Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) review
What is it?
The most affordable official way to get Alexa into your house.
Design & Construction
- The Echo Dot is now in its third generation and it’s a fairly small device that looks really good. We particularly like the soft fabric finish on speaker grille which gives it a premium look.
- Up top, there are four buttons – two for the volume, one to manually trigger Alexa (if you don’t want to speak the hotword for some reason), and the fourth one disengages the microphones for your privacy.
- Alongside the buttons are four microphones. These are the reason behind the speaker’s superb accuracy while responding to your voice command. You can be anywhere in the room, or you can even have a song playing on the speaker, these mics will ensure that Alexa responds to your voice command every time you use the hotword.
- Like all smart speakers, the Echo Dot is wired as well. It connects through a proprietary pin connector. Accompanying the power port is an AUX input if you like the old school way of connecting.
Alexa functionality
- If you’re wondering why do need a smart speaker when you have Google Assistant or Siri on your smartphone, then, you must know that a dedicated smart speaker gives you the best experience with an AI-based voice assistant.
- Thanks to its aforementioned four microphones (smartphone have just one), Alexa can listen to you even in the noisiest of the environments.
- Alexa interprets Indian accent quite well actually, and on the India-spec Echo devices, it even responds back in a familiar Indian female voice.
- You have to download the official Alexa app on your phone and set the speaker. Once signed in, you can customise the device settings as per your taste. For all compatible third-party services, just enable its specific skill from the app. Once enabled, you’re sorted!
- Alexa can execute tons of tasks based upon your voice alone. Be it controlling smart home devices, playing music, telling jokes, solving quick math calculations, setting timers, etc. It can also play games with you and even help you sleep! To see how Alexa works on the Echo Dot, please watch our video review which you’ll find at the end of this article.
- It would be better if you have an Amazon Prime membership since Alexa prefers using Amazon’s services first, however, it’s no compulsion.
Audio Quality
- Given its small size, the Echo Dot actually sounds very good. Obviously, you can get much louder regular Bluetooth speakers at this price, but given the Echo’s smart functionalities, it won’t be a fair comparison.
- The audio output of the device is pretty flat and goes well with a wide range of music. Sound distortion at full volume is negligible which is rare on a small speaker like this one.
- It’s made to be on your bedroom’s side table, or in your office/ study room, and its sound can fill up an average to big room quite easily. It is made for leisure listening rather than being the centre of a party.
Verdict
- At Rs 4500, the Amazon Echo Dot is not particularly affordable, but it’s like a stepping stone into the world of smart speakers. It’s something you’d buy to see if spending over Rs 10,000 on bigger smart speakers is worthy for you or not.
- It is also a great option for those looking to upgrade their homes with new smart home devices.
Check out our Echo Dot video review:
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) review
8.4
Pros
- Alexa is quite accurate
- Sounds good for its size
- Looks premium
Cons
- Could have been more affordable
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