The Echo Dot is by far the most popular of the Echo speakers, mainly due to the huge discounts Amazon regularly offers on it (as little as £19.99). It is perhaps also due to it’s small size and inconspicuous design, allowing it to be placed out of the way in almost any room. Here we will explore the main reasons to choose an Echo Dot over the other Echo speakers.
Echo Dot Specification
- Dimensions – 43mm x 99mm x 99mm
- Weight – 300g
- Connectivity – Dual-band Wi-Fi, 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5 GHz) and Bluetooth A2DP
- Internal Speaker – 1 x 1.6in speaker
- Ports – 1 x Power, 1 x 3.5mm Audio port
- Colours – Charcoal, Heather Grey, Plum & Sandstone
The Echo Dot features a single tiny 1.6in speaker, so the sound quality is never going to compete with a Sonos or Bose speaker. That said, we were very surprised by just how good the Dot sounds, and how well it handles almost all types of music. Even at high volume, the Echo Dot performs very well when compared to similar sized (and priced) speakers.
The sound quality does depend on the quality of the audio being played, as well as the speaker’s location. It sounds much better when it has space around it, and when placed on a solid wooden surface. To improve sound further, you can place it on a small felt patch.
The controls on the Dot are fairly simple, with buttons on the top for volume up and down, an action button, and a button to turn off the microphone. As with all Echo speakers, alerts, actions and different speaker states (microphone off for example) are shown by the coloured light ring.
The Echo Dot is now also available with a digital clock display built in. The clock is shown through the fabric on the side of the speaker, with its brightness controlled by a light sensor, making it perfect as a bedside clock/speaker.
The clock version is slightly more expensive than the standard Echo Dot, and is only (currently) available in the Sandstone colour.