With its Echo 4 speaker, Amazon plays its best score

Tik Tech: We tested the Echo 4, Amazon's smart speaker -

• The fourth generation of the Amazon Echo speaker changes the paradigm with a new spherical design that Apple will soon adopt for its HomePod mini speaker.

• Sold for 99 euros, Echo 4 is equipped with a few new features, such as a Zigbee gateway for connected objects, as well as a temperature sensor.

• But the good news comes mainly from its sound quality which has improved significantly compared to the previous generation.

While Apple's new HomePod mini speaker is due to launch on November 16, Amazon is polite to its competitor with its Echo (4th generation) speaker, already available.

A little larger than its future rival (14.4 cm base and 13.3 cm high for Echo, against 97.9 mm base and 84.3 mm high for the HomePod mini), the Amazonian speaker is also spherical.

Amazon and Apple would have spread the word without having been otherwise.

In the base of Echo 4, an LED circle that lights up depending on the circumstances.

- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES

Surprise to the ear ...

Those who have already installed a device from the Echo range will not lose their Latin.

For novices: once the Amazon Alexa application has been downloaded and the Echo plugged into the mains, all you have to do is let yourself be guided so that the speaker gives birth to its first sounds in a few minutes.

"Alexa, play Keith Jarret!"

".

If we have taken care to associate the

(mini-programs for Alexa-compatible services and products, to be selected in the application), the piano of the musician who recently created a stir by announcing in

the end of his career on stage is awakened.

Surprise: the sound looks good.

In Wifi or Bluetooth

Jarret's

version of

with Charlie Haden on double bass is sensual, with a very warm reproduction.

Echo as a case?

To increase the volume, continuous pressure on the “+” symbol at the top of the device allows it to reveal its beautiful organ: the speaker can give voice.

Among the physical buttons of Amazon Echo, the red to mute the microphones.

- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES

During the manipulation (which can also be done by voice command), a white luminous halo in the Echo base wakes up.

If you put the speaker on a light-colored stand, it looks as good as with a Philips Ambilight television in front of a white wall.

The halo is blue and purple when questioning Alexa.

You can also connect the speaker via Bluetooth.

"Alexa, turn on Bluetooth", and the device becomes visible to any smartphone or tablet.

Strongly improving audio quality

Change of register.

“Alexa, play Black Eyed Peas”… The bass is definitely there, maybe a little stuffy at times.

At high volume (at max, what!), We quickly confront the limits of the ball.

Balls ?

Due to the lack of distortion, music can still be listened to, but you can feel that when it is loud, it is not as good.

Still, at moderate volume, Echo gives itself: Maroon 5, Tryo, Gecko Turner, Gorillaz, Julien Doré, Ben Harper… accompanied our tests.

X-ray echo: the speaker incorporates an upward facing woofer and two side tweeters.

- AMAZON

Where we see that the audio quality of Echo 4 has greatly improved compared to that of Echo 3. Good Dolby Audio processing has gone through this, but not only.

The loudspeaker incorporates a 3 '' / 7.6cm upward facing woofer and two 0.8 '' / 2cm side tweeters.

The sound remains mono, but it is possible to couple two Echo to form a duo.

Zigbee for certain connected objects

New: the speaker incorporates a Zigbee gateway.

It does not seem like much, but this addition makes it possible to pair a number of connected objects with low energy consumption, such as door opening sensors which, suddenly, no longer need a hub. to work.

What is more, the Zigbee protocol also makes it possible to connect remote compatible connected objects in Bluetooth Low Energy, such as a street bell.

This avoids having to take the lead with a WiFi network of insufficient quality for this type of twinning.

Cherry on the techno: Echo swallowed a temperature sensor.

The idea is not just to ask "Alexa, what temperature is it?"

», But to program routines.

We were thus able to associate a Nest connected thermostat with Echo and program, when the temperature fell below 18 °, a boiler triggering on a determined time slot.

Now you need to dive into the twists and turns of the Amazon Alexa app a bit, but it works.

The most fantastic plastic

Finally, Amazon claims environmental progress.

Even if it may seem contradictory to the image of the web merchant, the Echo speaker would be made with 100% recycled aluminum, 100% recycled fabric and "partly recycled" plastic.

The new Echo speakers would be made from recycled plastics, 100% recycled aluminum and 100% recycled fabrics.

- CHRISTOPHE SEFRIN / 20 MINUTES

And it would have an energy saving mode during inactivity that would reduce its ecological footprint.

This is the type of speech that is currently making a strong comeback, as at Apple or Huawei which (once again) are announcing greening their production and distribution.

Google and Apple in ambush

At 99 euros, Amazon's Echo 4 speaker can be considered a good investment.

At this price, and while waiting for the HomePod mini, it has a very serious competitor: the new Nest Audio speaker which offers more or less identical sound performance.

What will make the difference: the design, the interface, but also the ecosystem of products that you may want to associate with one or other of these devices.

High-Tech

Nest Audio: The smart speaker that finally gives Google a taste for good sound

High-Tech

Smartphones: Which iPhone 12 rivals give more for less?

• Music

• Tik Tech

• Amazon

• Artificial intelligence

• Google

• High-Tech

• 20 minutes video