If you want, you can still (at the time of writing) get this model for a little cheaper. £39/ $39 but that’s not much of a saving. The major difference, of course, is that the Dot does not have the large speaker of the Echo. It still has a built-in speaker, but of course doesn’t offer the same volume or quality of the big Echo. The other difference is that the Dot doesn’t have a rotating ring on top. Instead, it has two volume buttons on top along with the microphone mute and multi-purpose button which are also present on the big Echo.
The Dot does have the same seven microphones and can hear you across the room, just like its big brother. It can also act as a Bluetooth speaker: pair it with your phone or tablet and you can play music wirelessly. This Bluetooth capability also works the other way as you can use the Echo Dot as the source of audio and connect it to your own (louder) Bluetooth speaker. That’s one way to get higher quality sound from your Echo Dot, but it also has a standard 3.5mm minijack output for hooking up just about any powered speaker or hi-fi. The big Echo has neither of these features. It falls down, of course, when you start playing music, but it’s no worse than many portable radios, so if you want to pop it on your bedside table or even in the kitchen it might be all you need. And thanks to accessories such as the Ninety7 Vaux, you can upgrade the Dot’s sound quality and make it battery powered at the same time.
This is why the Dot is such good value: it can do everything the Echo can do as far as Alexa is concerned. Alexa isn’t a match for the Google Assistant in the Google Home when it comes to answering general questions, but once you understand her strengths and weaknesses, you quickly know before you ask whether she’ll be any help. For example, you can ask for definitions of words, distances between places, heights of mountains, even who is the oldest person alive. Alexa can also read out Wikipedia articles. She’ll tell you jokes, and there are lots of things you can say to her to get funny responses. It’s the practical stuff at which Alexa is the best, such as setting timers, alarms, manging items on your to-do and shopping lists, playing music, checking if the train is late and turning on the lights. She can even handle reminders now. Many of Alexa’s skills have to be enabled before they work, but this is a simple as browsing the ‘skills store’ and finding what you like. New skills are added every week, and so Alexa grows more useful all the time. It’s frustrating if your smart thermostat or lights aren’t supported, but most of the popular brands have already added Alexa support. This means you can say, “Alexa set the heating to 21 degrees” while you’re sat on your sofa without having to turn on your phone, launch an app and then make the adjustment. Put simply, it’s a lot faster to use your voice, and you can check your commute while your hands are busy brushing the kids’ teeth. Having a Prime subscription will also enable you to order certain things via Alexa and even track their delivery, but frankly this isn’t a must-have feature. And because Alexa doesn’t care who’s speaking, it can be a bit dangerous when your kids work out they can ask Alexa to buy things – including digital music. Fortunately, you can disable this or set a four-digit PIN that must be spoken to authorise purchases. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
