Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen) 2020 Review
Echo Dot has this new ball-shaped echo dot probably isn't the right pick for the price for most customers like the new full-sized echo the 2020 dot boasts a striking new spheroidal aesthetic okay it's not really that striking the muted mesh covered speaker has simply adopted a slightly fresher geometric profile but a little visual evolution is welcome amazon even smartly kept the dot's footprint the same as previous generations so despite the taller frame it won't take up more shelf space along with the footprint the niche that the echo dot is seeking to fill really hasn't changed too much.
It's a great entry point into the smart home and into voice assistance in general and that 50 price tag has stayed the same even in this fourth generation the problem is that a lot of the other stuff has stayed the same too they still both use the same voice assistant which means that they can control the same devices they can play the same music they can listen for people breaking into your house it's a lot of great stuff but what really is the difference here the new echo dot's big change other than in profile is in sound it's 1.6 inch speaker is more powerful than the third gens 1.1 inch speaker and slightly more powerful than the 40 millimeter.
NEST Mini Speaker the new echo dot sounds a little bit fuller than the older Echo Dot and then the nest mini even but everything is relative yes these devices sound great for their size and their price but they really don't have the base to play rap or trap music well and when it comes to more complex songs with multiple tracks they can't maintain that distinction without just muddying the whole thing the good news is the dot as always has an audio jack so you can connect it to better speakers unlike google's nest mini you can also take two dots and pair them for stereo sound but i can't really imagine recommending this over buying a better quality 100 speaker like the nest audio or the 2020 echo ditto setting up surround sound for your home theater not every generation can revitalize a device but it would have been nice to see a little bit more creativity.
Here now where it seems like amazon is actually innovating a little bit more is not with its standard dot but rather with the dot with clock and the kids edition dot and my kids are already really loving the kids edition dot it comes in this tiger decal or with a panda themed one and you can see it fits in really nicely with more playful decors last year's dot with clock was a great device adding a small but really useful upgrade to the dot this year's kids dot adds a fun tiger or panda themed design and genuinely interesting kid-facing content that you won't get on other echo devices without a subscription the kids.comes with a free year of Amazon Kids Plus which normally costs three dollars per month Alexa Play gummy bear gummy bear here's gummy bear gummy bear you want to sit down she says i gotta be there these alternative dots use the exact same basic hardware but they're more exciting products in part because they represent something beyond simple iterative improvement.
They feel more sensitive to customer needs of course the dot with clock and the kids edition dot both cost ten dollars more than the standard dot the 2020 echo dot is a solid device but it feels non-essential if you're looking for the best deal the third generation echo is really great and you can get it for really low prices on the other hand if you're looking to jump start that smart home or you want really good sound quality the 2020 full-sized echo is probably a better device for you look nothing against the new echo dot but the conventional wisdom seems to hold for this device and that is that you shouldn't buy it at full price you're probably going to be able to find good sales on it sometime in the next few months and if you can't these other devices are probably going to serve you better.
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