Amazon Echo Spot
FOR Sharp screen; neat design; clear midrange AGAINST Sound could be better; lack of video content
In 2016, Amazon launched the Echo Dot – a small, puck-like speaker with a voice assistant that played music, answered simple questions and did a range of other tasks. Compared with the original Echo, its appeal was clear: it was a smaller, cheaper, more attractive way of getting Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa into your home.
Amazon is trying the same tactic with the Echo Spot – a small, round speaker that looks like a clock, with the same built-in voice assistant and functionality. This one also has a screen and video camera.
As the Dot was to the original Echo, the Spot is to the Echo Show – a product that Amazon launched last November. The Spot has a smaller screen and speaker, but those are the only real design differences.
With the same smart-assistant capabilities as the other Echo products, Amazon hopes the Spot is seen as an entry point into its smart-device ecosystem. But how much more does this smart-clock offer over its brethren – especially with a larger price tag, and a potentially more intrusive presence in your home?
It’s no mug
Rather than the cylindrical body of the Amazon’s speaker products, or the angular design of the Echo Show, the Echo Spot is round with a flat bottom, and about the size of a coffee mug. It feels well made, and at 420g, is hefty enough to seem sturdy, yet light enough to place anywhere.
On its face is a round, 6.3cm LCD touchscreen with a 480 x 480 pixel resolution, while on the bottom is a built-in 2W, 35mm speaker – although the Spot also has a 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth to connect to better sounding kit. Bluetooth connectivity also works if you wish to use the Spot as a speaker, connecting to your smartphones and tablets.
At the top of the Spot are three buttons, two for volume and one to toggle the microphone on and off. The camera, which is placed unobtrusively in the middle of the outer ring, has a similar toggle, but that’s located deeper into the Spot’s settings. Some songs have lyrics, displayed on the touchscreen over the album artwork
The camera’s primary function is video calling, which you can do with anyone who has an Echo Spot or Echo Show. For those with an Alexa-enabled speaker, you can make voice calls to them using the Spot’s four-microphone array, which we find as responsive, in our medium-sized testing rooms, as the other Echo devices.
Voice and video calling comes in two forms: a normal video call where the other person has to answer, and a ‘Drop In’ mode that has the device automatically engage the call. This might be a useful feature for those thinking of using the Spot to video-chat with distant relatives.
However, the camera is definitely the Spot’s most controversial feature. While some may like what it brings to the table, others might have concerns about placing a camera so prominently in their home.
Potential security flaws may not be a deal-breaker, but you may want to consider disabling the camera or placing some tape over it when not in use.
Round the clock
The Echo Spot has all the abilities of other Echo devices: you can use it to call a taxi, check your flights, order pizza, solve sums, and do the range of other functions allowed by Amazon’s voice assistant.
The Spot defaults to an analogue clock face, but there are a number of other design options, including Onyx, Bold Teal, Modern Fuschia, an owl and a vinyl record (our preference, of course). It then scrolls through a range of information, including notifications from your Alexa skills, upcoming events (if you’ve linked your calendar to the Alexa app) and headlines from trending stories on news outlets.
If you’re signed up to Amazon Prime, you can also watch videos on the Spot. While this is an enjoyable feature, having Prime Video as the primary source of long-form video isn’t particularly useful.
Amazon is pitching the Spot as a product not just for the bedroom but also the kitchen too, and it’s easy to see how useful the screen might be for watching recipe videos from Youtube, for example.
However, due to Amazon and Google’s ongoing feud (which saw Youtube removed from the Fire Stick and the Echo Show) the internet’s main source of video content is unavailable on the Echo Spot.
Moreover, some of Amazon’s skills are yet to use the Spot to its full potential. The one Alexa recommends for cooking displays step-by-step instructions on screen while reading them out simultaneously. However, rather than having the instructions scroll in time with the recording, the text remains still while Alexa continues to talk.
That said, the ability to check multiple timers at a glance on the Spot – instead of having to ask Alexa to check them as you do on other Echo devices – is much easier, and the screen does have a distinct advantage when it comes to playing music.
Some songs have rolling lyrics, displayed over the album artwork, and using the touchscreen to scroll vertically back and forth through them to control playback is particularly satisfying. Those worried about their children seeing foul language will be pleased to know that Amazon has censored some of the more explicit words.
A bright spot
While the screen’s 250-nit brightness is potent enough for displaying text and clock faces, we wouldn’t recommend it as a video source. To its credit, the Echo Spot has a relatively balanced colour palette when it comes to Prime Video selection. Watching
Lucifer on Amazon Prime Video, skin tones look good and, even under the saturated lights of the Los Angeles nightclubs, the Spot doesn’t overblow the reds and oranges.
The Spot certainly favours bright lights, sunny beaches and clear blue oceans. But change to something murkier, Mr Robot say, and it’s hard to distinguish between a dark coat and shadowy background.
It also, somewhat expectedly, has a tough time showing off any real detail. The low-resolution screen makes it difficult to get any insight to the texture on a character’s outfit or their hair.
Similarly, sound performance, while a marked improvement on the Echo Dot, lacks overall detail and dynamic quality, compared with dedicated smart speakers such as the new Amazon Echo. Playing Kanye West’s Power through the Spot’s built-in Spotify connection, the midrange is commendably clear. It’s detailed enough to make out the little breaths West takes before going into a line, and the plosive character of each lyric as he spits them out.
Since the majority of the sound you’ll be listening to from the Spot will be from Alexa, or news sources, this is certainly the most important factor. Even tracks that push the treble, like Max Roach’s Lonesome
Lover, come across well – although turn the volume up and it does get a little more harsh.
The bass is the area that most obviously lets the Spot down. While the Echo 2 can provide a multi-layered sound in lowfrequency guitars, hinting at the texture to deeper drums, the Spot doesn’t present a particularly insightful, or punchy, sound when given something with a deep beat.
This is the first product of its kind to come through our testing rooms and it performs well. It has a number of useful features, the display is sharp and it looks elegant. However, products such as the Echo Spot live and die by their features, and the current fragility of the deals behind its services means that if Youtube was added, for example, the Spot would be a five-star product. On the other hand, should Spotify end its partnership, it could be three stars.
Nevertheless, the Echo Spot is an impressive piece of kit, and an almostperfect bedroom clock. It’s certainly a product you should consider for your first Alexa-enabled device.
“Though a marked improvement on the Echo Dot, the sound lacks overall detail and dynamic quality, compared with some dedicated smart speakers”