Amazon’s new Echo Dot 3rd Generation Smart Speaker will be one of the hottest tech goodies of the 2018 holiday shopping season, especially during the Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales. Regularly $50, it will be $24 or $25 from a number of retailers, including Amazon of course, but also Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s and others.

On Amazon, you can currently buy three of the 3rd Gen Echo Dots for $70 (discount at checkout). That’s just $23 (and some change) per unit.

The Echo Dot 2nd Generation, which got dropped to a regular price of $40, will be $20 on Amazon during Thanksgiving and Black Friday as well as at other retailers like Target and Best Buy.

After reviewing the new 3rd Gen model and comparing it to its predecessor, I think the Echo Dot 3 is worth the extra $5 (or $10) in the long run, with one very minor caveat, which I will get to later.

2nd Gen (left) and 3rd Gen (right)

Released in October 2018, the new Echo Dot is noticeably larger, measuring 3.9 inches in diameter and 1.7 inches tall, compared to the 3.3-inch by 1.3-inch size of the first two generations. The form factor still retains the iconic “hockey puck” shape.  Available in 3 colors (charcoal, sandstone and heather gray), the Dot looks like a shrunken-down version of the new Echo Plus and the design of both new models harkens back to last year’s revamp of the standard Echo, which introduced the fabric wrap-around and the same color choices. In a subtle but welcome change, the edges of the new Dot (and Plus) are more rounded than the 2017 Echo, which gives the overall appearance a classier feel.

The Echo Dot, when compared to the sea of small Bluetooth speakers out there, is not the smallest or best sounding. It’s not even technically portable, because there’s no rechargeable battery. The ill-fated Amazon Tap had a battery, but it seems like Amazon hasn’t yet figured out how to balance always-on voice capabilities with fantastic battery life. So for now, you need to plug the Echo Dot into an outlet. So while it’s “portable” because it’s small, you still need to carry around its power brick, which is now a larger 15w adapter with a barrel plug, compared to the 2nd Gen’s 9W adapter with a detachable micro USB cable.

You can choose to use the Echo Dot 3 as only a Bluetooth speaker: turn off the microphone, pair it with your mobile device and avoid any further concerns about privacy. But you still have to initially connect it to your Wi-Fi, and besides that’s not why we buy the Echo. We know the Dot can do much more than with Alexa, Amazon’s now famous “always on” voice control assistant.

Echo Dot 3 Unboxed

As is standard for these Amazon devices, it’s a simple 5-minute setup, but you do need the Alexa iOS or Android app and a Wi-Fi network. Within 5 minutes of powering up the 3rd Gen Echo Dot and connecting it to my home network, Alexa reminded me she was there, saying the Dot had received an update and needed to restart. After that, it was smooth sailing.

The 2nd Gen Echo Dot was a great little smart speaker, but its biggest drawback was that it really wasn’t a standalone device. The speaker sounded harsh and metallic, and while serviceable for Alexa’s voice, you really needed to plug in or pair up a real speaker (or speakers) to get decent sound. With the new iteration, Amazon has really made the Echo Dot a standalone speaker, albeit one for small spaces (“near field”) and one that isn’t going to stand up to close scrutiny, audio-wise. You can still plug in the 3rd Gen model to another speaker via 3.5mm cable or pair it via Bluetooth.

The speaker on the new Dot has a bigger driver than the previous model (1.6 inches vs. 1.1 inches). It’s able to reach higher volumes without distorting as quickly. Really, there’s almost no comparison since the 2nd Gen Dot has terrible, low-fidelity sound.

A better comparison to the new Echo Dot’s sound is the standard Echo. While the Echo does have better overall sound, the Echo Dot 3 does have comparable mid-range capability and only slightly worse highs. Where it does falter is on the low end (bass), which is not surprising given its diminutive size.

The much-improved sound gives you the flexibility to use the Dot by itself, although you won’t get as pleasing a sound or as big a soundstage as you will find on the larger Echo speakers.

Both models have a 3.5mm port

I found the mics (four far-field mics) to be very sensitive—almost slightly too sensitive–with Alexa occasionally interrupting music to listen. I didn’t necessarily find the Echo Dot 3 to be better at recognizing voice commands than its predecessor.

The 3rd Generation model doesn’t make any advancements in what it can do as a smart speaker. The improvements are solely audio- and cosmetic-related. However, there are a lot of great things you can do with Echo devices, especially when you have more than one, like using them in a Sonos-style multi-room setup (through the Alexa app). Now that the Echo Dot 3 has decent standalone sound, it’s a lot more affordable to install such a setup in your home.

On that note, I encourage you to find out more of what the Echo Dot can do via the Alexa app, where you can also do things like enable “Follow-up Mode” (via Device Settings), which will keep Alexa listening for 5 seconds after your initial request, or “Routines,” where you can have Alexa do a sequence of smart home commands, like turning off the kitchen lights and the living room lights at the same time.

So here’s the one caveat to buying the Echo Dot 3 over the Echo Dot 2: the new model is behind the 2nd Gen Dot in third-party accessories, especially the popular speaker and portable battery docks. In time, I’m sure the 3rd Gen model will get its own slew of accessories, but if you can’t wait or already own these accessories, then the Echo Dot might be a better choice.

Still, I think the 3rd Gen Echo Dot will sound good enough for most people and be portable enough that it will become one of Amazon’s all-time top-selling devices.

Check for Echo Deals on Ben’s

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Generation) Review

The barrage of Amazon products announced at the Fall Amazon Echo event recently was pretty overwhelming. Beyond the next generation of Echo smart speakers, Amazon expanded into the Home segment with an Alexa-enabled microwave, a smart plug and the Echo Wall Clock.

We got our hands on the Echo Wall Clock this weekend. Inside, you will find the setup instructions, the 10″ Wall Clock, a four pack of Amazon AA batteries, and one wall anchor / screw for hanging the clock. The actual weight of the clock is fairly light. I tried hanging the clock on an angled penny nail in drywall and it was perfectly fine without having to use the wall anchor.

How Does It Work?

Since Alexa tech isn’t built into the clock, you will need to own an Echo device (or Echo app on your smartphone / tablet) to set it up. After installing the four AA batteries, you basically just ask your Echo device to setup the clock.

There’s a tiny blue button on the back to the clock that you push to sync. When your Echo device connects to the Echo Wall Clock (within a range of 30 feet), a LED light on the front of the clock will turn orange, then blue when setup. This is the same light that will turn on when the batteries are low or when there’s a connectivity problem with your Echo device.

The entire process took me less than two minutes. In that time, I connected to my Echo device and the hands on the clock automatically set to the correct time. If you live in a region that observes daylight savings time, you won’t have to change your clocks. Your Echo device will automatically update your clock (similar to your smartphone).

You have the ability to set multiple timers via your Echo device and those timers will show up on the clock face via bright white LED lights. A timer of 1 minute or less with light up to 60 LEDs and those will disappear as the seconds go by. A timer of more than 1 minute will light up multiple LED lights around the clock face going clockwise (each light is one minute).

If you have set several timers, you will see single lights representing each timer. For instance, setting a timer for 15 minutes and a timer for 45 minutes will light up two LED lights, one at the 3 on the clock face and the other at the 9 on the clock face. Those lights will move as the timer counts down.

There are no speakers in the clock, thus there’s no audio cue coming from the clock when your timer has finished (only a visual LED flourish at the end). The clock hands are also relatively silent, no “tick, tock” sound of a second hand obviously.

You do have to keep the clock within 30 feet of your Echo device for timer functionality (in order to connect via Bluetooth). You are also limited to connecting a single Echo device to the clock (also due to Bluetooth). Ideally, you will want the clock and Echo device in the same room, but it still works from about a room away.

How Does It Look?

I asked my wife this question and her response was one word, “Ugly.” I can’t really disagree. The build quality feels a bit cheap in my hands and the design reminds me of a classroom / office clock; not a clock that’s designed for a warm, inviting home. While the utilitarian design does make the clock easy to read / see LEDs, the black & white design is arguably boring.

The fact there’s no clear protective glass / plastic covering the face of the clock bugs me for a couple reasons. First, dust / pet hair seems to stick to the clock face, even when hanging it on the wall. Seems like you will have to clean it occasionally and carefully clean under the clock hands as well.

Second, if you move from apartment to apartment relatively frequently, you will have to protect the clock face with bubble wrap (or save the original box). It seems like the hands could be easily bent / broken in a moving box; also not ideal if you have young kids in the house & the clock in a position where they could reach it (like on a stand).

The white LED lights are probably the coolest aspect of the design, although it would have been nice to have different colors for multiple timers. I do really like the final minute of the timer, easy to spot when the LED lights are ticking away. I also like the LED flourish when the timer goes off, easily capturing your attention if you can’t hear your Echo device.

Alexa, set a timer for 20 minutes.

Should You Buy This?

It really depends how much you use timers. Personally, I like using Echo timers when I cook. I can set multiple timers on my Echo in the kitchen, head into my living room where the clock is located and watch for the visual cue when my timer goes off. I could see how this would be useful with kids as well, setting visual timers for TV / video game time or perhaps even a visual timer for a time-out.

If you don’t use timers, you should probably skip this first gen version of the Echo Wall Clock. Having a wall clock that adjusts itself automatically is nice, but you are paying a premium price for a fairly cheap looking clock. I’d wait until 3rd party clock makers incorporate Alexa into their own clocks or Amazon releases a second generation of clocks with several designs. Adding a feature like a small E-Ink display for the current Day / Month would be useful on a new design, for instance.

Regarding price point, $30 is just a bit steep for this gadget. $15 – $20 seems like a solid price point based on build quality / functionality. This is the first time Amazon has released a clock, thus we have no price history to predict price drops. However, you may see sales on the Echo Wall Clock by Spring 2019, especially if third party clock makers embrace Alexa as a feature.

Check Echo Clock Price on Amazon

Echo Wall Clock Review: Great for Timers, Boring Design

Shopping for an Amazon Echo? Or perhaps a Echo Show? We’ve looked through all the Black Friday ads and broken down where you can get the cheapest Echo Dots, Echo speakers, Echo Show, Fire TV and Fire tablets this year.

For the most part, Amazon sets identical pricing for all retailers; but you can find bonus offers or bundles with specific product at Amazon and other retailers.

Best Price on an Amazon Echo: $60

This will be the same price at all retailers, a $40 discount off the MSRP. It’s possible that Amazon will also discount the model with 4-months of free Amazon Music Unlimited to the $60 price point as well. It’s unlikely this will go out of stock at Amazon.

The current generation of the Amazon Echo comes in five colors, utilizes a 0.8″ tweeter and 3″ woofer, includes a 3.5 mm line in/out and is compatible with Dolby Audio.

• Amazon: Echo Speaker

Best Price on an Echo Dot: $22

The 3rd generation Echo Dot will be on sale for the same price at all retailers, $22. That’s a $28 discount off the $50 MSRP. It’s unlikely this will go out of stock at Amazon.

If you are buying in bulk, head back to Kohl’s. If you purchased 5 Echo Dots at Kohl’s, that would cost $110, but you would get $30 in Kohl’s Cash back. If you want the version with the clock face built-in, Amazon will have it on sale for $35.

• Amazon: Echo Dot
• Kohl’s: Echo Dot in Bulk
• Amazon: Echo Dot with Clock Face

Best Price on an Echo Show 5: $50 + $15 GC

Advertised on the front page of the Kohl’s ad, this offer is likely to sell out quickly. You get the same sale price found at other retailers, but $15 in Kohl’s Cash back after the purchase. This price is a $40 discount off the MSRP.

The Echo Show 5 comes in 2 colors, offers access to Alexa, uses a 5.5″ smart display and includes a switch to turn off the microphone & camera if you prefer privacy. If you want the larger 8-inch model, Amazon has it on sale for $100.

• Kohl’s: Echo Show 5
• Amazon: Echo Show 5
• Amazon: Echo Show 8

Best Price on an Fire TV 4K Cube: $90

This will be the same price at all retailers. It’s unlikely this will go out of stock at Amazon. This is a $30 discount off the retailer price of $120.

The Fire TV 4K Cube offers 4K video playback with HDR, HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision support as well as a built-in speaker, a hexa-core processor, 16GB of storage, Dolby Atmos support and 802.11ac dual-band MIMO Wi-Fi.

• Amazon: Fire TV 4K Cube

Best Price on an Fire TV 4K Stick: $25

Again, this will be the same price at all retailers. There are two versions available, the 4K model at $25 and the 1080p model at $20. That’s a 50 percent discount for each model. It’s unlikely this will go out of stock at Amazon.

The Fire TV 4K Stick offers 4K video playback support for HDR, HDR 10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision as well as a quad-core processor, 8GB of storage, Dolby Atmos support and 802.11ac dual-band MIMO Wi-Fi.

• Amazon: Fire TV 4K Stick
• Amazon: Fire TV Stick

Best Price on an Fire 7 Kids Edition: $60 + $15 GC

This is the 2018 model, but the pricing is better than the 2019 model.  This tablet will be the exact same price at every retailer, but you can earn $15 in Kohl’s Cash if you buy it at Kohl’s.

This tablet includes a kid-proof case, a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, a 1024 by 600 display, 16GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, a 2MP camera and 1-year of FreeTime Unlimited. The model without the kid case can be found on sale for $30.

• Kohl’s: Fire 7 Kids Edition (2018)
• Amazon: Regular Fire 7 Tablet

Here’s the cheapest Echo, Echo Show, Fire TV & Fire Tablets on Black Friday 2019

Announced earlier today in a press release, Amazon has added multi-room audio playback to all Echo hardware. This means you can synchronize music across multiple Amazon Echo devices in your home. The song you are playing in your kitchen can also be played on the other side of the house in your bedroom.

This functionality is ideal for parties or generally anyone moving all over the house all the time. In addition, Amazon will let you group specific sets of Echos for music playback. If you only wanted to play the speakers downstairs, you would setup an Echo group with all the devices on the first floor.

All of this is integrated into Alexa voice control as well. For instance, you would be able to say something like “Alexa, play Taylor Swift upstairs,” and all the Echo devices upstairs will play all the music Swifties can handle.

At launch, Amazon is currently supporting Amazon Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and Pandora. Support for Spotify and SiriusXM is in the works and coming soon. Amazon is also working with speaker manufacturers to integrate Alexa into speakers directly to support multi-room audio.

Amazon is the new Budget Multi-Room Audio Leader

With a software update, Amazon just moved into 1st place when it comes to cost. If you don’t have any speakers yet, purchasing a Dot + a speaker is significantly cheaper than going the Sonos route. Here’s an example:

An Echo Dot + a VAUX Cordless Home Speaker (designed for the Echo to drop into) will run you about $90 most of the time. Let’s say you purchase five of these for different rooms in your home. That will run you about $450.

Conversely, if you go with the base model Sonos speaker, the Play:1, that’s going to cost you $199 a speaker. Five speakers will run you roughly $1000, more than twice the price of the Amazon alternative!

However, the true value of the Echo is that it doesn’t force you into a specific, expensive speaker ecosystem. An Echo Dot can be attached to any speaker system in your home to tie it into a whole home, multi-room audio system.

If you have speakers already (which most people do), you don’t actually have to buy anything beyond an Echo Dot. The Dot occasionally goes on sale for $35, an ideal time to stock up if you are going the multi-room audio route.

Any Downsides?

Yes, Amazon’s multi-room audio system doesn’t appear to be tied into Apple Music. While you can connect directly from a smartphone to an Echo device to play music within Apple Music’s app, Alexa functionality currently isn’t available. That functionality that requires a Sonos for multi-room (for now).

However, you can upload your iTunes music into the Amazon cloud in order to take advantage of Alexa. Another option would be to setup a media server in your home, like Plex, in order to have a central location for all your music.

Goodbye Sonos? Echo devices just got multi-room audio for free

While Google preps to release their Echo-competitor, Amazon has made a move that might make the Google Home family of devices obsolete before it’s even released.

Reducing the price on the Echo Dot by nearly half, Amazon has opened up orders for the tiny Dot to the public at a price of $50. That’s $40 less than the original retail MSRP of $90!

Amazon is making a play as the dominant controller of your smart home in a big way. Offering discounts on six-pack or 12-packs of Echo Dot, Amazon wants you to place Dots all over your home. This will allow everyone in your family to have access to the Alexa voice assistant all the time.

It will give all of your “dumb” speaker systems a smart connection to streaming music services like Pandora and Spotify. It will act as a alarm clock for all of your bedrooms. Assuming you have other smart home devices, it will be able to adjust the temperature, flip the lights on/off, lock the front door from any room in the house. You won’t have to do to the smart home controller anymore or even find your smartphone. You just have to speak.

Here are some of the core differences between the 1st generation and 2nd generation Echo Dot:

• Amazon has added a new, more powerful speech processor for more accurate far-field speech recognition.
• The new Echo dot is slightly shorter. It is 1.3″ tall vs. the 1.5″ on the first gen. The diameter is the same (3.3″)
• The weight has been reduced from 8.8 ounces to 5.7 ounces.
• The volume buttons now replace the volume slider that was around the top on the first gen model.
• The directional microphone holes are appear to be slashes now instead of little circles. (Identical 7-microphone array)
• The first gen had a 1 year warranty, but that’s been reduced for 90 days for the 2nd gen.
• The power indicator light on the back of the device has been removed.
• The finish around the sides is more glossy on the 2nd gen than matte on the 1st.
• The 2nd gen Echo Dot doesn’t include the 3.5 mm audio cable (4 ft.) that came with the 1st gen.
• The Amazon Dot is now available in an additional color, white.

In addition to the discounts on ordering mulitple Echo Dots, Amazon is also offering bundled discounts when packaging the Dot with smart home devices like the Philips Hue, T-P Link Smart Plug and the ecobee3 Smart Thermostat between 12 to 17 percent off. Amazon is also offering discounts with bundled Bose speakers, but buyers may want to purchase less expensive portable speaker or wait for Sonos connectivity via Alexa (coming soon).

Check out Echo Dot on Amazon

Check out more pictures of the Echo Dot 2 below as well as a video of the Dots in action. The device will be released to the public on October 20th, 2016.

Shut Up and Take My Money: $50 Echo Dot (2nd generation)

Interested in using the Alexa voice assistant on the Amazon Echo, but you don’t want to spend $180 to do it? An Amazon employee (Amit Jotwani) recently published a guide on creating your own homemade Amazon Echo using a $40 Raspberry Pi Model 2 along with a SD card, a USB microphone and a few other inexpensive items.

Detailed on GitHub, the guide walks a user through building the hardware as well as taking a step-by-step guide through programming the software to access the Amazon Alexa interface. Optional hardware includes a WiFi Wireless Adapter (if you aren’t hard-wiring the device to your router and want to place it anywhere in your home. Of course, you will also need a USB keyboard / mouse as well as a HDMI monitor to run through the setup process.

Of course, this is somewhat more similar to the hockey puck-sized Echo Dot than the full-fledged Echo. Integrating the homemade version into a powered speaker system would be preferably for music playback. Identical to the other Echo products, Alexa will answer questions, set timers & alarms as well as play music accessible on the home’s network.

Check Out the DIY Amaozn Echo Guide on GitHub

If you are interested in reading about the differences between all of Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, you can read a comparison of the devices here: Amazon Echo vs Amazon Tap vs Echo Dot

Want a cheap Amazon Echo? Build one with a $40 Raspberry Pi