Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – Smart speaker with Alexa
- Our most popular smart speaker: now with a fabric design and improved speaker for richer and louder sound.
- Voice control your music: stream songs from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, TuneIn and others. You can also listen to audiobooks from Audible.
- Bigger, better sound: pair with a second Echo Dot for rich, stereo sound. Fill your home with music with compatible Echo devices in different rooms.
- Ready to help: ask Alexa to play music, answer questions, read the news, check the weather, set alarms, control compatible smart home devices and more.
- Connect with others: call almost anyone hands free including UK mobile and residential numbers (from UK only), other Echo devices, Alexa app and Skype. Link your Vodafone account to make and receive mobile calls. Instantly drop in on other rooms in your home or make an announcement to every room with a compatible Echo device.
- Alexa has skills: with tens of thousands of skills, Alexa is always getting smarter and adding new skills like tracking fitness, playing games and more.
- Voice control your smart home: turn on lights, adjust thermostats, lock doors and more, with compatible connected devices.
- Designed to protect your privacy: built with multiple layers of privacy protection and control, including a Microphone Off button that electronically disconnects the microphones.
Store 4 UK –
Echo Dot is a smart speaker that fits into the context of artificial intelligence. By itself, the Echo Dot can be used from the beginning without using any key. The integrated voice assistant is called “Alexa” and it is this entity that will respond to all our instructions. Echo Dot is a disc-shaped instrument, about 10 cm in diameter and therefore quite small in size. On the top is an LED ring and four keys: (1) the action key, which allows you to enter setup mode if pressed for 5 seconds or reset to factory data if pressed for 25 seconds; (2) key for changing the microphone (ON / OFF); (3) Volume Up and (4) Volume Down to raise and lower the speaker volume. The light ring is an RGB LED that takes on different colours based on the action required by the Echo Dot. It has a power supply and an AUX output if you want to connect third-party headphones or speakers. The lower surface is made of plastic and forms the base. To set up Echo Dot you will need: (1) Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, it is compatible with both), (2), a smartphone with Bluetooth and finally, (3) Alexa App, this thing is on the Play Store or Apple store. Once connected to the power supply, the product will provide voice instructions on what to do in different languages. So, on your smartphone you will have to turn on the Bluetooth, connect it to the Wi-Fi network and start the Alexa application. In the last tab on the bottom right, you need to select “+” from the top right and select “Add Device”, then click on “Amazon Echo” -> “Echo Dot” -> “3rd generation” at this time, the application will ask us to connect via Bluetooth to Echo Dot and, once done, select the Wi-Fi network and enter the password.At the end of the configuration, Echo Dot will inform us about the success of the operation and will be ready to use. Echo Dot is activated every time the activation word “Alexa” (or computer, echo, amazon) is pronounced, at this time it is possible to pronounce the instruction of interest. For example, if you want to know the current time, you need to ask it. : “Alexa, what time is it?” The activation word can be changed from the Alexa app, currently “Alexa”, “Echo”, “Computer” and “Amazon” are available. Echo Dot is a new product, updated constantly and that adapts to your needs and your way of speaking.So the most correct question would be: What can I do with Echo Dot? You can ask for quite simple information: date, time, weather, alarm, traffic, sunset, news of the day, play a certain song (for this functionality you need the paid service Amazon Music); you can connect a Google, Microsoft, Apple account and query Alexa about appointments, add / delete / modify. From the point of view of home automation and other automation, it is possible, for example, to turn on / off smart bulbs to change their colour or light intensity. Turn certain lights on or off. Obviously, this is just a small snippet of what can be done with Echo. How do I add a light bulb, socket, or smart switch? First of all, you need to make sure that the product is compatible with Echo Dot, and Amazon certifies the products sold in the store with the label “Amazon Certified – Works with Alexa”. All of these products are fully compatible with Echo Dot or other Amazon voice assistants. To setup, you need to use the Alexa app, select the configuration tab at the bottom right, then “+” at the top right, and select the type of product to be added and configured. Then follow the instructions provided by the application. Complicated at first glance, it’s not that hard to set up. I have been using it for 3 months and I am always surprised by how much it can do: I have a smart socket, 2 Sonoff switches, smart bulbs. I also made a subscription to Spotify and I assure you that it is worth every penny. It is a futuristic thing and I am convinced that it will evolve over time. And to convince you that it’s not complicated and it’s interesting, I tell you that I’m 60 years old, so I’m not young and if I know how, I’m convinced that you can do it too. Good luck.
Florin –
It’s perfect. I use it for music, weather, alarm, timers, quiz games, etc. Together with a hub and switches from Broadlink, I turn on the lights in my house, the TV, the smart sockets and with the help of a Sonoff switch I can turn on / off the central voice (if the handset is put on the manual). I have 2 pieces, both connect by voice control to external speakers (bluetooth).
Andrew –
good:
– good price for what it offers
– “skills” can be installed that work as a kind of plug-in to increase the functionality over the one with which Alexa comes native
– The ecosystem is quite complete and competitive
– The Amazon Alexa application is quite intuitive
– Decent design, much more than the previous version
– functionality in continuous development
Less good:
– the sound is not as good as it could be, but acceptable in the context of the price
– supports a fairly limited number of streaming services (does not support the main high-res streaming services: Qobuz and Tidal)
– it’s not water / splashproof
– does not have a battery (it depends on the power supply)
– reduced connection possibilities
– doesn’t quite understand the names of certain locations
– a product which cannot be used successfully by persons with modest knowledge of English or German (the main languages supported by the product)
Vincent –
It is very easy to install, if you have done it before, if not very hard until you get caught and learn step by step. [In the end you still get it done]. The bass and treble can be heard very well, of course the quality of the playback source is also good. As a volume [from one to ten, voice command] on the speaker, the +, – buttons seem to adjust more finely. I speak German with her, and I am always pleasantly surprised at how many ways I can give her a command [that is, 3-4 different words, but which have the same meaning] and interpret them correctly as a single command. As a radio I use TuneIn [it’s already integrated in the app, I didn’t set anything, all the important stations in the UK work, about 13 tested, and about 50 German, but the transmission quality differs from station to station. As sockets, the Home ones work perfectly, and d-link something like wa215 that took out my white hairs until I set it up with its application on the phone a few years ago, and to my surprise, I found the skill in the Alexa application. At Home sockets I had already thought that they would go with Alexa, but I also found the skill in the Alexa app. [No merchant of these sockets does not specify that they are Alexa compatible, total disinterest in being good, at least in info, if not in price ] The problem I noticed is that it is already addictive [that is, I have to move it from one room to another [kitchen-bedroom and vice versa] It’s a pleasure to give it timer, stopwatch, alarm, radio commands, how is the weather, today tomorrow in 7 days, if I need an umbrella in an hour, etc., and many, many thousands of skills, so NO CHANCE TO EVER GET BORED! PS The sound gives the feeling of a big speaker! The suspicious ones will be surprised. Recommended only for technology lovers and not only.
Store 4 UK –
Great quality product. Amazon is the best, as always!