- (Photo : Guillermo Fernandes / Flickr) Amazon Echo Dot from goatandtable mens blog
In the world of robot assistants, Amazon is one of the leading makers of smart speakers. The Amazon Echo released this March 2016 had great reviews and was constantly out of stock. It was surprisingly a big hit! Following the success of the former prototype, will Amazon’s second generation Echo Dot be as good?
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“The Echo Dot is small with a puck like design, measuring 83.5 x 83.5 x 32mm,” in a review by Tech Radar, “you have dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5GHz) network connectivity, a tiny speaker for voice feedback and there’s also seven microphones inside, the same as in the Amazon Echo.”
One downside is that the Echo Dot has been scaled down, which means it has less audio capacity than the forerunner. CNet adds, “Amazon’s Echo products still can’t offer audio that syncs across multiple devices in multiple rooms.” However they concur that, “The new and improved Echo Dot takes Amazon’s best-in-class smart home speaker and wraps it in an ultra-affordable package.”
While the Dot is smaller, it is packed with impressive functionalities. Aside from that, the price point is a major advantage, from $180 to $50 Echo Dot. Its AI Alexa has a myriad of third-party features. “It already supports popular connected-home brands such as Nest, SmartThings, Philips Hue and IFTTT, as well as platforms from WeMo, Insteon, Lutron, Honeywell and Ecobee, among others,” Engadget reports.
The Amazon Echo Dot comes in black and white. In Amazon.com there are 6-pack or 12-pack deals. Enter the promo code DOT6PACK to get 1 free for every 5, while DOT12PACK to get 2 free for every 10 packs of Echo Dot purchase.
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No matter the version, there are a bunch of things that Amazon smart speakers can do. Both Amazon Echo and Dot can play a song, read the news, control smart lights, add items to shopping list, connect to paid music service, and so much more. Whether you like the first with its stockier size and built-in speaker, or you prefer the smarter and more portable second-generation, in terms of functionality, there is not much difference between the two. Both are still intelligent virtual voice-controlled devices that aim to make life easier.
