance I goto the states, I buy it and bring it back to Canada? Also people say they can't play their own music.... You can connect to it like a regular Bluetooth speaker and play whatever you want right?

I have no smart speaker, wouldn't mind a new bluetooth speaker over the free one I got at a convention lol, and I'm willing to buy it now and see how it develops, if at all.

 

[Steve_Hun]

I'd happily order one, but as per usual, it is US only... Again, no love for the EU from MS and H/K

 

[barotropic]

Not me! Makes no sense to buy a Cortana speaker at this point.

I was "all in" on the MS ecosystem when I was using Windows mobile devices, but now it seems like a kludge to try to do it while using Android. Google Assistant is built-in on my Android phone and works seamlessly, compared to the Cortana app. So why complicate things by buying a (too) expensive Cortana speaker for home use?

And this makes clear the problem MS has when trying to be a consumer company in 2017 without offering its own mobile platform. Wish things had worked out differently.

 

[theefman]

I went to Best Buy yesterday and to my surprise, when I looked on the floor displays, it wasn't there. I asked a sales associate if they had the HK Invoke with Cortana they had to look it up on the computer and there was 1 in the entire store, I repeat just ONE in the whole store!
The sales associate had to go back into their stock room to search for it......

The sales associate said that all the accompanying stores in the near by area also received just one per store, except one store that got two.

Deja vu WP? People seem to enjoy it (when they know to ask for it) but this launch has all the hallmarks of a product that wont be around for very long, cant see HK going for a v2 at this rate.....

 

[lmoritz]

Anyone have an idea what won't work if next chance I goto the states, I buy it and bring it back to Canada? Also people say they can't play their own music.... You can connect to it like a regular Bluetooth speaker and play whatever you want right?

I have no smart speaker, wouldn't mind a new bluetooth speaker over the free one I got at a convention lol, and I'm willing to buy it now and see how it develops, if at all.

@anthonyng yes it is a Bluetooth speaker so you can play music from your phone (i.e. OneDrive). As far as taking it to another country, I suspect that you will have to set it up from a device that is set to localized to U.S., which you should be able to do if you are ok with that.

 

[hyperlexis]

I'm gonna hold off at least another week, by which time Microsoft will have quietly tweeted that it is discontinuing support, and all the remaining Harmon Kardon units go on clearance for 70% off.

 

[lmoritz]

All these comments about the Invoke failing and Microsoft discontinuing support are funny, perhaps; but largely naïve. I get it that Microsoft has done a lousy job in consumer space, but people looking at this device as a potential failure miss the point.

1. This isn't about a smart speaker, it's about Cortana. And that's not about another consumer item competing with the other stuff out there. Cortana, is the ultimate interface with the cloud, providing natural language processing and an assistant leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence. If Cortana fails, Microsoft ultimately will fail.
2. The goal for Microsoft is to have Cortana on EVERYTHING: computers, mobile devices, speakers, thermostats, appliances, etc. Again, their future depends on it.
3. Microsoft's partnership with Amazon to integrate Alexa with Cortana helps their case with consumers.
4. Technically, it is possible that the Invoke itself will fail, but even if Harmon Kardon decides not to make others, Cortana itself isn't going anywhere. And, we will see more Cortana/Alexa devices, of which the Invoke will be remembered as the first one.
5. This is not like Zune, Kin, Groove, Windows Phone, etc., and it's not about hardware. This is not a side venture, but ultimately core to Microsoft's business. Yes, Microsoft could misstep, but if they do with Cortana, the whole ship will go down. And, just because they did in the past, doesn't mean the future will be the same way. They seem to have learned some hard lessons, and are much more focused than ever before.
6. Yes, there is competition is out there, but in this field the winners of the past may not be winners of the future. Apple makes beautiful hardware, but increasingly their lack of cloud strength will come back to bite them on services like Siri. Amazon has done some amazing things in the cloud and with Alexa, but they recognize too, that they need a partner like Microsoft for their agenda to work in a crowded marketplace. Google is probably the only real competition, at least on the consumer side, but their weaker enterprise position could be a handicap in the longer term.
7. These are not the comments of a ******. I am frustrated with many of Microsoft's craziness of the past, but this is about the future, and if anyone is seeing where computational technology is headed, it is obvious that despite the knee-jerk reactions of the Microsoft bashers, the company is still in the game, and that with Microsoft's cloud-prowess has lots going for it.