Amazon’s latest attempt to usurp the humble bedside alarm clock is the revamped Echo Spot, equipped with a speaker and small display for a customisable Alexa clock.
The new Spot straddles the line between Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays and its basic Echo smart speakers in price and capability. The Spot costs £80 (€95/£80/A$149), though frequently much less in Amazon’s numerous sales.
It is a full reimagining of the original Echo Spot from 2018, keeping the general half-ball shape but ditching the camera and shrinking the screen. The display is a small square in the top half of the face, immediately above a speaker grille. It is bright and crisp enough for showing the time clearly during the day and dims so not to light up a room at night while still showing the clock in red.
The screen can only show basic information, such as the time, timers, music playback controls and weather icons. It can’t stream video, show footage from doorbells or anything like that, though the Spot can still take voice calls through Alexa. Compared with an Echo Show 5 it is very limited, but in a bedroom that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It is also pretty compact, taking up only a small area on a bedside table.
The speaker fires out the front and is capable of filling a small room with sound. It is decent for radio and Alexa’s voice, but it lacks range and what bass there is drops out 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 at it to have it pick up my voice commands reliably than the Dot, but as a consequence it didn’t accidentally activate when I didn’t want it to, which is still a problem for most smart speakers.
Specifications
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Dimensions: 113 x 103 x 111 mm
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Weight: 405g
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Touchscreen: 2.83in
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Connectivity: wifi 5 (ac), Bluetooth
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Speaker: 1.73in
Amazon has sold several versions of the Echo Dot with built in LED clock displays, which have now been discontinued, pitching 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 via 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 small snooze or stop buttons on the screen. Better yet, you can shout at Alexa to stop, though you risk waking the house.
Setting routines for the evening or morning makes getting up with smart home devices easier too, such as turning off lights at night, opening blinds in the morning, arming burglar alarms and other bits and pieces. Otherwise, manual commands are responsive, either via voice or on-screen buttons.
But you do have to be comfortable having a smart speaker in your bedroom. It also does not have a backup battery, so if the power goes out you are not going to be woken 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 aluminium, fabric and plastic. The company publishes an environmental impact report for the product and offers trade-in and recycling schemes.
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 alarm clock you can get. It is an almost single-purpose device that I can’t imagine would be all that useful anywhere other than a bedside table or a desk.
That simplicity of a compact smart speaker with a small LCD screen that just shows the time in various attractive styles is appealing in a world filled with distracting displays 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 already. And don’t expect too much from Alexa in terms of real intelligence.
But if you want a small, voice-enabled alarm clock for radio, alarms and switching off smart lights at night, the Echo Spot is a winner.
Pros: clutter-free clock display, dim enough at night, decent speaker, Alexa and voice control, plenty of alarm tones, compact enough for a bedside table.
Cons: no real bass, potential privacy complications of having mics in the bedroom, screen can’t show camera or video feeds, display is small and looks a little cheap, on-screen controls can be fiddly.
