My house has become more and more Alexa enabled. This is for no reason other than that the devices are bloody awesome. After being blown away by the Echo Show 5, I was keen to see how the less functional Echo Spot would slot into the house. It turns out, perfectly.
It’s a clock!
The most important feature function the Echo Spot has is that it’s a clock. A smart clock, but a clock. If you are after a bunch of features, like being able to watch a movie, then the Echo Show series is what you are after. The flip side is that if you don’t want a screen at all and want to control your smart home with your voice, then the Echo dot is what you are after. In between these devices is the smart as clock that is the Echo Spot.
Super easy to set up
If you are already using Alexa, then you will already have the Alexa app on your phone. In which case setting this device up, like the Echo Show, is an absolute cinch. The app walks you through setting up the device, and it takes all of minutes (including the update my device needed). Then you are away laughing.
Now you have yourself an expensive clock. I mean, that’s tongue in cheek, but it’s kind of true in the most cynical way of thinking about it.
But it does so much more.
Now you have Alexa in your bedroom
I mean, you probably already did. Your phone, your Firestick, it’s hard to not have Alexa in there. But most importantly, what do you use your bedroom for? That’s right, sleeping. So what do you want Alexa to help you out with? The time and alarms, and here the Echo Spot excels.
The Echo Spot’s face is half speaker and half screen. This allows you some fantastic functionality, but nerfed down. The screen obviously shows you the time, but also has fantastic animations for some of the stuff you may ask Alexa to do. Ask for the weather. Alexa tells you, but with a nice animation showing the temperatures, etc. Need Alexa to play some music because it’s Sunday and the middle of winter? well it has a nice simple music player animation. Want to see the time at any given moment? Well, you can choose from a massive selection of clock faces.
Touch screen…ish
The screen on the top half of the Echo Spot is a touch screen, but like the Echo Show, the options here are limited. You can use it to get into settings and change the clock face, but it’s limited. You won’t, for example, set an alarm using the touch screen. This is because this device is built around Alexa, and as such, you will be telling it what you want.
The good news is Alexa is super responsive and easy to use. “Alexa, set an alarm for 5 PM”, and boom, she has it down. “Alexa, set a timer for 20 minutes,” and Alexa will let you know when it’s time to get up from that power nap…I mean, workout. Here buttons appear to interact, such as a button to stop the alarm, but for the most part you will be interacting with Alexa to get the Echo Spot to do stuff.
There are also three buttons on the top of the Echo Spot: a volume up and down button and a mute on/off button. Again, it’s unlikely you’ll be using these for much, since it’s far more likely you’ll be interacting with your voice.
It can’t all be perfect, right?
I mean, is anything? Chocolate makes you fat. The Lord of the Rings doesn’t go forever. All good things have something bad about them. Unfortunately, while the Echo Spot is an amazing device, it has some limitations. The speaker itself is fine, but not amazing. If you need some music playing in the background or listening to Alexa is fine, but if you want loud jams while you enjoy a beer at your summer BBQ, this probably won’t cut it.
The other thing is that, like the Echo Show, it has to be cabled in. Most of the time this is fine; after all, it’s an alarm clock, so it probably won’t move a lot. Having said that, having a battery, so if you need to move it temporarily or even if your wake-up time is in the middle of a power cut, a small battery would have made this so much more amazing.
So should you get one?
The Echo Spot is a fantastic device if you want to use what it has to offer. A way to interact with Alexa with some limited viewing options, it’s amazing. The Echo Show offers more, but maybe you don’t want another screen flashing images in your bedroom all the time. As such, the Echo Spot walks a fine line of functionality that makes it perfect for some specific situations.
