Just like smartphones, home smart speakers are now donning new form factors – spherical to cylindrical to the slimmest and what not — giving your home an all-new feel while keeping the richness of the sound and overall voice-as-a-service experience intact.
Amazon Echo Dot (4th generation) is another Alexa-driven device that comes with the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements that make Alexa more natural, conversational, and useful.
The fact is the customers have connected more than 100 million smart home devices to Alexa globally and Indians too are slowly getting used to the virtual assistant.
There is a nip in the air in North India and a perfect time to slow down, enjoy your morning cup of tea as some morning ragas or classical bhajans play in the background.
Keep the evenings for some soothing music and weekend for K-pop aka BTS to rock the house (keep the volume low so that the neighbors do not knock at the door) as Diwali inches closer.
Echo Dot with a new spherical design to produce crisp, full sound, and powerful bass costs just Rs 4,499 in two colors (Black and Blue). There are often deals of the day on eCommerce marketplaces where the price can even come down to Rs 3,249.
Let us listen and find out how the fourth generation speaker behaves with the people belonging to the earlier generations.
Weighing 341.3 grams, the new Echo sounds significantly better owing to a 3.0-inch woofer, dual-firing tweeters, and Dolby processing that delivers stereo sound with clear highs, dynamic-mids, and deep bass.
The volume (up and down), action, and mic off buttons are neatly placed at the top while the 3.5 mm stereo audio output and power port are placed at the back, with the light ring layer illuminating the surface at the bottom this time.
The tap-to-snooze feature is awesome on Echo Dot.
Echo Dot streams music from Amazon Prime Music, JioSaavn, Gaana, Hungama Music, and Spotify and as always, just ask for your favorite artist or song, or request a specific genre or mood in several Indian languages.
Set timers, ask questions, add items to lists, and create calendar events and reminders on the new Echo Dot. You can also pay your utility bills as you were doing with the previous Echo devices.
On privacy, Echo Dot has a microphone off button that electronically disconnects the microphones. Also, it offers the ability to view and delete voice recordings.
You also have control over your voice recordings and can view, hear, or delete them at any time.
To reduce energy consumption, Echo Dot enters the Low Power mode when idle.
Alexa now has more than 30,000 skills (and counting) which help you stay updated with the latest news, music, radio, and podcasts or access stories, recipes, movie reviews, and more from your favorite brands.
Since sustainability is the new buzzword among tech companies, 50 percent of the plastics used in Echo Dot is post-consumer recycled plastics.
While 100 percent of the fabric used is post-consumer recycled fabric, 100 percent of the aluminium used is recycled die-cast aluminum (device, cable, and adapter included).
Visit the Alexa Privacy Hub to explore how Alexa and Echo devices are designed to protect your privacy.
The smart speaker is compact but packs in a powerful 1.6-inch, front-firing speaker, producing crisp vocals and balanced bass for a full sound.
Conclusion: As we celebrate the festivities, lights and music are welcome in the house and Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen) is another great addition to the family.
Remember that Alexa is getting smarter and does not disappoint you most of the time (unless you ask some awkward questions or put up an unreasonable demand) so behave nicely and you will be surprised what this tiny device can do for you.
At this affordable price point, Echo Dot (4th gen) a value-for-money device to illuminate your home.
