Over the past two years, I’ve slowly been investing more and more into the Alexa and Echo ecosystem. Coming out of the Google Home network, I’ve been investing in devices like the Echo Show 15 and the Echo Show 5. I’ve happily adopted Amazon’s devices as they act as central hubs around my home. However, the new Echo Spot has quickly entered my heart.
Unlike the Echo Show 15 and the Echo Show 5, which feel like Amazon’s true vision for what Alexa-enabled devices can be, the Echo Spot is a much more back-to-basics device. It takes me back to the early days of smart speakers and smart displays. Rather than an all-in-one smart hub with a touch screen, camera, widgets, etc., Echo Spot comes with a far more affordable price and the essential features you’d need from a smart speaker.
Offering a far more minimalist design with a smaller footprint, Echo Spot is available at an easy-to-swallow $99 in Canada. As an inspired follow-up to the now-discontinued original Echo Spot, this year’s model ditches the full-screen display for a paired-down semi-circle screen. It primarily focuses on displaying the current time, weather, and date. It also supports voice assistance and can be used as your alarm clock. It makes for a great bedside device or office device. As long as you’re okay with not having access to widgets or a camera, Echo Spot is a great device for your home.
With the understanding that Echo Spot is a simple yet effective Amazon device, it should come as no surprise but the packaging and setup are just as simple. As of the time of writing, Echo Spot is available in three colours, including Black, Glacier White, and Ocean Blue. This colour sweeps over the majority of the device, including the speaker on the front. It’s not a radical change from anything in the Echo lineup. However, it’s simple enough to sit on a bedside table or desk and not stand out too much.
Echo Spot features a small 2.83-inch flat front-facing display. It supports touch functionality, albeit limited by the supporting features available. The display features a clock, current weather, date, etc. with colourful animations. It does offer some touchscreen functionality as well. The design and colourway of the display can be changed within the Alexa app. Underneath is a 1.71-inch directional speaker hidden under a coloured grille.
On the outer shell of the Echo Spot, Amazon built in a small array of buttons to increase and decrease the volume of music. There’s also a mute button for voice assistant functionality. All the buttons are discrete, blending into the colour pallet of the device. There’s also a small power outlet built into the bottom. Emphasizing once again, there isn’t all that much to the design and build of the Echo Spot.
As mentioned, I’ve been primarily using the Echo Show 15 and the Echo Show 5. The latter of which has served as my bedside hub and clock. While I’ve enjoyed its offerings and screen functionality, it’s way more than I’ve needed in most cases. The Echo Spot’s minimalist approach to displaying information has been welcomed with open arms. As a replacement for my Echo Show 5, the Echo Spot is a great substitute for an alarm clock. Within the Alexa app, I was able to choose from a selection of clock faces, some of which included weather information. There are also colour presets available, ranging from blue to teal, violet, orange, and more. Unfortunately, there isn’t a full colour gamut to play around with but you should find one that suits your tastes.
Echo Spot can effectively display important information whether it’s the aforementioned clock or weather. It can also show what music is playing. By swiping down on the display, Echo Spot supports a Home menu option. There are also display brightness settings as well as a Do Not Disturb Mode. Additionally, there’s a Settings menu that offers customizations for Bluetooth, Display option, Accessibility and more. When combined with Alexa voice commands, I’m able to call up other devices like my smart lights. Here I can use touch controls to interact with those devices in a limited way. Unfortunately, beyond that, the touchscreen functionality is a bit hit or miss. Sometimes the drop-down menu takes moments to activate and show up. Taps and presses sometimes don’t register. Thankfully, there’s little to no function that can’t be accessed via the Alexa app, which is how I prefer to interact with the settings.
Don’t expect Echo Spot to support video content and video apps. The device’s 2.83-inch is comically small to be used for YouTube or any streaming service. Thus, it’s probably a good idea for Amazon to forgo any support of video content. There’s also a narrow field of view in which the display can be clearly seen. Amazon’s approach has been to invest in Echo Spot’s ability to be a utility for a handful of features, not a jack of all trades.
Aside from core smart clock functions, Echo Spot is also a pretty adept smart speaker. Despite its size, it can provide some pretty good volume for a bedroom-sized room or office space. With its front-facing driver, you’ll likely want to be positioned right in front of the device to get the best experience. It’s certainly not going to be the speaker used for a huge living room party but it has served me well while I’m cleaning on a Sunday or doing laundry.
When it comes to the audio quality, it’s best to keep expectations tempered. The Echo Spot offers very little bass, which is always a bit of a letdown. However, its range is surprisingly detailed. There’s quite a bit of low-to-mid resonance across many of the tracks I listened to. Even as the volume was raised, vocals and instrumentals remained clear. This was also very apparent while listening to a podcast as speaker voices came in clearer than I expected. It isn’t until you begin to top out the volume that the audio becomes a bit distorted.
On top of music and podcasts, Echo Spot supports Alexa audio calling and the Drop-In intercom system. In both cases, voices came out clearly. Gathering some feedback, I was also told that my voice came in clear with no distortions thanks to the built-in microphone. As it does not have a built-in camera video calls aren’t supported nor are you able to leverage any livestream video from your security camera.
As an entry-level option within the Amazon Echo catalogue, the new Echo Spot is an easy recommendation. If you’re like me and are building out your suite of Echo products, the more refined Echo Spot fits naturally as a bedside table device. With a paired-down collection of features and support, the Echo Spot is fundamentally great as an alarm clock
Priced at $99, you will have to make concessions as far as smart home integrations. With limited functionality and practically no widgets, Echo Spot can supplement certain activities while forgoing the rest. It still remains certain that Amazon’s latest device is one of the best smart alarm clocks on the market.
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Right now at Best Buy Canada this device is currently on sale for $69, which is pretty good! It is not for sale on Amazon Canada for this price, just Best Buy!
I just purchased this device a few days ago at the Amazon Prime price of $65, and for some reason they shipped me two for the price of one. Such a deal! I'm very happy with it, keeping one on my desk and the other replaced an old bedside clock/radio/CD. Apparently two can be paired as audio stereo speakers, although I have yet to try that feature. I also took advantage of the Prime prices to buy an Amazon Smart Plug for $5 ($35 regular price). I should have purchased more, but I'll wait for the next sale…