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Amazon has set itself the goal of making its digital voice assistant Alexa ubiquitous.

For the bedroom, the group has now released a new model of its Echo Dot with a clock that belongs right there.

The device with its spherical design looks like a small ball and is partly covered with fabric through which an LED clock shimmers.

Overall, it looks more modern than the previous model, which was more like an ice hockey puck.

With a height of just under nine centimeters, the Echo Dot is very compact.

However, the test shows that it is still able to produce an acceptable tone.

It is completely sufficient if you set the brightness of the time display to the minimum

Source: Amazon

The Echo Dot can be set up quickly and easily using the Alexa smartphone app.

Then all functions can be controlled with the voice.

The Echo Dot with clock can do everything that all other Echo speakers can do: answer questions, predict the weather, play music and podcasts.

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The preferred music streaming services must be set in the app beforehand.

You can choose from Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer.

Once set, users can ask for music with a voice command, which is then played.

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The sound quality is sufficient for the bedroom

Even if the shape of the Echo Dot suggests this, the music is not radiated equally well in all directions.

The built-in 41 mm loudspeaker inside faces the front - and that's where it sounds best.

Although there is no woofer in it, you can even hear the bass.

The Alexa app has a simple equalizer for fine-tuning, in which the bass, mids and highs can be increased or weakened.

The sound quality is definitely sufficient for the bedroom.

The alarm clock function is the most important there anyway.

And here it pays off that Alexa can now even whisper.

So if you go to bed later and don't want to disturb your partner, you can set the alarm clock in a whisper.

Alexa then whispers the alarm time back.

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A quick tap on the top of the Echo Dot activates the snooze function.

The alarm tone is then interrupted for a few minutes before it sounds again.

Different tones can be set in the app.

You can also ask for wake-up music by voice.

Despite the voice control, there are a few buttons on the top, including those for regulating the volume.

However, the plus and minus cannot be felt well in the dark there.

Another button turns off the microphone, which is important for everyone who does not allow a microphone to listen in in the bedroom.

Then, however, an LED ring on the bottom lights up red, which is a bit annoying at night.

Also helpful in the kitchen

Incidentally, the ring lights up blue when the microphone is listening after the wake-up word "Alexa" has been spoken.

The ring only lights up orange when the Echo Dot is ready for connection with the smartphone and WiFi during setup.

The LED display under the fabric shows the time, the outside temperature, the alarm time or a timer.

Thus, the device could also help in the kitchen.

The blue glowing ring at the bottom of the speaker shows that the microphone is on.

When it is turned off, the ring glows red.

Source: Amazon

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Conclusion:

The new Echo Dot is probably the best echo speaker for the bedside table.

Its sound quality is absolutely sufficient for this, but you shouldn't expect an audio miracle.

In contrast to other Echo devices, there is no automatic sound adjustment to the room, for example.

There is also no smart home hub with which smart home devices can connect directly.

There is also a 3.5 mm output on the back, for example to connect an external speaker.

This is of course also possible via Bluetooth.

Unfortunately there is no audio input.

A simple USB connection would also be helpful to be able to charge a smartphone or smartwatch via a cable.

The brightness of the LED clock display regulates itself automatically according to the ambient light.

In the test, however, we turned off this adaptive adjustment in the app because the display was still very bright in the dark.

Basically, the setting on the lowest level is sufficient.

The Echo Dot with clock costs 68.22 euros.

This article was first published in November 2020.