Q: Alex not working under iOS 8.0.2 iPhone 6

I'm having issues also.  iPhone 6/iOs 8.1.3 - I'm trying to use it without voiceover on. I set Alex as my default voice and it works with Messages, but basically nothing else.  Sometimes with a two finger downswipe from the top of the screen I can get him to speak, but usually it doesn't play any sound (although the play button appears activated), but on occasion Alex has read the text using this method.  If I select a text and choose "speak", I get the English voice that came standard with the phone:(

I am having this issue as well still with iOS 8.2.  I have followed the instructions in support article How to use Alex with VoiceOver and Text to Speech on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support. But no luck. I get the Alex voice to work in Messages but unable to in any other App. Alex seems to work fine with Voice Over, but with "Speak Screen and Speak Selection" it always seems to default back to the English UK version.