Although, being able to mount it to a wall, which neither of the other speakers can do without clumsy accessories, adds a little more dimension to the otherwise tinny sound.

Echo Dot 5th Gen Smart Speaker Clock | Glacier White 2022 Echo Dot 5th Gen Smart Speaker Clock | Glacier White

The primary data collected by the Echo Dot with Clock are voice and smart home device interactions with Alexa. While this is a firm favorite for me as a bedside smart speaker, I also tested the Echo Dot with Clock in the kitchen and the bathroom. The other option for a diminutive smart speaker — the Nest Mini — doesn’t come close in terms of sound quality. The fourth-gen and third-gen Dots have the audio jack, so you’re not out of luck if you want this feature. That feature just arrived as an update on the fourth-gen Echo and is also coming to the fourth-gen Dot later this year, so it’s not really a reason to upgrade to the fifth-gen Dot on its own.

As someone who spends most of her day surrounded by screens, the glanceable LED grid display on the Dot with Clock is a welcome respite at nighttime, providing just enough information at my bedside to be helpful without being distracting.

Echo Dot with Clock (5th Generation), Cloud Blue + Portable

If I could choose which devices connected to the Dot — and, say, just put my smart lights on it — this would be more helpful to me. Now, in addition to displaying the time, volume level, alarms, and timers, the Dot can show a scrolling weather forecast, song title, and other text responses to queries. Based on my testing, it’s not going to give you the same performance as if you were connected to an Eero node, but it could be helpful to extend coverage to, say, a video doorbell or security camera outside your home. The Echo Dot with Clock has long been my favorite small smart speaker, and with these improvements, it’s now my go-to smart alarm clock. Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads.The most intriguing new feature is that the new Dots can act as Wi-Fi extenders for an Eero mesh system.