Amazon Echo Dot With Clock (5th-gen) Review: A Slightly Smarter Ball

Amazon’s Echo Dot has lengthy been a smart-home energy participant, and the 5th-gen Echo Dot retains the established order whereas including some new methods. The most recent Echo Dot doesn’t reinvent the wheel (or ball?) however retains its iconic standing as an inexpensive and totally handy portal to the Alexa universe.

The Echo Dot’s transfer from the Third-generation puck design to the 4th-generation sphere is Amazon’s largest design change to its entry-level smart speaker. The fifth mannequin appears the identical as its predecessor, with almost similar dimensions and controls. However it does tack on some new options, together with new sensors and a sound improve.

As with its predecessor, there are a number of variations of the Fifth-gen Dot, together with the Echo Dot with Clock (which I’m evaluating right here), a Kids Edition Dot with animal designs on the outside, and a less expensive standard model without a clock. Whichever mannequin you select, the Dot stays probably the greatest sensible audio system you should buy.

What’s New within the Fifth-gen?

• Dimensions: 3.9 x 3.9 x 3.5 inches (99.06 x 99.06 x 88.9 mm)
• Weight: 10.7 oz (34g)

Essentially the most notable new characteristic in Amazon’s newest Echo Dot is the temperature sensor. Now you can ask Alexa to examine the temperature in a given room, which is snappy and makes for a pleasant addition to outside climate queries. It’s even higher for these with suitable sensible thermostats, from Amazon’s in-house smart thermostat to Google’s Nest or an array of third-party fashions, permitting you to regulate heating or cooling with voice instructions, or program routines within the Alexa app to take action robotically.

Additionally new is a built-in accelerometer for gesture controls. You possibly can faucet your Echo Dot to hit the snooze if you happen to’re utilizing it as an alarm clock, as an illustration, in addition to stopping timers, pausing music, and ending calls. This will come in useful if you happen to’re in a rush, although asking Alexa is so speedy chances are you’ll not discover it saves you a lot time.

Whereas I wasn’t in a position to take a look at it in opposition to the Echo Dot 4th-gen immediately, the most recent mannequin is refreshingly speedy in response to Alexa instructions, too. It matches up effectively with Apple’s lightning-quick HomePod 2nd-gen when pausing audio over Apple Music (when you’ve enabled it within the Alexa app), and it’s even a hair quicker than Apple’s pricier system over Spotify.

The Fifth-generation Echo Dot with Clock additionally provides the flexibility to see different data scrolling throughout its blimp-style digital show, together with climate data and music titles. (Fortunately, this ultimately returns to the clock show, because it will get a bit distracting over time.)

A Easy Setup Process

The Echo isn’t fairly as straightforward to get began as Apple’s HomePod and HomePod Mini, which require little greater than strolling towards the speaker along with your iPhone. That’s the detraction of a speaker that isn’t interconnected to your cellular system in an enclosed ecosystem.

Then again, not solely are Echo audio system far more suitable with third-party units and sensible abilities, however you additionally don’t want a selected smartphone to get began, simply the Alexa app for Android or iPhone and an Amazon account. The app shortly walks you thru setup, and after typing in your Wi-Fi password, you’ll be up and working in minutes.

These model new to Alexa could discover some studying curves within the app in relation to finding the Add Machine tab, however total it’s a fast and painless course of.

All of the Alexa Smarts

Alexa has a fame as essentially the most helpful and versatile sensible residence system on the market, and the Echo Dot offers you the keys to that kingdom for as little as $50 (for the mannequin with no clock).

When you’re on-line, you’ll be launched to a couple of Alexa’s many “abilities,” a few of which work higher than others as anybody acquainted with sensible assistants may guess. Alexa began by locking in my voice recognition to supply tailor-made data (you’ll be able to add as many as six particular person customers). The assistant additionally urged its newest talent, “Sensible Tub,” which, she defined, permits you to regulate sizzling tub chemical substances and temperature when utilizing third-party units from Jacuzzi.com.

Possibly it was all of the ChatGPT weirdness going across the week of my evaluation, however this was a kind of eerie sensible residence moments, as I used to be simply chatting with a rep about a difficulty with our Costco sizzling tub an hour earlier. The speaker was nonetheless within the field on the time, so chalk it as much as a creepy coincidence. It does make me glad Echo audio system provide a bodily mute button to shortly reduce the mic everytime you need.

Fears of the eventual reign of Skynet apart, the Dot permits for a world of comfort by way of Alexa, particularly if you happen to add different sensible units. For instance, just like the 4th-generation Dot, the Fifth-gen’s built-in movement sensors might be programmed to activate suitable smart lights if you enter a room. For Eero Wi-Fi router homeowners, the brand new Dot may also be utilized as a mesh Wi-Fi extender, enhancing Wi-Fi bother spots in bigger homes. (This characteristic was additionally lately added to the 4th-gen Echo speaker, and Amazon says it’s coming to the 4th-gen Echo Dot, too.)

There are tons of different methods to make use of the Dot with Alexa, in fact, together with the flexibility to make calls to anybody in your contacts record, make intercom calls to different Echo units all through your private home, create procuring lists, play video games, examine your calendar, and join and management an ever-expanding array of different units, from robot vacuums to Fire TV streaming sticks and garage door openers. You may also join two Echos as a stereo pair or add extra as a part of a whole-home audio system.

Because of Amazon’s compliance with Matter—a unified protocol designed to attach units throughout sensible ecosystems like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri—it’s turning into simpler than ever to hyperlink up any sensible system with an Echo speaker, too. Whereas the Dot works high-quality as a standalone sensible speaker for taking part in your favourite tunes, the extra you set into your sensible residence aspirations, the extra you’ll get out of it.

Strong Sound for a Small Ball

• Speaker: 1.73in (43.94mm) driver
• Connections: Twin-band Wi-Fi helps 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, Eero built-in

The Echo Dot has at all times been the speaker to purchase if you happen to’re at the start searching for an effective way to provoke Alexa on a finances, or to unfold out plenty of sensible audio system all through your private home. Music is an afterthought at this dimension and worth level, and particularly with all the opposite issues the Dot can do, that’s comprehensible.

That being stated, Amazon desires you to understand it’s nonetheless tooling, and the Fifth-generation Dot will get improved sonic abilities, together with a barely bigger driver inside. That is usually listen-while-you-work sound high quality, however it does an awesome job for that objective, significantly in the midst of the sound the place nearly all of your favourite devices excel.

The higher bass and midrange are heat and comparatively clear, letting stringed devices, drums, and vocals pop with some nice taste. Decrease bass frequencies don’t make the reduce, and the speaker seems to roll off the upper frequencies fairly closely, too, which means instrumentation like cymbal crashes and whistling synthesizers sound tinkly and missing in resonance. However distortion is minimal, and there’s a bit extra respiration room for devices to increase than in earlier Dots I’ve heard.

Protecting expectations in examine is essential—there’s solely a lot you are able to do to fight physics. With that in thoughts, I believe most will probably be glad with the most recent Dot as a go-to podcast and musical companion within the bed room, kitchen, or rest room. It’s particularly helpful for these instances if you simply need to play some tunes with out having to trace down your cellphone.

Ought to You Purchase the Amazon Echo Dot Fifth-gen Sensible Speaker?

Standing on the shoulders of smart-speaker giants, the 5th-gen Echo Dot is a flexible little sensible residence portal, with zippy Alexa entry, comparatively good sound high quality, and a few helpful new built-in options that make it price contemplating over its predecessor.

This isn’t a “must-upgrade” state of affairs for these with an Echo Dot 4th-gen, and people searching for higher sound high quality in a speaker that does just about every thing the brand new Dot can will need to take into account investing within the pricier 4th-generation Echo speaker. However if you happen to’re trying to seize the perfect finances sensible speaker, and particularly if you need the comfort of the clock, the Fifth-generation Dot is a good purchase.