Today, she competes for shelf space with Google Assistant -- primarily in the form of the equally puckish, equally low-priced Google Home Mini. NEW All-new Echo. Here are some of the most popular options: We've been using Alexa to control gadgets like these in the CNET Smart Home for years now, and she's terrific at it. The Amazon Echo (3rd Generation) was a decent enough speaker for music, featuring one 0.8-inch tweeter and one 3-inch subwoofer. Our most popular Echo is now even better. The Home Mini offers noticeably better sound quality out of the box, and Google Assistant is better at pulling from the internet to answer a wide variety of questions. When Amazon designs a product, it likes to start by distilling the pitch into a single line. It's up for preorders today. Better sound, better listening and better controls pack a punch in Google's pint-size smart speaker. Echo Dot. With the exception of video features intended for the touchscreen equipped Echo Show and Echo Spot, all of them apply to the Echo Dot. A skill called The Wayne Investigation lets you talk your way through an interactive mystery set in Gotham City. Check our list of Amazon device deals to see if it's on sale now. Instead, you turn things up and down using two volume buttons on the top of the device. To be clear, none of these concerns have me abandoning the Echo devices in my own home, but I'd still like to see greater transparency from Amazon here (and from other data-driven tech giants like Google and Apple, too). Amazon's third-generation Echo Dot puts on some weight and comes dressed in a warmer, more welcoming design. Smart display with stereo sound on 8" HD … You can browse through them all in the Alexa app, then pick which ones you want to enable, or you can ask Alexa to turn one on by saying something like, "Alexa, enable the Jeopardy skill." Amazon insists that while Alexa is always listening for the wake word, she only starts recording and uploading audio once she hears it. This Amazon Echo third generation is a good product with good sound. The Amazon Echo (4th Generation) is ultimately a solid cornerstone from which to build your smart home and easily betters its predecessor for expansiveness, subtlety and bass weight. Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) Review: Great Looks, Greater Sound With a nicer design and vastly improved audio, the third-generation Echo Dot is Amazon's best, cheapest speaker yet. For starters, she can stream music from Amazon Prime Music, Pandora or Spotify. That gives them a slight advantage over the Google Home family of speakers, which don't include aux out jacks and can only connect to external speakers via Bluetooth or Chromecast. If you bought the first-gen version, there's no need to upgrade. Turn on Amazon Echo (1st Generation). Visit the Alexa Privacy Hub to explore how Alexa and Echo … But what about external speakers, ones with a lot more oomph than the Dot? The second-gen Echo Dot is a little shorter than the first-gen version it replaced after just six months, largely because there's no longer a ring around the top that you turn to control the volume. So, the Dot is an Alexa access point, and a very clever one. The light ring on Amazon Echo (1st Generation) turns blue, and then orange. (Those remotes don't appear to be available outside of the US yet, but the price comes out to about £25 or AU$40.). (96,852) Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet, 8" HD display, 32 GB, Blue Kid-Proof Case. Echo (3rd Gen) - Smart speaker with Alexa - Twilight Blue. And then there's Alexa's "skills" -- the tens of thousands of third-party voice-apps that teach Alexa new tricks whenever you enable them. There were still times where it was basically unable to hear me -- usually when I sat it right next to a speaker blasting music at a loud volume. Tack "for 50 bucks" onto that pitch, and you've got the Echo Dot. You wake her up by saying her name, or by saying one of your three other wake word options, "Amazon," "Echo" or "Computer." Follow this topic to get notifications about new stories. As of July 2017 That's what the blue ring around the top indicates. Color: Sandstone She can wake you up in the morning, either with an alarm or with a song. Hard to say no to that. The result is a better-looking Alexa device with good enough sound quality to deserve being called a speaker. Amazon succeeded in making it more tempting than ever, perhaps irresistibly so. Echo Show 8. Thankfully, you can also connect the Dot to external speakers via Bluetooth or via auxiliary cable, a key feature that Amazon wisely extended across the entire Echo lineup. Echo Studio. Better looking with more powerful audio and a built-in Zigbee hub, the Amazon Echo (4th Generation) is the smart speaker to beat. With Screens. The array of microphones inside of the Echo Dot is always listening, and when they hear the wake word, they'll start recording whatever you say next, then send the audio snippet through the cloud to Amazon's servers. 1st Generation. It's basically just the top section of Amazon Echo - and half the price, but equally as smart. See all the products that work with the Amazon Echo Dot. There’s one final version: The Echo … The second-generation Echo introduced in 2017 is a much more attractive speaker, and that's why Amazon hasn't touched it in two years despite updating nearly every other Echo device in that time. The Echo Dot is always listening for its wake word, "Alexa." Most importantly, the Echo Dot does everything the full-size Echo does, but at half the price. Even with all of the new competition, the Echo Dot is still one of the best values in tech, and still a worthy way to welcome AI assistance into your home. It's your most affordable way into the Alexa ecosystem, and if you're interested in AI or smart home tech, that's an ecosystem worth buying into. How to reset Amazon Echo 1st Generation. As said earlier, Alexa's come a long way since this review initially published, with a steady rollout of new features and capabilities helping her to stay fresh. If you have any interest in smart home tech whatsoever, then the Echo Dot is an absolute no-brainer. Control your home temperature, lights, garage door and more with your voice. Editors' Note: There is a new version of the Echo Dot available. I like the most because it can be paired with my Amazon Echo Plus and play Stereo Sounds. You can also call almost anyone and control compatible smart home devices with your voice. Meet Echo - Echo (3rd Gen) has new premium speakers powered by Dolby to play 360° audio with crisp vocals and dynamic bass response. Prices, promotions, styles and availability may vary by store & online. NEW All-new Echo Dot. Amazon introduced 3rd generation of its Echo smart speaker today, featuring improved sound quality. Impressively, at every turn Dot 2.0 seemed to be a sharper listener than the first-gen Dot, with dramatically better performance during music playback. Generation. And, of course, it's available in white now (which looks quite good, in my opinion). The third-generation version is more rounded, and has a fabric covering around the side with no Amazon logo. Bisset, By It's the future, for $50. Check out the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation).. Amazon's third-generation Echo Dot ($49) looks good and sounds great. Alexa can control a growing list of smart home gadgets, too, including connected lighting setups, smart thermostats, and popular smart home platforms. All the same, the Echo Dot is delightful, it's cutting edge and, even going on two years into its lifespan, it's as good a value as you're likely to ever see in tech. Two years after its debut, the Echo Dot remains Amazon's best-selling Alexa gadget, but Alexa isn't the only game in town anymore. Amazon Echo Dot (2nd Generation) Editor's note (9/20/2018): Amazon announced a third-generation Echo Dot with a new design and better sound quality that ships to consumers on October 11th, 2018. The bottom line The Echo Dot takes Amazon's popular smart home speaker and wraps it in an ultra-affordable package -- but the Google Home Mini is a very worthy competitor. She can look up facts. The complete list of Alexa commands (so far), the Google Assistant has a lot of momentum right now, You can ask Alexa to do all sorts of things, how to make announcements throughout the house, Logitech Harmony Hub entertainment controller, the same test that the first Dot basically flunked, voice controls for Fire TV streaming devices, Alexa mistakenly called a contact and sent them live audio of a private conversation, could be susceptible to "ultrasonic" audio commands. As of now, none of them cost anything. It's a clear sign that Amazon was trying to get the entry cost as low as possible, and a forgivable omission given that you can still connect with external speakers right out of the box using Bluetooth. Is the new Dot any better? Or pair with a second Echo Plus (2nd Gen) or Echo (3rd Gen) for stereo sound and add more bass with an Echo Sub. Mark It's now also available in white. Here's a quick rundown of some of the more notable upgrades to help catch you up: There are plenty of valid concerns about filling your home with always-listening devices like the Echo Dot (though Amazon would likely point out that most phones and tablets count as always-listening devices at this point, too). Amazon Echo - Black (1st Generation) Plays all your music from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and more using just your voice Call or message anyone hands-free with your Echo device. Still, I'd like it better if the cable came included. And, while the Google Assistant has a lot of momentum right now, the battle to one-up Alexa with new features has only brought it to a virtual tie with Amazon -- and it still hasn't surpassed Alexa in terms of skills or integrations with third parties. Amazon hasn't responded to multiple requests for more information on what these Echo devices are actually capable of hearing. Say it, and the Dot will light up and listen to your question or command. Other than that, this is the same Dot as before: same plug-and-play simplicity, same voice-activated smarts. The second-generation version is hard plastic and has an Amazon logo embossed on the side next to the volume-down button. Echo Show 5. Like I've said, the Dot's primary job is to serve as an Alexa access point. Ask Alexa for a timer and see the countdown. Amazon stores those snippets in its servers for anonymous study and to let you play them back in the Alexa app to see what Alexa thinks you said, but it also lets you delete them at any time (here's how). Still a crown jewel of the modern smart home. The first-generation Amazon Echo consists of a 9.25 inch (23.5 cm) tall cylinder speaker with a seven-piece microphone array. It boasts more skills and third-party integrations than its rival, the Google Home Mini, and it also includes an aux-out jack for quick, direct connections with external audio setups, which the Home Mini lacks. The HomePod delivers amazing audio quality, but this pricey speaker is an iOS-only device that effectively requires an Apple Music subscription. © 2021 CNET, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. Alexa has skills - With tens of thousands of skills and counting, Alexa is always getting smarter and adding new skills like tracking fitness, playing games, and more. If you can put some distance between the Dot and your speakers -- even just a couple of feet -- you'll likely be fine, but if you plan on playing a lot of loud music, spending $30 on a separate Alexa Voice Remote to control your setup would probably be wise. Echo requires a Wi-Fi connection in order to respond to voice commands and fetch content for you, and it must remain plugged in for power. Jennifer Shop for Amazon Echo Dot (2nd Generation). Echo Dot, power adapter (15W), and Quick Start Guide. Colors: Black, White; 3rd Generation. As for keeping Alexa from becoming a vulnerability, an Amazon spokesperson tells CNET, "We limit the information we disclose about specific security measures we take, but what I can tell you is Amazon takes customer security seriously and we have full teams dedicated to ensuring the safety and security of our products.". Amazon's incremental improvements still stand out, one year later. Keep your family in sync - Use your Alexa devices like an intercom and talk to any room in the house with Drop In and Announcements. Now, it's more accessible than ever. Wake word technology, streaming indicators, microphone off button, the ability to view and delete your voice recordings, and more. Amazon. She can manage your calendar. If you are a consumer, the limited warranty is in addition to your consumer rights, and does not jeopardise these rights in any way. Just watch the video above, where I see if the Dot can hear me over the sound of its own speakers playing a Wilco song at full blast. It's the same test that the first Dot basically flunked, even when I was just a few feet away. Those servers will figure out what you're asking for, then tell Alexa how to respond. Rotating volume ring; Two buttons; Color: Black; 2nd Generation. Ask her to turn the kitchen lights off or raise the temperature a few degrees, and she'll happily comply, provided you've got the right gadgets installed in your home. The device is $99.99 and comes in a new twilight blue shade. Like every other Echo product, the Dot is really just an access point for the Amazon Alexa platform. She can set kitchen timers. Oh, and it comes in blue now. All of this happens in about a second. She can tell your kids painfully bad jokes. It's just as smart as the first version, and an even better listener -- all for less money. Recently, a family in Oregon grew alarmed after Alexa mistakenly called a contact and sent them live audio of a private conversation. The second-gen, mini-size Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker is just as smart as the full-size Echo at half the cost. Design and Features The fourth-generation Echo is a near-sphere, measuring 5.2 inches tall and 5.7 inches wide, available in black, blue, or white. See how a store is chosen for you. It mostly looked like an old-school kiosk and the display was not good at all. Privacy features. So should you buy it? Best sounding device with Dolby Atmos technology. Fabric speaker cover; Colors: Charcoal, Heather Gray, Sandstone, Plum; Echo Dot (3rd Generation) with clock. It's a weaker speaker than the Home Mini as far as sound quality is concerned, but the inclusion of an aux-out jack -- which the Home Mini lacks -- makes it easier to connect the Dot to external audio setups that can amplify Alexa's sound. It's a much better listener than before, and the significance of that improvement really can't be overstated. This was perhaps my biggest question about Dot 2.0, so I spent a lot of time testing it out side by side with the original Echo Dot in a variety of settings. Voice control your music - Ask Alexa for a song, artist, or genre from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, and more. The Echo Dot takes Amazon's popular smart home speaker and wraps it in an ultra-affordable package -- but the Google Home Mini is a very worthy competitor. With the Amazon Echo, the pitch was simply, "A Star Trek computer for your home.". We're also hoping to hear more from Amazon about concerns raised by security researchers at universities like Princeton and Berkeley that suggest voice assistants like Alexa could be susceptible to "ultrasonic" audio commands at a higher frequency than humans are capable of hearing, including ones that are hidden within other bits of normal audio. Or pair with a second Echo (3rd Gen) or Echo Plus (2nd Gen) for stereo sound. The original Echo looked like a large soda can but every model since then … The Dot just has a less powerful speaker. If the item details above aren’t accurate or complete, we want to know about it. Echo Dot 3rd Generation - 2018 release. Editor's note (9/20/2018): Amazon announced a third-generation Echo Dot with a new design and better sound quality that ships to consumers on October 11th, 2018. This review is from Amazon - Echo (3rd Gen) Smart Speaker with Alexa - Sandstone. Amazon created the smart speaker category with the Echo, introducing hands-free Alexa voice control to countless households. Sound quality – A step up thanks to an extra speaker. This was a small problem with generation one, especially during music playback, where I'd often need to shout to get Alexa's attention, even at close distances. Amazon chalked the incident up to "an unlikely string of events" where Alexa mistakenly heard the wake word, then mistakenly heard a call command, then mistakenly confirmed the call -- all based on background chatter. Plug the included power adapter into Amazon Echo (1st Generation) and then into a power outlet. When the light turns orange, Amazon Echo (1st Generation) greets you. But is it a good one? Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Generation Smart Speaker with Alexa Plum 47.99. The Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Generation) Will make the perfect give for your loved one this … She can read off the day's headlines from whatever news sources you like (including, ahem, CNET). The Echo hardware complement includes a Texas Instruments DM3725 ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 256MB of LPDDR1 RAM and 4GB of storage space. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Amazon Echo (4th Generation) Review. All you have to do is ask. Yeah, I think you should, though the Home Mini is probably the better choice for anyone who's already invested in Google's ecosystem. Voice control your smart home - Turn on lights, adjust thermostats, lock doors, and more with compatible connected devices. This Sonos-compatible speaker offers an excellent, affordable introduction to multiroom Wi-Fi music. Echo (3rd Gen) - Smart speaker with Alexa - Twil…. Serrels. Just recently, Alexa's learned how to remember things, how to control smart locks and how to make announcements throughout the house whenever dinner is ready. By With multi-room music, play music on compatible Echo devices in different rooms. You can ask Alexa to do all sorts of things. What if your TV or stereo is blasting in the background? Amazon. The baseline of the Alexa hardware experience is the Echo, the fourth-generation of which takes the power and smart home hub of the Echo … Well, take a look for yourself at how the new Dot fares compared to the old one: Put frankly, the new Echo Dot demolished the first Echo Dot in my tests. Voice control your music - Ask Alexa for a song, artist, or genre from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, and more. She can can play podcasts from iHeartRadio or TuneIn. Voice control your music - Ask Alexa for a song, artist, or genre from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, and more. "Alexa" is Amazon's cloud-connected, voice-activated virtual assistant. That's essentially an elaborate, voice version of a butt dial if true, and we're waiting to see if Amazon enacts any specific measures to keep it from happening again. Faster than you could say, "Alexa, open the floodgates," the age of in-home voice computing had dawned. With multi-room music, play music on compatible Echo devices in different rooms. AI will undoubtedly play a growing role in our lives and, yes, in our homes, and that makes the Echo Dot the most accessible glimpse of what's next that we've currently got. Amazon Echo (2020) review: This new Alexa smart speaker rolls the competition The fourth-gen Amazon Echo is the freshest smart speaker in years, adding real home smarts and premium sound. Enjoy premium sound - Personalize your listening experience by adjusting the equalizer settings. Next generation smart speaker with powerful bass and Alexa. Or pair with a second Echo (3rd Gen) or Echo Plus (2nd Gen) for stereo sound. Just like with the Echo Dot, if you plan on resetting your standard Echo devices it will vary depending on if you have the first or second generation of the device. She can make phone calls and send messages. The Capital One skill lets you tell Alexa to make a credit card payment. You can connect the Echo Dot with your existing audio setup using Bluetooth or a line in cable (not included). You can thank the Amazon Echo Dot ($17 at Amazon) for the glut of voice-activated everything littering today's tech landscape. See our price match guarantee. You should also know that those audio snippets Alexa sends to the cloud for processing are always encrypted. See and do more with Alexa. Echo Dot is a voice-controlled smart speaker with Alexa, perfect for any room. That isn't to say that it's perfect. Apple, meanwhile has the Siri-powered HomePod, though it lacks anything that can compete with the value of the Echo Dot. It's also a bit lighter, with a glossy plastic casing instead of the matte black body of generation one. Amazon. Play music, get the news, call almost anyone, and control compatible smart home devices—just ask Alexa. On top of that, Alexa keeps getting smarter, with new features arriving seemingly every week, often as part of a perpetual back-and-forth with Google. The Domino's skill lets you tell Alexa to order a pizza. David Ludlow. Echo Dot is 1.6-inch-tall cylinder with one tiny speaker. Ask for the weather and see the temperature. Meet Echo - Our flagship smart speaker that connects to Alexa to play music, … The bad The Home Mini offers noticeably better sound quality out of the box, and Google Assistant is better at pulling from the internet to answer a wide variety of questions. The Amazon Echo (4th gen.) is, as you may have guessed by the name, the fourth generation of its popular smart speaker. Just ask for music, news, information, and more. Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet, 8" HD display, 32…. Specifically, can its microphones hear you as well as the ones in the full-size Echo? The Uber and Lyft skills let you tell Alexa to call you a ride. The good The second-gen, mini-size Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker is just as smart as the full-size Echo at half the cost. Quality. Amazon Echo Dot (4th generation) with clock is sold with a limited warranty of one year provided by the manufacturer. The second-generation Echo is better and less expensive than the first full-sized Echo, but it’s not nearly as important as those first three products. Designed to protect your privacy - Built with multiple layers of privacy controls, including a microphone off button that electronically disconnects the mics. In truth, it’s pretty hard to get them confused. The new Dot heard me from 10 feet away or more almost every single time -- no shouting necessary. The new Echo Dot is a little smaller than the original, with two new volume buttons replacing the volume ring. So, the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) is just a smaller version of the full-size Echo (4th Generation): that’s to say, that the new model is a little bigger than a baseball (100 x 100 x 89mm). With the Kindle, that line was: "Any book, anywhere in the world, in a minute or less." In our Amazon Echo … At an irresistible price of $50 (or AU$79 and £50 in Australia and the UK, respectively), the puckish smart speaker became an even bigger hit than the original, full-size Amazon Echo -- in doing so, it provided proof of concept for the viability of voice controls in modern, mainstream households. Features. Premium sound powered by Dolby and Alexa. With multi-room music, play music on compatible Echo devices in different … Just one, small quibble: Amazon doesn't include a line-in cable with the new Echo Dot like it did with the first one, so you'll need to spend 5 or 6 bucks on your own (or dig one out of your junk drawer). The 4th-generation Amazon Echo’s spherical design marks a serious visual redesign — long gone is the tall cylinder shape of previous models. 10% off One Select Electronic Item or Video Game with Target Circle, Amazon Echo (3rd Generation) - Smart Speaker with Alexa, undefined out of 5 stars with undefined reviews, Speakers powered by Dolby to play 360° audio with crisp vocals and dynamic bass response, Built with multiple layers of privacy controls, Do Not Sell My Personal Information - CA Resident Only. The Amazon Echo Show had a pretty rocky start, when the first generation was announced back in 2017. It boasts more skills and third-party integrations than its rival, the Google Home Mini, and it also includes an aux-out jack for quick, direct connections with external audio setups, which the Home Mini lacks. That means that you're getting the exact same Alexa features as you would with the full-size Amazon Echo. CNET may get a commission from these offers. The smart home of tomorrow had found its Model T, I wrote at the time, and it brought the world of retail with it -- everything from Ford and GE to Uber and Domino's. Still, it's worth holding Amazon to its word here. To reset your first generation Echo device, just use a paper clip or a pen tip or something like that to press and … The Echo Dot is frequently discounted from its standard $50 price.