Amazon Echo Dot With Clock 5Th Gen Review

What’s more, for the familiar $59, the Echo Dot with Clock remains one of the most accessible smart home entry points. And now with its upgrades compared to the Echo Dot with Clock (2020), it’s an even stronger sell for starting your smart home — or just telling you the time. That’s the beauty of the Echo Dot with Clock; it’s not over-complicated or blatantly high-tech. My biggest complaint with the previous Echo Dot was the limited display functionality. Before, it could only tell the time, timer status and speaker volume. But the latest Echo Dot with Clock’s display has added useful visuals for the weather and song titles and more. For the weather, the display shows the temperature reading (either in Fahrenheit or Celsius, depending on which measurement you use) along with an icon representing the forecast.  For music, the display ticks through the artist name and track titles every time a new song comes on. The display can even show you the answer to math equations and calendar event times. The Echo Dot with Clock’s display also features a different digital font than the previous model. It’s a subtle change from dashes to dots, but I happen to think it looks more modern now. A small dot next to the time indicates whether you have an alarm set as well, which I find extremely helpful to check at a quick glance if I stir in the middle of the night. A set of physical controls sit on the top of the Echo Dot with Clock, including an action button that wakes Alexa, volume controls and a mute button if you’d prefer Alexa didn’t listen. According to our guide on Alexa flashing colors, a red ring indicates the microphone is successfully muted. When Alexa is listening, the bottom ring illuminates blue. Yellow means you have a notification or message, while green means you’re receiving a call or someone is dropping in on you. There are some touch-based controls on the Echo Dot with Clock, too. Tapping the top of the device while listening to music acts as a pause and play control. If you’ve set an alarm, you can tap the top of the Echo Dot with Clock to snooze. To turn off your alarm for the morning, you’ll need to press the action button. Of course, you can ask Alexa to control your alarm too. You can also check out our guide to the best Alexa skills to help you sleep better. To unlock all of Alexa’s potential, our guide to the best Alexa skills overall covers everything from funny Alexa easter eggs to integrations with Alexa compatible devices.  Listening to the two generations side-by-side, the difference is subtle. The newer Echo Dot with Clock is a bit more sophisticated and less hollow-sounding, which seems like a great feat for something shaped like a ball. I certainly heard more nuance in Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” with the collection of reggae instruments sounding distinct.  The vocal clarity also sounded more natural in Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” On the older Echo Dot, Billie Joe Armstrong sounded a bit tinny. On the new Echo Dot, his voice is better balanced and emphasized just a bit stronger, which is what I think you want from a speaker like this. The Echo Dot with Clock seems to embody this initiative with two built-in smart home conveniences. The first is eero built-in, which means it acts as a satellite for one of the best mesh router systems to extend your home’s Wi-Fi reach. If you already have a host eero router (such as the eero Pro 6e), the Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen) can replace or save you from buying another extending device. As long as your expectations on sound are tempered, it’s hard to find something to dislike about the Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen). Sure, removing the 3.5mm audio line out seems like a disadvantage, but in all my years having an Echo Dot I’ve never once used it. And it’s also easier to ignore considering how many upgrades the speaker gets now without changing the price.

title: “Amazon Echo Dot With Clock 5Th Gen Review” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Robert Poole”

What’s more, for the familiar $59, the Echo Dot with Clock remains one of the most accessible smart home entry points. And now with its upgrades compared to the Echo Dot with Clock (2020), it’s an even stronger sell for starting your smart home — or just telling you the time. That’s the beauty of the Echo Dot with Clock; it’s not over-complicated or blatantly high-tech. My biggest complaint with the previous Echo Dot was the limited display functionality. Before, it could only tell the time, timer status and speaker volume. But the latest Echo Dot with Clock’s display has added useful visuals for the weather and song titles and more. For the weather, the display shows the temperature reading (either in Fahrenheit or Celsius, depending on which measurement you use) along with an icon representing the forecast.  For music, the display ticks through the artist name and track titles every time a new song comes on. The display can even show you the answer to math equations and calendar event times. The Echo Dot with Clock’s display also features a different digital font than the previous model. It’s a subtle change from dashes to dots, but I happen to think it looks more modern now. A small dot next to the time indicates whether you have an alarm set as well, which I find extremely helpful to check at a quick glance if I stir in the middle of the night. A set of physical controls sit on the top of the Echo Dot with Clock, including an action button that wakes Alexa, volume controls and a mute button if you’d prefer Alexa didn’t listen. According to our guide on Alexa flashing colors, a red ring indicates the microphone is successfully muted. When Alexa is listening, the bottom ring illuminates blue. Yellow means you have a notification or message, while green means you’re receiving a call or someone is dropping in on you. There are some touch-based controls on the Echo Dot with Clock, too. Tapping the top of the device while listening to music acts as a pause and play control. If you’ve set an alarm, you can tap the top of the Echo Dot with Clock to snooze. To turn off your alarm for the morning, you’ll need to press the action button. Of course, you can ask Alexa to control your alarm too. You can also check out our guide to the best Alexa skills to help you sleep better. To unlock all of Alexa’s potential, our guide to the best Alexa skills overall covers everything from funny Alexa easter eggs to integrations with Alexa compatible devices.  Listening to the two generations side-by-side, the difference is subtle. The newer Echo Dot with Clock is a bit more sophisticated and less hollow-sounding, which seems like a great feat for something shaped like a ball. I certainly heard more nuance in Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” with the collection of reggae instruments sounding distinct.  The vocal clarity also sounded more natural in Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” On the older Echo Dot, Billie Joe Armstrong sounded a bit tinny. On the new Echo Dot, his voice is better balanced and emphasized just a bit stronger, which is what I think you want from a speaker like this. The Echo Dot with Clock seems to embody this initiative with two built-in smart home conveniences. The first is eero built-in, which means it acts as a satellite for one of the best mesh router systems to extend your home’s Wi-Fi reach. If you already have a host eero router (such as the eero Pro 6e), the Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen) can replace or save you from buying another extending device. As long as your expectations on sound are tempered, it’s hard to find something to dislike about the Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen). Sure, removing the 3.5mm audio line out seems like a disadvantage, but in all my years having an Echo Dot I’ve never once used it. And it’s also easier to ignore considering how many upgrades the speaker gets now without changing the price.