As my house has slowly become more Alexa-enabled, I have been playing with many different ways to interact with her. Whether the Echo Show is showing me who is at the front door or the Echo Spot being a super fancy clock, there are so many options now available in New Zealand. Finally, I had a chance to take the spruced-up OG, the Echo Dot, to see if that has a place in my home.
Design
The first thing I am going to address is the design, and not because I love it. When I think of Echo Dots, I picture that weird hockey puck shaped thing. Well, the 4th and 5th generations got a makeover, and for the much better. It’s a sphere-shaped device that is slightly smaller than a softball. Thanks to the use of speaker mesh on half the device and matte plastic on the other half, it’s a damn beautiful-looking device. It sits comfortably on any surface in the house and doesn’t look out of place at all.
When it comes to lights, there is the usual ring that glows around the bottom. This can be running all the time or light up when you engage Alexa. Then there is the clock feature. Coming through the mesh are nicely lit dots showing you the time. Then when presenting information like the temperature or songs you are playing, they pop up too.
The design choice here is yet again, spot on. The simple design gives you what you need and nothing more. This means the Echo Dot fits in any room aesthetic.
Functionality
The real question that fits here and will help you decide on an Echo device is what you need it for. The Echo Dot (5th Generation) is first and foremost a smart home speaker. This makes it super easy to engage with Alexa. With the slightly less functionality of missing a screen, you gain a way better speaker. Like usual, the speaker isn’t going to provide the same quality as a dedicated speaker, but that isn’t the device’s only functionality, and the price is reasonable.
For the price, I was happy with the sound quality it put out. Especially when playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to my toddler instead of me pumping it out for the 15th time this week.
On top of this, you can connect it to your Fire Stick or other devices to get a little bit of surround sound. When comparing sound quality, it’s definitely a massive step up from the TV’s inbuilt speaker. If you don’t want to drop a few hundred on a soundbar, this will definitely elevate your sound.
Then there is the little thing called Eero-InBuilt which is an awesome addition. If you use an Eero router, then the Echo Dot works as a mini Access Point for your mesh network. It does only allow for 10 devices to connect to it, but it’s perfect for a situation like sitting in your bedroom that gets patch Wi-Fi and much cheaper than adding another Eero AP to your setup. It also obviously doesn’t hit the same speeds as another Eero AP, but it’s easily enough for the bedroom.
Anything else?
I talked about the aesthetic, but somewhere between the aesthetic and functionality lies the nice buttons on the top. Four simple buttons allow you to turn the volume up or down, a button for mute, and a button to turn off the persistent light ring. They are well designed to look slick. You can also tap the top for things like snooze if you want those sweet extra minutes asleep.
Like other Echo devices, it also doesn’t come with a battery. So used as a plugged-in clock is sweet, but you won’t be taking the unit camping to keep your alarms in place. Not a massive issue, but still something worth noting.
It’s also worth noting, setting it up took all of a few minutes. If this is your first Alexa device you will spend a little bit setting up the Alexa app on your phone to link your Amazon account and what not. But having a few devices, it took a few quick steps on the phone and we were jamming Black Sabbath in only a few minutes.
Should you get one?
At around $120, this is an affordable way to get a voice assistant in your house. The speaker is great for some music in the background, and the clock looks awesome. Honestly, this is an easy recommendation for someone wanting a little jack of all trades in their house. It does everything well, but nothing exceptional.
For the price, this is an incredible smart speaker. And it only gets better the more Amazon products you own!
