The Pros and Cons of the Programmable IoT Dash Button from Amazon

When Amazon launched their dash button, all of the developers in the IoT community were jumping at the opportunity to get on board and create something unique and groundbreaking with the product. And there was a good reason for all that excitement as well!

The Amazon Dash had the power of Amazon Web Services behind, and developers were well aware of the prowess of Amazon’s IoT backend capabilities having interacted with the Amazon Echo and their Alexa virtual assistant!

Now, for those of you yet uninitiated to the world of Dash buttons, here’s a quick rundown of what they actually are and what they do!

What are Dash Buttons?

Well to put it very simply, Amazon dash buttons are basically a tiny button with built in Wifi capabilities and it can pretty much do anything that can be done with Alexa, right out of the box.However, this is where the programmability of the dash buttons comes in as with this new iteration of the button, not only can you use it to switch on and off your

However, this is where the programmability of the dash buttons comes in as with this new iteration of the button, not only can you use it to switch on and off your IoT-enabled lights, you can program your own code to do whatever you wish using AWS and their IoT framework.

Why is the Programmable Dash a Big Step Forward For Amazon?

Now one of the most important things about the Dash is that it brings IoT functionality to the mainstream. AWS is a free to use platform, and now developers can get cracking on the IoT bandwagon with an initial investment of as little as 20$ per button.

This is one of the biggest pros of the Dash button as most of the other home IoT starter kits have a really high entry price point!

But There are a Few Bad Design Choices as Well

In spite of all the advantages that the Dash has, this little contraption from Amazon comes with what could potentially be a fatal design flaw. In order to minimize the size of the circuit, the battery for the button was soldered onto the board and what’s more; it isn’t removable either.
The Dash is thus good for only about a 1000 presses and thus rendering it useless for applications that require regular button presses such as switching the lights on.

“When the device battery runs out of charge,” Amazon says, “there is no way to recharge or replace the battery.”

And that is one of the most glaring flaws in this nifty little device! That’s about it for us on the Dash button! What do you guys think about it? Tell us in the comments below if you’ve come up with some neat utility for the Amazon Dash and we will try to feature it in one of our stories!