Roav VIVA - Video & Review ... I LOVE THIS THING!

Update at the bottom of the review.

First things first: THANK YOU SO MUCH, @AnkerOfficial for the VIVA contest! You guys are awesome and have done it again with another exceptional product that I’m obsessed with. :smile:

The brand new, Alexa enabled Roav Viva has arrived and it’s AWESOME! I have been having so much fun with this and you can use over 25,000 of Alexa’s skills on it. In the video review I go over some basic features of the Roav VIVA as well as showing it in action. For all you Amazon Echo users that would love to take the power of Alexa on the road, this little device is for you. You can do almost everything you can do with your home Echo device on the VIVA, thanks to the 25,000+ skills, like controlling your smart home, placing orders, checking weather, playing music (Amazon Music Unlimited, Pandora, Spotify, and more), as well as calling anyone in your contact list and you can even get driving directions. Not only does it have Alexa built in, but it also features TWO, quick-charging USB ports. They are actually really quick and such a great convenience to have in the car!

It’s a lot smaller than I was expecting it to be, which was a big plus! It fits perfectly in my car too. That was a fear of mine since the jack is tucked away in a smaller area of the car.

One of things that I wish it did differently is how it places calls. When you ask Alexa to make a call, she’ll confirm who you want to call and then will pull up the number on your phone, but won’t dial it until you physically press the call button. I know that can easily be fixed with a firmware update, but as it stands now, it’s not the safest to use while driving. Other than that, it works great and responds 95% of the time on the first mention of “Alexa.”

Is it worth getting? YES! If Alexa has become another member of your family like she has in our house, then you’ll really get a lot of use out this. I use it a majority of the time to listen to music, but it’s great for controlling the smart home and adding last minute groceries to the shopping list.

I hope you enjoyed the review and video! Let me know if you have any questions about features or anything else.

Here are a few picture I took after I opened it up.

UPDATE:

I have an update on using the VIVA without the app. This morning on my way to work I chose to ignore the instructions that say “Open your Road VIVA app and pay attention to the road.” I kept my phone locked the whole time and decided to just see what happens when I start to ask Alexa to do things. Low and behold, she worked just fine! My first test was to turn off the living room lights in my house. Boom, lights went off. Then I checked the weather. Brrr…11 degrees this morning! After that I played some music followed by resuming the audio novel I’m listening to. Everything worked perfectly and honestly seemed to work a little quicker since it wasn’t relying on being in sync with the app. I call that a major win in my book!

Second Update: This relates to not being able to play music from the VIVA if audio is already playing from another phone app.

If you choose to keep the app closed, you will not be able to start any music if music is already being played from another app. The quickest fix I’ve found for this is to either pause the music on your cars stereo, or pause it on your phone. Once the music is paused, Alexa will then be able to instantly play any music you’d like from the VIVA.

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Awesome job, now I want one even more. My only gripe is aving to launch the app whenever you get into the car, but I can overlook that.

Does alexa respond easily when the music is loud? Or do you have to shout?

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Haha. Thanks! It really is great and a awesome accessory for the car.

As far as Alexa responding when loud music is playing, it’s been hit or miss. Most of the you either have to shout, say “Alexa” again, or wait for a quick break in the song to say “Alexa”. Luckily, the little mic button on top of it is easy to press and that activates Alexa if she’s not responding.

You can also hold that button down until the blue ring glows red to turn off the mic.

When placing a call the ring will turn from blue to green, just like on the Echo products.

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Ooh that sounds really conveinant. I tried using my genie in the car and it was a pain, so this is a must get for me now. Hopefully they go on sale when I get paid. Cheers for a great review

How did you use your Genie in the car? Lol! A+ for creativity!

Aren’t promo codes supposed to be going out for these at some point? Just wait for one of those. I can tell you that we will be buying several of these for the family for the holidays if they haven’t purchased one by then.

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I just plugged the genie into my car port and wifi tethered ff my phone and connected to it. Big pain because I lose signal sometimes during my drive so it has to repair and sync. I tried it for a day and said it wasn’t worth it.

great review… can you turn your home lights on or off if you are away from your wifi and just using data?

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I wish i had this it looks kinda cool

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Thanks! You can control all connected smart home devices from anywhere. I don’t have the best cell reception at my home, so I used WiFi just for the fear of losing cell reception while making the review.

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Haha. That’s too funny. I can see how frustrating that could get. Definitely trade out the car Genie for a car VIVA. :smile:

I finally understand how VIVA works in the car! It looks great for navigation, more safe in driving!

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Great review. Now, I really want one! :slight_smile:

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Great review! Thanks for sharing!

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Awesome review there @TheCharneco , thanks for sharing :ok_hand:

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It is an great review. We will not speak about the Alexa turn on the light thing :wink: .

For me it would be interesting to know I you have to launch the app also on an Android phone or would it work by itself?

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Very great review! Nice to see it in action :smiley:

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@TheCharneco or any other user, I am curious if this will bypass my Galaxy s8 lock screen??

I know that I can launch my camera app pre-lockscreen and take several photos but it will lock again when I try to access anything else but that is a pre installed device app.

I would like to be able to say “Alexa add milk to my list” while I am driving without having to take my phone out of my pocket and unlock it first. Will pressing the button on the device launch the app pre lockscreen?

I usually stick my phone on my Anker mag mount anyway and right now I have to touch the finger scanner and then I can use OK Google to launch my maps but for short trips I often leave the phone in the pocket.

Thanks

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@Kopra_12 and @bobbleheaderman, I can’t speak for Android devices, but I have tried a to see if my iPhone would automatically launch the app. As long as my phone is unlocked, the Roav VIVA app has launched automatically and automatically connected to the VIVA.

When my iPhone is locked, as long as I have the app running already in the background, it usually connects just fine. I’ll occasionally have to unlock the phone and launch the app, but that’s because my iPhone is terrible and I need a new battery.

If the phone is locked and the VIVA app isn’t running in the background, the VIVA will still connected via bluetooth to my iPhone and then I’ll hear a verbal notification saying, “Please start the Roav VIVA app…”

I’ll try a few more tests to see if I can get it auto lunch the app from the lock screen and will let you know what works and what doesn’t.

I love the maps feature because it not only launches your designated maps app, but it also loads the directions from your current location. So all you have to do is hit the “GO” button to start the navigation. The feature will only work automatically if the phone is unlocked, though. Otherwise, you’ll have to unlock the phone so the maps app can load.

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@AnkerTechnical how does the viva work with Android? Is it possible that the viva starts the app by itself and bypass the log screen? I mean it should be possible with Android, right?
I mean you might have to turn off the battery optimization.