A spot of advice please..

They seem pretty common now, I need to install one for my daughter at her rented house.
Having looked on amazon there are several models.
Does it have to be connected to alexa or google, or will it just connect direct to her phone without too much faff?

As she lives on her own, I want it mainly to record who calls & as an option to not go to the door if in doubt.

cheers for a bit of guidance
(keep it simple please !)
KD

Kids,tired of being bothered by your pesky parents?
Then leave home, get a job & pay your own bills, while you still know everything.

A wonderful piece of kit. I moved house last week and fitted mine on Sunday, so like to think I'm well placed to help...

In answer to your question, no. I don't have an Alexa. You will need to connect it to her smart phone. It's pretty easy, even a technophobe like me managed it. There is one of the square barcode/scanner things on the device, so she will need to link her phone, using her phone camera initially.

My only minor criticism is that you can't actually hear the doorbell as its only connected to her phone, so she will receive an alert when the doorbell rings - so not much good if her phone in is in a different room. The solution to this is buying a ring 'Chime' (£30) which is effectively a doorbell you can plug into the wall. I'd suggest buying that at the same time. If she had an Alexa/other google device, this could also be linked to the doorbell.

Fitting to a brick wall is tricky due to the surface, but a plaster/wood wall is smooth and easy. The ring unit itself has a special shaped screwdriver and matching screws in the box to fix the device to the wall bracket so will need to be unscrewed occasionally for recharging.

The one I got was the £99 model from Argos. I think its awesome. It automatically tracks activity by the front door and saves them into a highlight reel. It's about as exciting as watching Palace on MOTD.

Alexa pairs with the ring. [Link]

Got a RING and bought the chime and an extra battery. No monthly cost involved. Works fine.

One of the common criticisms is that the notifications can be a bit slow in coming through and many callers have died of old age whilst waiting.

I tried it out but had to send it back as I found it too flaky and some days it connected to the wifi and sometimes it didn't

Doesn't need to be connected to alexa or google. smartphone is fine.

Battery versions are a good option, few mins to install and the battery lasts ages. Worth getting a 2nd battery so you can jsut swap a charged on in vs having no bell for a while.