Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) Review

With its new spherical design, the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) is a far more interesting-looking product than the old model, better able to slip into your home without standing out for the wrong reasons. While there’s nothing new about what Alexa can do on this model, Amazon has boosted the audio quality so the occasional bit of music is pretty good and voice replies are really easy to understand. If you’ve got the previous model there’s little reason to upgrade, but for those looking for a new small smart speaker, this is the model to buy.

Although Amazon has improved the design of its Echo speakers over the years, the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) marks the first time that the mini speaker has genuinely looked like it’s built to merge into your home.

It doesn’t just look nicer, it sounds better and the controls are better, too. As far as having a small yet good-sounding speaker goes for home control and voice responses, the new Dot proves it’s a worthy successor.

Design

• Spherical design looks beautiful
• Lights now shine downwards, so they’re not as distracting
• New controls are easier to reach

Amazon has gone spherical this year, with its new Echo smart speakers all following the same pattern. So, the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) is just a smaller version of the full-size Echo (4th Generation): that’s to say, that the new model is a little bigger than a baseball (100 x 100 x 89mm).

At this size, the new Echo Dot doesn’t take up a lot more desk space than the old one, although the new model is considerably higher. This new model is available in three colours (Charcoal, Glacier White or Twilight Blue), losing the Plum option of the old Echo Dot: a move that I think we can all live with.

Amazon has also moved the light ring, pushing it to the bottom of the speaker, so that it shines down, rather than up. It’s a subtle change, but means that the Echo Dot no longer lights up the room when its light ring comes on.

The big change is that the new Echo Dot looks properly designed: it’s interesting enough to catch your attention, yet subtle enough that it blends into a room. I think it’s a genuine step up from the previous designs.

I should also point out that the fabric covering is made from 100% recycled materials, 100% of the aluminium used is recycled and 50% of the plastic parts are reused.

Although Amazon has the same controls on top as it’s always had (Action button, microphone mute and volume controls), this time around the buttons are towards the back of the speaker, gently blending in with the material covering. They’re slightly raised, making them easier to feel for, too, particularly as each button is a different shape.

Around the back, you get the 3.5mm audio output and the power input. To be honest, if you’re going to use the 3.5mm audio output for connecting to an external speaker, you might as well buy a cheaper speaker, such as the Echo Flex.

Features

• Cloud-based smart assistant gives you constantly-updated features
• Excellent routines for controlling your smart home or life
• You can make phone calls for free

Buying a new Echo speaker doesn’t generally get you a whole load of new features, as the cloud-powered Alexa works the same on every Amazon smart speaker. While my guide to Amazon Alexa covers what the smart assistant can and can’t do in more detail, it’s worth covering some of the basics here.

Alexa has improved over the years, and it is now a reliable voice assistant that mostly understands what you ask it. It can read your calendars, tell you what the weather is like and it can answer general knowledge questions to some degree. Alexa still lags behind Google Assistant in some ways: Google’s better on directions, local businesses and it can use Google Search to answer more questions, but the gap is narrowing.

Alexa pulls ahead in other ways, particularly with the smart home. With (just) more compatible devices, you’ll not have problems getting your smart home to play nicely with your speaker, and Alexa Routines are more powerful than the Google Home ones.

You can now make free outbound calls with Alexa, and if you’re on EE or Vodafone, you can pair your phone number with the speaker to get incoming calls, too.

Controls on top are the same as for other Echo speakers, and you still get Tap gestures to snooze an alarm: just tap the speaker with more than two fingers to pause an alarm. Tapping this speaker is easier than with the old Dot, as you’ve got more surface area to aim for and can avoid hitting a button by mistake.

As with other Echo speakers, the light ring shows the volume level, filling up as you increase volume. As the light shines down, it’s a bit easier to read.

There’s also the new Low Power mode on this model that puts the speaker into an energy-saving state when it’s idle. Well, it does unless you meet one of the hefty restrictions, including you’ve got Spotify linked to your account, there’s an active notification or you’re using the 3.5mm audio output. That effectively means that a lot of people won’t save any power at all.

Sound quality

Inside the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) is the same 1.6-inch speaker as used on the previous generation Dot. This time, the extra height inside the speaker has meant that Amazon can make the speaker forward-facing, projecting sound towards you, rather than firing up.

Can it make that much of a difference? Absolutely. Pushing the audio forwards means that you’re not losing any sound by bouncing it off the wall behind or up into the air. The result is that everything is pushed out towards you.;

Voice responses sound excellent, with Alexa sounding clear and detailed, with a richness to its voice. Certainly, podcasts and talk radio sound very good on this speaker and you won’t wish for more detail.

Music playback is good enough for the occasional listen. There’s an alright level of bass here, although the speaker has been tuned to not distort, so you don’t get the full impact of bass lines. Top volume is loud enough to be heard in a large room without distortion, although the midrange tends to get a bit muddled lacking the sophistication of more expensive speakers. At higher volumes, music starts to lack the clarity that it has at lower volumes.

If you want better stereo separation, you can pair two Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) speakers (including the With Clock variant): see, how to create an Amazon Echo stereo pair for more information.

You should buy it if…

• You want a neat and small smart speaker

This speaker is cool-looking but very small, making it easy to place anywhere. It’s a great choice if you want to add smart home control through your home.

• You’re on a tight budget but still want Alexa

If you just want a smart speaker but don’t want to spend a lot, this is a brilliant choice.

• You’ve got an old Echo Dot but want improved audio

Better audio makes this model great for radio and the occasional bit of music, making it a worthy upgrade to the previous Dots.

You should not buy it if…

• You have the previous generation Dot

Alexa works the same here as it does on older Dot speakers, so only upgrade if you want the better sound quality (or you really want the new design).

• You want a more powerful speaker for music

If you really want a speaker for music, the new Echo is a better choice.

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