Skip to main content

Initial Review: Amazon Echo Dot


An Amazon Echo Dot is the smaller sibling to the larger Amazon Echo and Tap but packs most of the same functionality. With support for Spotify and a variety of other apps this is a great low cost home personal assistant.

Design
The Echo Dot has a simplistic design that is discreet and small enough to blend into your living room. It comes in both black and white, there is also the option to buy fabric or leather covers from Amazon if you really want to make it look great in your setup. The Dot has a LED ring around in circumference that lets you know that the Alexa has heard your voice or if it is in either setup or disconnected mode. There a four buttons on top, volume up & down, mute mic and an action button for activating Alexa. It is powered via micro USB (provided in the box with a power adapter).
Design = 4/5


Usability
The Echo Dot is a simple voice activated speaker that you can ask many questions such as "What is the weather going to be like today?" and you will get a detailed yet brief lowdown on the weather in your area. The microphones can struggle to pick you up when the speakers are playing music at high volumes. There is an 3.5 mm aux out port if you wish to connect it to an external speaker or you could connect to a Bluetooth speaker.
Usability = 3/5

Features
The Echo Dot is feature rich with support for a variety of apps including Spotify, Prime Music, Lyft, Just Eat, Sky News, Network Rail and many more. I believe you can also set a default music app if you are subscribed to multiple however I have yet to test this out for myself. Although because Amazon want to push their own Music Unlimited service they are unlikely to add support for Google's Play Music or Apple's iTunes anytime soon.
Features = 4/5

Value
At the price I got it for of £39.99 it is an absolute steal but even at it's full price of £49.99 it is well worth the money it if you want to delve into the world of personal assistants.
Value = 5/5

Total Score: 16/20

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Android 7.1.1 New Features

Launch Actions Launch actions are the biggest addition to Android 7.1.1 in my opionion. The ability to get to where you want to in an app without having to find it within the app itself is really quite useful. To use this feature you just long press on an app icon and it will bring up a range of shortcuts. You can still move icons in the same way by long pressing and dragging. For now it seems like only Google apps have these shortcuts but I'm sure that developers will soon start adding support. However, since the first beta Twitter has added Launch actions to their app. Twitter Launch Actions Gender Equality Emoji There is a host of new emoji in this Nougat update. One the main additions is job based emoji now have both male and female representation. There are also loads of now job emoji such as rock star and teacher. GIF Keyboard There is now an option to send a GIF straight from your keyboard in Android 7.1.1 in supported apps such as Allo, Hangouts a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reasons Why I'm Choosing The Pixel

I've spent the last month deciding over which phone to purchase next and I've assessed a lot of options including the iPhone. In this post I will look at the reason as to why I'm choosing the Pixel Phone by Google over the iPhone. 1: Putting Google First I am fully integrated to the Google ecosystem in which I use a lot of Google apps such as Calendar, Keep, Inbox and Drive Pretty much everything I do on technology, apart from my Xbox One, always involves some kind of Google service or product so it makes sense to continue that by choosing the Pixel. I am of course aware that almost all of Google's apps are available on the App Store for iOS but nothing will quite beat that pure Google experience offered by the Pixel Phone. Google Daydream 2: Daydream This is something that I believe will completely revolutionise the virtual reality industry for everyday consumers with a simple affordable headset and controller combination this is the first place most peo...
Post a Comment
Read more

#MadeByGoogle Event Preview

Tomorrow is the day of the long awaited Google Event where we are expecting to see many products announced and showcased. Pixel Phones These handsets have being pretty much entirely leaked at this stage but tomorrow will see the confirmation of the leaks and hopefully a few surprises from Google with some additional features and exclusive software functionality for these phones Chromecast Ultra We are also expecting top see the follow up to the Chromecast 2 and Chromecast Audio. This new Chromecast will support 4k and cost $69. Google Home Tomorrow should see the release date announced for Google's Amazon Echo rival in Google Home. This device is rumoured to cost $129 which is considerably less than the Amazon Echo. We also expect to see the announcement of a 7-inch tablet, Google Daydream and the new Chrome OS/Android crossover operating system Andromeda.
Post a Comment
Read more