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Amazon’s latest attempt to usurp the humble bedside alarm clock is the revamped Echo Spot, which features a speaker and a small display for a customizable Alexa clock.
The new Spot sits between Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays and its entry-level Echo smart speakers in terms of price and capability. The Spot costs £80 (€95/£80/AU$149), though it typically costs much less in Amazon’s many deals.
This is a complete reimagining of the original Echo Spot from 2018, retaining the general half-sphere shape but removing the camera and reducing the size of the display. The screen is a small square on the top half of the face, just above the speaker grille. It’s bright and crisp enough to clearly display the time during the day, and dims so it doesn’t light up a room at night while still displaying the clock in red.
The screen can only display basic information, like the time, timers, music playback controls, and weather icons. It can’t stream video, show doorbell images, or anything like that, though the Spot can still take voice calls through Alexa. Compared to an Echo Show 5, it’s very limited, but in a bedroom that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s also fairly compact, taking up only a small area on a nightstand.
The speaker outputs sound from the front and is capable of filling a small room with sound. It’s decent for radio and Alexa voice, but it lacks range and what bass there is drops off above 70% volume. It sounds about as good as a small Bluetooth speaker, but not as good as an Echo Dot. I also had to speak more directly to it to get it to pick up my voice commands reliably than the Dot does, but as a result it didn’t accidentally activate when I didn’t want it to, which remains a problem for most smart speakers.
Budget
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Dimensions: 113 x 103 x 111 mm
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Weight: 405 grams
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Touch screen: 2.83 inches
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Connectivity: Wifi 5 (ac), Bluetooth
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Spokesman: 1.73 inches
Amazon has sold several versions of the Echo Dot with built-in LED displays, which have now been discontinued, promoting Alexa as an alarm clock. It certainly has advantages, particularly if you have a variable alarm time, as you can easily set new ones each night by voice without having a phone in the bedroom. You can even whisper to it and it will whisper back.
Tap the top of the Spot to snooze an alarm, or press the little snooze or stop buttons on the screen. Better yet, you can yell at Alexa to stop the alarm, though you risk waking up the whole house.
Setting up routines for the night or morning also makes it easier to wake up with smart home devices, such as turning off lights at night, opening blinds in the morning, activating burglar alarms, and more. Otherwise, manual commands are sensitive, either by voice or on-screen buttons.
But you have to be comfortable with having a smart speaker in your bedroom. Plus, it doesn’t have a battery backup, so if the power goes out, you won’t be waking up in the morning.
Sustainability
The Echo Spot is generally repairable and will receive security updates for at least four years after the device is discontinued. It contains 36% recycled materials, including aluminum, fabric, and plastic. The company publishes a report environmental impact report for the product and offers exchange and recycling plans.
Price
The Echo Spot 2024 costs £79.99 (€94.99/$79.99/A$149).
For comparison, the Echo Pop costs £44.99, the Echo Dot costs £54.99 and the Echo Show 5 costs £89.99.
Verdict
The Echo Spot is the best Alexa-enabled alarm clock you can get. It’s a pretty much single-purpose device, and I don’t think it would be very useful anywhere other than on a nightstand or desk.
That simplicity of a compact smart speaker with a small LCD screen that simply displays the time in a variety of attractive styles is appealing in a world full of distracting screens everywhere.
You have to be comfortable having Amazon and its voice assistant in the bedroom with you, similar to having Google or Apple on your phone or watch. And don’t expect too much from Alexa in terms of actual intelligence.
But if you want a small alarm clock with voice activation for radio, alarms and turning off smart lights at night, the Echo Spot is a winner.
Advantages: Clutter-free clock display, dim enough at night, decent speaker, Alexa and voice control, plenty of alarm tones, compact enough for a nightstand.
Cons: No real bass, potential privacy complications from having microphones in the bedroom, screen can’t display camera or video feeds, screen is small and feels a bit cheap, on-screen controls can be fiddly.
