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In no time at all, my toddler was shouting “Lexa, JoJo Siwa Boomerang!” and to my chagrin, the Echo Dot responded by playing the teen pop star’s songs in all their bubbly glory. My daughter bopped around the room as Siwa’s effervescent voice rose above the thumpy bass line. With Alexa the Echo Dot allows you to control all the smart devices in your home. This goes beyond pulling up something on Netflix and feels Sci-Fi the first time you use it. Once connected, the setup process should automatically begin in the app. If not, head to Alexa Devices, then selectAdd Alexa Device within the app. When that’s done, you’re ready to start talking to your device. What can the Echo Dot do? 1) Home assistant and entertainment in one device When we put a range of trivia-related questions to Alexa, while also asking for spellings and definitions, and even a handful of mathematics questions, it was able to answer them with ease and the results were identical to those given by Alexa on a standard Echo Dot. If you’ve never used a smart device, the Echo Dot is a great entry point. For the cost of a night out at the movies (including popcorn and a drink) you can see what the smart home hype is all about.
There’s an LED ring at the bottom of the speaker that glows blue when Alexa is listening to a voice instruction, red when the microphone is muted, or yellow when there’s a notification or the speaker has lost its Wi-Fi connection. Below this is a rubber disc designed to protect the surface on which the speaker is placed from scratches. If you have more than one device in your home, you can also use your Echo Dot as part of an intercom system. This is useful if you live in a larger, multi-bedroom home. The Echo Dot Kids is simple to set up using the Alexa app. We were able to add a profile for each child who would be using the speaker, adding details such as their date of birth, to ensure they would receive only age-appropriate content and responses through the speaker. This Echo Dot can also use the new motion sensing feature, which uses ultrasound to detect when people enter or exit a room. A bit like the Echo Show already does, but without the camera.If you’re looking to get a virtual assistant-imbued smart speaker on a budget, the Echo Dot is a good option. Particularly if you already have one or more Alexa-enabled devices in your abode but want to expand. The idea is that you can setup Alexa routines that activate or deactivate depending on where you are. A bit like you can do with third party motion sensors, but without the middle man. While the Echo Dot lets you know when it’s listening, sometimes it will start without warning. Occasionally it will hear a word that sounds like Alexa, and activate. That can feel unnerving.
This is a minor complaint. However, for a low profile device, Dot’s cloth covering is harder to clean than the original plastic. Be mindful of dust, because you won’t want to try and clean off several months of build-up. Is it worth it? This speaker also has the temperature sensor that the other new Echo Dot models have, which lets you make Alexa Routines based on the temperature in a room. Sound quality If you’re looking to dip your toes into the smart home market, the Echo Dot is a great place to start. The Echo Dot is an incredibly affordable product and comes in three different models.
A cute design and parental controls make this Alexa speaker suitable for kids
Alarm sounds, too, can be given a child-friendly twist, so children can be woken up by Olaf from Frozen or be alerted that it’s homework time by a baby tiger.
A new low-power mode will reduce the Echo Dot’s power consumption while it’s idle, though there are a few caveats. The Dot won’t enter low-power mode if you linked a Spotify account to your Alexa account, if Alexa Guard is in Away mode, if there’s an active notification, if you have an external speaker plugged into the Dot, or if a smart home device is connected directly to the Dot via Bluetooth. In many homes, Alexa isn’t just a device for music and questions, but a tool for controlling the smart home. Fortunately, the kid’s profile lets me disable smart home control, so my kids can’t fiddle with the heating, for example (on purpose or by accident). The new design keeps the now-iconic blue ring light, but this time it's at the bottom of the unit and illuminates the base of the device, which looks neat. Then again, it's subjective if this new placement is actually better for you than the previous generation or not. It's certainly still bright and noticeable as ever. What hasn't changed from the previous model is the 3.5 mm input that allows you to connect to larger speakers, and we're glad that it's still around as it's always nice to have multiple connectivity options. Speaking of connectivity, weirdly enough, you can't configure this new Echo Dot with an older generation Dot in a stereo setup. At least it's still possible to play music with multiple Echo Dots thanks the Everywhere feature. Sound QualityWhen it comes to smart home skills, though, Alexa has a clear lead over Google Assistant in a few key areas. Alexa can even answer basic questions for you by searching online. If you’re easily distracted by screens, it’s a nice alternative when working.
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