Review: Amazon Echo Spot — the new Echo Dot with Clock but with a better display

Last month Amazon announced the Echo Spot, another iteration of the Echo devices, this one taking the recently-vacated section of their line-up of the now-discontinued Echo Dot with Clock.  

The new Echo Spot is a smart device designed to sit on your nightstand with a customisable alarm clock and colour display that allows basic functionality such as setting alarms, viewing the weather or song titles.  

Available in Black, Glacier White, and Ocean Blue, the new smart speaker is designed to sit beside your bed with the display able to be customised to various colourways to match your decor — orange, violet, magenta, lime, teal and blue.

I have spent the last couple of weeks with the Echo Spot and actually like it but I don’t love it.  It is simple and has the very basic functionality needed for smart home control and around the house use. The sticking point is the lack of true display features and the price, $149, a step up from the RRP of $99 of the Echo Dot with Clock.

The design is much of the same

If you’ve got an Echo speaker made in the last few years then you already have some idea of what the Echo Spot looks like.  The front of the device has a display on the top half with the bottom section a speaker covered in the usual “Echo” cloth.  

The rear of the device is a sphere (like the back half of an egg aka the Echo Pop) which houses the volume up and down buttons and a microphone mute button. the usual Echo proprietary charging port is at the bottom of the rear of the device.

The display is nothing special but good enough (for some things).  My main use for a device such as this would — and should — be for a quick look at who is setting off the motion alert on one of my Ring cameras, or who is at the door ringing my Ring doorbell.  Unfortunately the Echo Spot doesn’t do this — it tells you someone is there and you can interact with them using audio but you cannot see who is there.

Unfortunately it doesn’t play well with other cameras at this stage but it is Matter complaint so one day you *should* be able to use all Matter compliant devices, no matter who the manufacturer is.

The speaker looks good from front on but move slightly to the side and the display dulls quickly. Not the greatest quality display but for something like this you are more likely to be right in front of it more often than not — well, I am anyway.

The speaker is good but don’t expect audiophile-quality music.  It will certainly not be taking the place of the Astell&Kern speaker I have on my desk so I will not be using it to listen to music as a general rule.  It really is a speaker for listening to your smart security cameras, having a quick chat (Drop In) or podcast/audiobook and then the occasional hit of music. 

For music, it can distort at higher volume levels so I would be wary of that if you think you are going to be using it for high quality music.  It is only a very small speaker though and for such a small speaker the sound is decent. I was able to play my metal at a relatively loud volume and it was ok but you lose some quality at higher volumes.

The downside of the display is that it is small and is unable to play any videos.  If you want to see the album art of the music you’re playing through it though you’re all good.  Weather?  Yep, got you covered.  Time and alarms?  Yes. But that’s about it.  

The display is a touch display and although not as sensitive as your phone it can be used to control audio playback and some smart home devices.

One thing missing which is very disappointing is a video camera so you cannot use this to make video calls.  It is possible this has been done to reduce costs but the device is not cheap at all.

So what can it do?

It is basically an Echo Dot with Clock (which was my previous office Echo device) but with a small semi-useful display.  It has full Alexa functionality and will display some helpful information – as long as that information is the time, weather or album art.

Not everyone needs a large display on their smart hub and that is who this is for.  Some very basic information displayed for you but includes all the Alexa skills of any other Echo speaker. 

The Echo Spot can function as a Wi-Fi hub for Matter devices but can’t function as a Eero Wi-Fi mesh node like the Echo Dot and Pop can do (in the US – we are still waiting for that to arrive here. Amazon AU, are you listening?).

Final thoughts

For me it is good but not perfect.  I need a smallish Alexa-powered speaker in my office that can quickly control my smart home, view the video doorbell when required, and provides me with a quick view of the time and weather.  The Echo Spot does some of this but not everything. It is strange that Amazon made an Echo device with a display but you cannot use that display to view cameras from your Amazon-owned Ring cameras.

The Echo Spot is bascially an Echo Dot with Clock but with a proper clock and weather display rather than a small, scrolling LED clock and display. A smart speaker but not a smart display — so close but yet so far.

The Echo Dot with Clock is now discontinued and the Echo Spot has taken its place. There certainly is a niche for it in the Echo lineup but don’t be fooled into thinking you are getting a fully functional display. Opt for this Echo device if you only want/need an Alexa-powered speaker with a simple display that can tell you the time, weather and show album art.

The all-new Echo Spot is available now for $149 AUD at amazon.com.au/echospot, JB HI-FI, and in leading Australian retailers. It is available in Black, Glacier White, and Ocean Blue.