Amazon Echo Spot
Wake me up beforere you Wi-fi
Alarm clocks just got a lot smarter
The Echo Spot is to the Echo Show w (see our review, Issue 518) whathat the Ececho Dot is to the Echo: a smaller,aller, cheapcheaper aper version with essentially the same features. It looks more endearing, shaped like a truncated sphere about the size of a softball,ll, and its little round screen is attractive, showing a clock, ock, with a choice of faces when hen idle, and information, suchuch as song details, when in use.e. Like other Echos, it plugs intoto the mains and requires a home ome Wi-fi network.
A camera is also built in, as well ll as the speaker and microphonehone for communicating with Alexa,lexa, so you can use the Spot for video chathat with other Amazon Echo users, whoho can ‘drop in’ on you if you enable that slightly scary feature. Thanks to Alexa’s compatibility with third-party ‘smart home’ accessories, it can also monitor the feed from devices like a Nest IQ Cam; and you could watch TV shows on it via Amazon Prime Video, if you really wanted to.
The Spot is described as a smart alarm clock, and it’s good at that. Instead of fiddling with knobs, you just say, “Alexa, wake me up at 7am” or “Alexa, wake me at 7am with classical music”. Or, if you have an Amazon Prime Music or Music Unlimited subscription, “Alexa, wake me at 7am with that song that goes ‘Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen’”. This will all work just as well with any other Echo, but the screen makes the Spot a more congenial bedside companion. To avoid getting woken up by people in other titime zones, use ththe Do Not Disturb mode.
If there’s one shortcoming, it’s audio quality. The Echo Show impressed us in this respect, but the Spot, although superior to the Dot, sounds thin. There’s not much bass, and while it’s audible in the bedroom, if you keep it in the kitchen it’ll lose the battle with a boiling kettle or extractor fan. Unlike the Show, it does have a jack for an external speaker (as well as Bluetooth), but that seems like missing the point of the compact format. On the input side, the internal mics did pick up our voice reliably.
VERDICT: It’s an expensive alarm clock and we wish the sound was better, but with all the same Alexa features as the other Echos and a friendly screen, this feels almost ideal
★★★★☆
ALTERNATIVE: Amazonon Echo (2nd gen) £90 The Spot’s LCD screenn is cute, but if you don’t feel you need it, the standard Echo is 30 quid cheaper and now sounds better
A smart alarm clock with a congenial bedside manner