Amazon Echo Pop review: A great, compact smart speaker that's hard to recommend

Telegraph

28-02-2025

Alternative sellers: £44.99 at Currys, £44.99 at Argos
Our rating: 7/10
We like:
Compact design
The cheapest Echo smart speaker
Alexa can be transformative
We don't like:
So-so sound quality
Some missing features
Echo Dot is only £10 more
What is the Amazon Echo Pop?
For years, picking an Amazon smart speaker was reasonably easy. The Echo Studio was for audiophiles, the regular Echo was for mid-range buyers and the Echo Dot was the best-value smart speaker for small spaces or households that want Alexa in more rooms. It was a nice and easy three-tier choice, with clear differentiation on each step of the ladder.
The Echo Pop is now the slightly baffling entry-level model and it's a bit of a head-scratcher given it's so close to the superior Echo Dot in price. It's still a small Alexa smart speaker, letting you control it with your voice but it's even tinier with a design that looks more like a traditional miniature speaker.
It also misses out on a few non-essential features. It can no longer detect motion and the temperature sensor has also been dropped. The ability to tap the top to pause music or snooze an alarm has also gone, as there's no accelerometer inside. It has a slightly larger 1.95-inch driver which should improve sound quality but as you'll read in a moment, I don't think it does.
While you may not miss the features that Amazon has cut to reach its £44.99 asking price, it's only £10 less than the Echo Dot, which makes it a difficult recommendation.
How we test smart speakers
You can break down how we assess smart speakers by the two words that make up the product category.
With the 'smart' portion, we examine the features that the voice assistant offers, how well it understands spoken instructions and how intelligently the device answers. For the 'speaker' part, we look at everything from design and connectivity to sound quality, including the music streaming services that are supported.
Both parts are fully tested by living with the speakers, providing pop quizzes to test the voice assistant and listening to different kinds of media, from rock music to audiobooks.
Personally, I have a lot of experience dealing with smart speakers, having owned an Amazon Echo since the first cylindrical model arrived in the UK back in 2016 and I've reviewed most Amazon and Google hardware since. I know all too well how they can both dazzle and frustrate, often both in a single afternoon.
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Design, setup and usability: 9/10
Amazon has incorporated ease of use down to a fine art with its Echo products. With just a cable and the Pop speaker in the box, it will begin guiding you through the setup process as soon as you connect it to the mains, instructing you to download the Alexa app with a crisp, clear voice.
Once in, adding the speaker is quick and easy and then it's ready to use. It's simple, even for newcomers, to get the hang of the Echo. Just say the wake word (defaulted to 'Alexa', but with a number of alternatives selectable in the app) followed by what you want to happen.
Saying 'Alexa, what's in the news?' will give you a quick rundown of the headlines, while asking the voice assistant to 'play the Rolling Stones' will provide access to instant 60s rock greatness (with a live subscription to a streaming service, but more on that later).
The Pop looks a bit different from recent Echo devices, eschewing the futuristic-looking sphere shape for a more traditional flat front and lacking the Echo Spot's miniature display. The headlight-shaped device comes in four colours including just a plain black or white, as well as a more playful lavender or teal, allowing it to be less or more understated than the Echo Dot to match your personal taste and home decor.
Sound quality: 6/10
It feels a bit harsh to judge the Echo Pop on its sound quality, as it's clearly not aimed at audiophiles. Indeed, on its own merits, the sound is rather good for such a diminutive speaker and it's rather pleasant for casual desk listening at a low volume while you work, especially if you're listening to spoken-word content like podcasts, audiobooks or the radio.
However, despite having a larger 1.95-inch driver, to my ears, the Echo Pop sounds noticeably worse than the 1.73-inch speaker inside the Echo Dot. The explanation may simply be that the round shape of the Dot spreads audio more evenly than the front-facing flat grille of the Echo Pop, but it sounds less rich and is more prone to distortion at higher volumes. Interestingly, even Amazon seems to acknowledge these differences on its product listings: the Echo Dot offers a 'bigger vibrant sound', while the Pop merely provides 'full sound'.
It's worth noting that if you are determined to use the Echo Pop for music, you can combine two as a stereo pair and this will improve things no end. But if you're spending £90 on Echo Pops, you're probably better off buying the regular Amazon Echo for £20 more instead.
Voice assistant: 7/10
Amazon has been improving the Alexa voice assistant since it first arrived on the scene in 2014 and it's now mature enough to mostly behave as you'd hope.
Phrases like 'Alexa, what does my commute look like?' and 'Alexa, turn on the bedroom light' work reliably, instantly eliciting the desired response without fuss. Trivia questions that would once have stumped it with a disappointing 'Hmm, I don't know that one' now get decent responses more often than not, as long as they're phrased simply.
It's not perfect and it can still disappoint, most often when asking for specific music. Quite often, you'll find it playing something completely different to what you've asked for, even when you've listed the exact name of the track and artist. Albums with the same name as specific tracks routinely give it problems.
The good news is that Alexa is cloud-based software, so will continue to improve without switching speakers. A first-generation Echo will be just as smart as the latest model, for instance.
With the Pop specifically, the microphones seem a little less responsive, especially when running at higher volumes. That's more of a problem with this model, since Amazon has removed the physical action button that makes it listen for instructions without the 'Alexa' wake word.
Connectivity: 8/10
The Echo family has no preference for iPhone over Android and both platforms have apps with exactly the same functionality. That's good, but in truth, you won't spend much time using the app anyway, unless you're troubleshooting or adding new functionality in the form of extra apps or smart home devices.
The latter is one of the main selling points of an Amazon Echo, with a huge array of compatible devices from smart light bulbs to thermostats, all of which can be controlled from the Echo Pop via your voice (for example: 'Alexa, dim the lights in the living room').
All of this works because the Echo Pop connects directly to your Wi-Fi, supporting both 2.4GHz and 5GHz on 802.11ac networks. The bad news is that if your internet goes down, so will the Echo Pop.
While there's no audio jack, the Echo Pop does have Bluetooth on board. This lets you either output sound directly from another device to the Pop or, more likely, push the Pop's audio to a better Bluetooth speaker. You can also pair two Echo Pops together for stereo sound to improve audio within the Alexa app.
Music streaming services: 9/10
To Amazon's credit, it puts no limits on what streaming platform provides your music. While the Echo Pop does push you to use the company's Music Unlimited service by default, it's easy to override it.
Not that you'll necessarily want to. Like its well-stocked rivals, Music Unlimited has a library of over 100 million songs and you can shave £1 off the £11.99 a month fee if you're a Prime member. The company even offers a single Echo device service for £5.99 a month, though that would be wasted on the Pop.
The Echo Pop supports all the big hitters: Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Deezer all have libraries with hundreds of millions of songs at similar price points, so it's really about picking your preference. The only notable streamer currently unsupported is Qobuz and that doesn't seem to be Amazon's decision.
Whichever streamer you pick, it's worth ensuring that it's set to be the default player in the Alexa app. That will mean you can just say 'Alexa, play classical music' rather than 'Alexa, play classical music on Spotify '.
Technical specifications
As you'll have gathered from the text above, the most natural comparator is the Echo Dot which was, until the Pop arrived, Amazon's cheapest smart speaker. It's close in the battle of Echo Pop vs Echo Dot. Both are small speakers with impressive sound for their price and size, with the latter retailing for £10 more at £54.99.
Telegraph verdict: 7/10
Taken in isolation, the Echo Pop is a marvellous little smart speaker that offers plenty of punch despite its diminutive size. However, while it would be an easy recommendation for testing the waters with smart speakers, the simple existence of the Echo Dot gets in the way of things.
With five generations behind it, the Echo Dot is here to stay and it remains the superior product, with a motion sensor, temperature sensor, tap controls and better sound all going in its favour. For £10 more, it feels like the sensible choice, for this generation at least.
FAQs
What's the difference in sound between the Echo Pop and Echo Dot?
In theory, the Echo Pop should have better sound quality than the Echo Dot, owing to its larger driver. In practice, however, I found that the Echo Dot not only produced a richer sound but that it didn't distort as much at high volumes, either.
Is the Echo Pop loud enough for a small room?
Yes, the Echo Pop's sound can comfortably fill a small room. In terms of volume, it can get impressively loud, but it distorts quite a lot at higher volumes, making it unsuitable for parties.
Can you use the Echo Pop as a Bluetooth speaker?
Yes, you can connect another device to the Echo Pop to use it as a Bluetooth speaker. You can also output audio from the Pop to another Bluetooth speaker, should you wish.
What colours does the Echo Pop come in?
The Echo Pop comes in four colours: Midnight Teal, Glacier White, Charcoal or Lavender Bloom. You can also buy sleeves for the Echo Pop to mix things up even further.