Price: £59 | Check price on Amazon | John Lewis | Argos Pros: The best-sounding Dot affordable Alexa access much improved design Cons: Limited clock functionality no built-in smart home hub The Alexa light ring is now underneath, making it less obnoxious in a dimly lit room. The display also does handy things like show you the temperature outside when you ask about the weather and give you a visual on the volume level when you change it manually or with a voice command.įunction wise, the Dot offers all of the familiar physical controls (mic, volume, Alexa) but they’re now raised plastic buttons poking out of the all-fabric top, making them easier to find in the dark. That gentle LED display sits slightly higher up in the new model and is dim enough not to disturb, but bright enough to be handy. This is also why it’s worth the extra tenner to get the clock version. You also get fuller bass and less distortion at higher volume levels than the previous version and you can pair two together for some stereo styling – a great option for your nightstands.Īnd this is where your Dot really should live, it’s an excellent alarm clock and the new model has a brilliant touch to snooze feature that lets you just tap the top for some extra shut eye. We found this worked really well in testing, with one Echo speaker easily providing enough sound to envelop our large home office/master bedroom.ĭesign-wise, this new Echo looks much better sitting on your nightstand or kitchen counter than its vertically challenged counterpart and, sound-wise, a new front-firing speaker pushes the audio further into a room. The Echo can also now sense the acoustics in a room and adjust to provide a more “room-filling” experience. Gone is the 360-audio replaced by directional sound that pushes the music into the room – which makes much more sense as no one is putting a smart speaker in the middle of their living room – it’s always going to be on a bookshelf or side table – as that’s where the electric sockets are. Dolby processing is also onboard helping kick out clearer highs and more dynamic mids than its predecessor, plus this baby really brings the bass. The new round design – a complete departure from the cylindrical stylings of all previous Echo speakers – allows for the inclusion of dual 0.8-inch tweeters in addition to the 3.0-inch woofer, bringing stereo sound to the Echo without the need to pair to a second device (but that’s still an option). Same with a bevy of motion sensors, and door and window sensors, door locks, and more.Īlong with all this smart home goodness also comes a much better speaker. Case in point: you can use Philips Hue Zigbee bulbs without their Bridge, they’ll pair right to the Echo. The big addition is a ZigBee radio – which basically means you can connect more smart home devices to it without having to buy extra bridges and hubs. This bulbous beauty is the first bona fide smart home hub with Alexa voice control built-in for under £100, muscling out the premium Echo Plus as the best, smartest Echo on the block. But if so, pick up an Amazon Echo 4th Gen (£89). Let’s face it, if you’re buying an Echo, you’re looking to get in on some smart home shenanigans, are we right? If not, go buy a Bose or a Sonos and get your voice-controlled music piped through a superior speaker.
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