SPOT THE DIFFERENCE... ALEXA WON’T DISAPPOINT YOU!
Amazon’s Echo with its built-in helpful, cheery digital assistant, Alexa, is going down a storm. We don’t know exactly how many Echos have been sold, but the bosses at Amazon were surprised when they exceeded their optimistic target for last year. Luckily for us, the latest incarnation of the Echo, the Spot, is now on sale here. It’s like a slimmed-down version of the Echo Show, as it has a small circular screen on the front. The Spot is a neat size, just over 90mm tall, and plugs into the mains. It connects via Wi-Fi and while it has an adequate speaker, it can play its audio wirelessly to your existing Bluetooth speaker. Alexa will happily answer your questions and you can control your smart home devices using your voice. She’ll advise you on traffic or the weather and you’ll see little cards flash up on the screen related to the answer she’s giving. The Spot has a camera as well as a screen, and the standout feature of the Spot is its ability to ‘drop in’ on someone or make video or voice calls. So if you’re checking in on a relative or friend, you just ask Alexa to call them and she’ll connect the video call so you can chat and see each other. It’s available online at Amazon or at Currys PC World, priced €144.99.