Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Generation
Description
The Amazon Echo Dot 3rd generation, As Amazon does its level best to infiltrate every possible product market, every possible home and every possible room, the new Echo Dot 3rd generation is perhaps the most enticing way to bring Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant into your home. But if you like the idea of a smart assistant combined with a simple music speaker, it’s hard to argue against the Echo Dot.
There remains something quite futuristic about bellowing commands at, and hearing responses from, a little electronic voice in a box, but on the surface everything about this product is pretty simple. The small, puck-shaped design remains but it has been jazzed-up and improved on this 3rd-gen Dot.
Fabric replaces the hard exterior of the previous model and the controls on top of the device have had a makeover, too. It looks noticeably smarter as a result – we see it as a nice addition to a room rather than something you want to tuck out of sight.
You need to connect the Echo Dot to power, and you can wire in other devices via the 3.5mm aux output for better sound, but otherwise it can go anywhere that it can hear your voice. Once powered-up, it’s simple to use the Amazon Alexa app and get it connected to your wi-fi network.
The 3.5mm audio output and Bluetooth connectivity is about as much as you get it. This means if you do want a bigger, better sound than the Echo Dot can deliver, then you can make a wired or wireless connection to another device. Otherwise, it’s all about Alexa in terms of features. And it’s worth pointing out that all this connectivity, and everything Alexa can do, is in line with the 2nd-gen Echo Dot.
Alexa can still play music, answer questions, read the news, check the weather, set alarms and control compatible smart home devices, from TVs to home cinema amplifiers and speakers. And you can control Spotify and TuneIn, as well as Amazon Music. Voice calls are a relatively new addition, while the number of Skills – devices that work with Alexa – are constantly growing and include a whole suite of products from Sonos to Domino’s Pizza and Uber.
What is new, is a new driver and a change to the microphone layout. There’s a 4cm driver here as opposed to 3cm on the previous model and Amazon claims it’s 70 per cent louder as a result. Interestingly there are fewer microphones, four rather than seven, but tweaks to the design aim to make performance every bit as strong.
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