Latest news with #EchoSpot
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The best tabletop smart speaker is a bargain at $65 while this Echo Spot deal lasts
A simple way to add some immediate smarts to your home is with the Amazon Echo Spot, and with its current pricing you can even add some savings. The Echo Spot is marked down to $65 at Amazon, which is good for $15 in savings, as it regularly costs $80. It's one of the more popular Alexa-compatible devices specifically because of its low cost, so don't miss an opportunity here to pocket an additional $15. Amazon has this marked as a limited-time deal, so it could end at any time. In many ways, the Amazon Echo Spot is a combination of several other Amazon smart speakers and devices. The customizable display checks in at 2.83 inches and comes with six different clock faces that you can choose from. You'll find on this display things like weather and song titles if you've got some music playing, as well as controls for other smart home devices you may have set up. And even though the Echo Spot has some functionality that crosses over with smart displays, it's more of a smart speaker at heart. That means music, podcasts, and anything else you like to listen to is its top priority. It produces big sound for such a small speaker, and with Alexa integrated into the software, all you have to do is give a voice command to play anything from music to audiobooks. All sorts of conveniences come with this little smart speaker. Voice commands for a number of things are often the reason most people purchase an Echo Spot. The way it integrates with other devices, however, is a convenience that can get easily overlooked. You can control your home's smart lighting with the Echo Spot, as well as thermostats and security devices if you've got some set up. Whether you're looking for a way to bring Alexa into your home or just want a great way to listen to some music, the Echo Spot is the perfect smart speaker to tie your smart home together. While it's on sale for $65 it's something everybody with smart home devices should consider. That price is good for $15 off, and it's one of the better sale prices we've seen on the Echo Spot.
Gizmodo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Amazon's Newest Echo Frames and Echo Spot Bundle Saves You $170 Compared to Buying Separately
You can get an Amazon Echo Spot and Echo Frames bundle for 49% off right now, which is a steep discount. If you like the idea of having Alexa always within earshot but don't want another device cluttering your desk or kitchen counter, Amazon's Echo Frames might be the wearable upgrade you didn't know you needed. These smart glasses that actually look like regular glasses, and they're super easy to use. You just put them on and you can control your Amazon Echo devices, like an Echo Spot. And, perhaps most importantly, they don't make you look like a total dork. See at Amazon Get your Amazon Echo Frames and Echo Spot bundle right now on sale at Amazon for just $180. That's $170 less than buying both items separately, down from their normal price bundled together of $350. That's a 49% discount. A tempting combo to make your life much easier So you get the Amazon Echo Frames and Echo Spot in one package here, which means they can be used together. And the glasses don't flash or buzz or dominate your face. You can get them with prescription lenses, and from the outside, most people probably won't even realize you're wearing smart glasses. But once they're on, you can ask Alexa to read your notifications, set reminders, control smart home devices, take calls, or queue up a playlist without having to use your phone or even lift a finger. The audio quality has been upgraded in this generation over the last one, too. The open-ear design directs sound toward your ears while keeping it mostly private. It's not meant to replace your earbuds for deep music sessions, but for casual listening, podcasts, and phone calls, it does the trick. And you still stay fully aware of your surroundings, which is a big plus for walking, commuting, or hanging out somewhere that's super busy. The battery life is solid, too. You get about six hours of active use or up to 14 hours of mixed use throughout the day. When it's time to recharge, the included stand tops them off in around two and a half hours. So that way you don't have to sit around and wait for them to get charged up again for too long. They also support multipoint pairing, which means you can be connected to both your phone and computer at the same time. Switching between calls, music, and voice commands happens automatically without needing to dig through menus. This bundle is just $180 (-49%), which saves you nearly $200 for two completely different devices that pair well together. Make sure you snag it before you have to pay separately for both again. See at Amazon
Telegraph
28-02-2025
- Telegraph
Amazon Echo Spot review: An alarm clock for the 21st century
Alternative retailers: £79.99 at Currys, £79.99 at Argos Our rating: 8/10 We like: Modern design Decent sound quality for small rooms Useful Alexa integration We don't like: Reflective display No audio jack Limited use for the screen What is the Amazon Echo Spot? To badly paraphrase Dickens, the Amazon Echo Spot was dead, to begin with. The retail giant released its original bedside table smart speaker back in 2017 before discontinuing it rather swiftly. Then, in 2024, it was resuscitated with a brand-new look and a significantly cheaper price. Seven years is a long time in technology and despite sticking with the original vision for a compact smart alarm clock, Amazon has made a few changes along the way. Most importantly, the reedy 1.4-inch speaker of the original model has been replaced with a larger 1.73-inch driver. Amazon has also belatedly realised that sticking a camera on a device that sits in the bedroom could be construed as creepy, so that's been jettisoned. The screen is smaller, too, designed for illustrative icons rather than streaming the latest TV box set. Otherwise, the concept remains the same. This is an Echo designed to replace your old-school alarm clock, making your morning routine easier with alarms, radio stations and the time all at your disposal. Because it incorporates the Alexa voice assistant, you can also find out about the traffic and weather, which is undoubtedly useful information when deciding what to wear (or whether to get out of bed at all). At £79.99, it's £40 cheaper than the original Echo Spot, making it a tempting addition to Amazon's smart speaker lineup. How we test smart speakers The best way to test smart speakers is to live with them for an extended period, listening to a variety of different musical styles and testing the extra functionality and features. With smart speakers, the 'smart' is just as important as the 'speaker', so providing them with pop quizzes can be quite instructive, both in terms of how well the device understands spoken instructions and how intelligently the voice assistant answers. I've been using smart speakers since Amazon released the cylindrical original Echo in the UK back in 2016. In the intervening years, I've reviewed most of the leading models from both Google and Amazon, so I have a strong idea of how to get the best (and worst) out of them. Visit our Who We Are page to learn more about Telegraph Recommended reviews. Design, setup and usability: 8/10 Setup, as with all Echo products, is a doddle. You simply connect the speaker, open the app and follow the instructions. Once completed, the Echo Spot will display the time and be ready for further instructions. If you've used an Echo speaker before, this will be second nature, but it's intuitive enough for newcomers to figure out, too. Just use a wake word (by default: 'Alexa') to get its attention and then make your request. 'Alexa, what's the weather today?' as an example. With a headlamp shape and a flat front, the Echo Spot models itself more on the Echo Pop speaker, rather than the all-conquering Echo Dot. Here, it's necessary, as the front includes a 2.83-inch touchscreen, which covers the top half of the speaker. Or at least, it seems to, as it's actually an optical illusion. The black background masks the fact that the screen part is a mere 320 x 240mm rectangle, but it works well for its purpose. You can't stream the latest TV box set, like you could on the best Alexa smart displays, nor would you ever want to. Instead, this small display is used for helpful illustrative icons and text: weather forecast icons for when you ask what it's like outside, or the name of the current track playing, along with album art. It's mostly unnecessary and it does feel like Amazon is still trying to find a purpose for screens on smart speakers, but it's nice to have something to look at as you're barking orders at it. All in all, it's a simple design that will blend into most bedrooms. However, I do have two minor quibbles. Firstly, the screen can be quite reflective in direct sunlight, so finding the right spot for it is important. Secondly, the original Echo Spot had a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting to another speaker. That has been removed, though you can still connect to another speaker via Bluetooth if you want. Sound quality: 7/10 Despite its diminutive size, the Echo Spot packs a surprising punch. The 1.73-inch driver is a big improvement on the original Spot's 1.4-inch speaker, which was only good for radio and audiobooks. Here, you can listen to music quite comfortably, with audio that feels almost as punchy as the Echo Dot. To be clear, this isn't the way that most audiophiles will want to listen and the sound can get a little reedy and somewhat muddy in the mid-range. Audio also tends to distort unpleasantly at louder volumes, but that's not what it's designed for. This isn't a party speaker and for smaller rooms, it's rather good. Voices are crisp and clean, which makes it an excellent bedside radio or audiobook player if you like to fall asleep or wake up to audio. The Alexa voice assistant will happily play the full suite of BBC radio stations, or many UK commercial stations including LBC, Absolute Radio and Heart. Voice assistant: 8/10 All of this is controlled by the Alexa voice assistant and as regular users of Echo smart speakers will know, it's brilliant until it's not. What I mean by this is that, as long as you phrase things exactly the way Alexa understands, you'll find it extremely helpful. Phrases like 'Alexa, turn on the bedroom light', 'Alexa, what's the weather like?' and 'Alexa, continue my audiobook' will almost always elicit the desired response and it still feels kind of magical. Simple trivia questions, like asking for world capitals or the answers to sums, are also batted away with ease. Deviate much beyond this, however, and its limitations become more apparent. You have to be specific when you have a particular artist, song or album in mind, for example, and even that goes out the window if a song happens to have the same name as the album it's featured in. It has improved over the years and the beauty of the Alexa software is that it will continue to get better without you having to switch hardware. But, at the time of writing, you'll still occasionally come across answers that are unhelpful enough to send you back to a screened device. Connectivity: 8/10 Like all other affordable Echo devices, the Echo Spot works with both iPhone and Android smartphones via the Amazon Alexa app. However, other than adding extra functionality to your device (smart home devices and apps), you won't have to use it much once setup is complete. Instead, the Echo Spot connects directly to your home Wi-Fi for most of its functionality and it supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bandwidths on 802.11ac networks. If your internet goes down, the Spot will largely stop working until it's resolved, other than showing the time. Perhaps the most important connectivity is to other smart home devices. Technically, this is done through the Alexa app rather than the Echo Spot itself, but it supports interactivity with a huge array of smart devices from light bulbs to thermostats. The Echo Spot does a great job of controlling them, not only allowing for voice controls ('Alexa, set the thermostat to 21 degrees') but presenting a dial to adjust with touch controls, too. If you want stereo sound, you can pair it with another Echo but it has to be the same model which would look a little strange in the Spot's case. For a more sensible way of getting better audio, you can connect the Echo Spot to a different Bluetooth speaker, but devices that require a PIN code aren't supported. Sadly, there's no stereo out jack for a wired connection. Music streaming services: 9/10 You could do a lot worse than Amazon's own Music Unlimited service, which all Echo devices will push you towards. It has a library of over 100 million songs and while it usually costs £10.99 per month (or £9.99 for Prime members), Amazon lets you attach it to a single Echo device for just £5.99. Graciously, Amazon doesn't force you to use its own streaming service and you're rather spoilt for choice on Echo devices. The vast majority of owners will favour Spotify, with its enormous catalogue of over 100 million tracks and five million podcasts and audiobooks. iPhone users may prefer Apple Music, which keeps things strictly to music, without any extras like podcasts. Tidal and Deezer are also supported, which means the only major omission is Qobuz. Whatever you choose, just make sure you set it to be the default music player in the Alexa app, otherwise you'll have to specify the service you want to use each time: 'Alexa, play 1989 by Taylor Swift on Spotify', for example. Technical specifications: It may seem that the Echo Spot versus the Echo Show is a more sensible comparison, but without support for video playback, the Echo Pop is a better comparison. It's a similar size to the Echo Spot, so handy for bedside tables, but it lacks the screen and clock, making it £35 cheaper at £44.99. It has a slightly larger driver, though sound quality isn't noticeably improved in my experience. Telegraph verdict: 8/10 The Echo Spot is a charming little smart speaker for those who trust Amazon enough not to be weirded out by having a microphone in the bedroom. While the screen feels a little superfluous most of the time, it looks chic and being able to get the time and weather at a glance is helpful indeed. The sound quality is good enough for the bedroom and Alexa is a helpful voice assistant. All in all, it's great that Amazon has decided to revive the Spot and all the more so for £40 less than it cost in its first incarnation. FAQs Does the Echo Spot have a built-in camera? No. The original Echo Spot had a camera, but the 2024 model reviewed here does not, presumably for privacy reasons. What smart home devices work with the Echo Spot? For the most part, the Echo Spot supports the same smart home devices as any other Alexa smart speaker, so hundreds of lights, thermostats, locks and more. Just search for the device you're interested in and see if it's Alexa-compatible. But Amazon does point out that the small screen can't be used as a live feed for connected cameras and doorbells. So treat it more like a smart speaker, rather than a smart screen. Does the Echo Spot have a mute button? There's no mute button, but you can set the volume to zero, either with your voice or with the volume control buttons. You can also disconnect the microphone by tapping the button between the two if you need some privacy. Just remember to turn it back on by tapping it again, or it will ignore your voice commands going forward.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
Amazon Alexa is getting a refresh on February 26
Amazon has announced an event on February 26, where a new, more intelligent version of the Alexa assistant is expected to be launched. The event was teased with a quintet of images that, when joined together, have a background that spells out 'Alexa'. An AI-enhanced Alexa digital assistant that is able to respond more like a chatbot has been in the works for some time. It was expected to be announced last autumn, but had faced technical hurdles than threaten to make this new version of Alexa less useful – and more annoying – than the one we have today. According to Amazon AI head Rohit Prasad, the work-in-progress version of the assistant is susceptible to hallucinations, as he said in an interview with the FT. Hallucinations refer to the habit of LLMs, the tech that powers AI chatbots, to make stuff up. Mr Prasad told the FT that hallucinations need to be 'close to zero' before the software launches to the public. A version of the LLM-based Alexa has been available to some users as a beta for some time, unlocked using the 'let's chat' command. Whether you really want a chatty Alexa if you use it primarily to turn your smart lights on and off is up for debate. And it may come with a sting. Last year, The Washington Post reported Amazon was preparing to introduce a subscription fee for Alexa, pay-walling some AI features. And that could include this supposedly smarter take on Alexa. Amazon has sold well over 500 million Alexa devices, which include Echo speakers – it hit that milestone in 2023. The February 26 event may also be used to refresh the company's Echo line-up. While a smarter Alexa would likely not necessitate new hardware, some of the key models in the family are now quite aged. The Echo Dot had its last design update in 2022, while the larger standard Echo speaker hasn't changed since 2020. Since then, Amazon has introduced the low-cost Echo Pop in 2023, and the bedside-ready Echo Spot in 2024.
