Verdict
A neat device with a small screen, the Amazon Echo Spot (2024) is a nice alarm clock with Alexa built-in. The screen can do some clever things, such as showing the upcoming weather forecast, but lacks the full capabilities of an Echo Show, such as showing live feeds from a video doorbell. If you specifically want a smart clock, this is good, but the regular Echo Dot is cheaper and the more advanced Echo Show 5 is only a little more expensive.
Pros
- Good value
- Useful touchscreen
- Loud speaker
Cons
- Small screen
- No video support
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Smart alarm clockThe small display is primarily for showing a clock, although it does show ancillary information for some voice searches. -
Amazon AlexaAlexa is built-in, so you can use all of the same voice commands you’d use on the other Echo smart speakers.
Introduction
Remember the original Echo Spot with its funky round screen, which was released way back in 2017? Well, the Amazon Echo Spot (2024) is here with the same name and similar design, only it’s not really a direct replacement for the old smart display.
While the new and old Spots share some of the same design DNA, the old version was functionally an Echo Show smart display, while the new version shares more with the discontinued Echo Dot with Clock (5th Generation). If you want a simple, smart alarm, it’s a good choice, but spend more on the Echo Show 5, and you’ll get more features.
Design
- Controls on top
- Rounded design
- Choice of three colours
For the new Echo Spot, Amazon has used a design similar to that of the Echo Pop: a sphere with the front cut off to leave a flat surface. Amazon has integrated both a speaker and a screen into this flat face.
While the original Echo Spot had a round screen that took up most of the front, the 2024 edition has a small 2.83-inch rectangular screen that sits in the middle of the top half of the front. The reason for the smaller screen is that the new Spot is designed as a clock first, and so many features that the Echo Show models have are missing (more of that later).
As far as looks go, the Echo Spot (2024) is an attractive smart speaker. It’s chunky enough that it stands out in the right way, but small enough to easily fit on a bedside table.
There’s a choice of three colours, including the lovely Ocean Blue that I have on review, and then the standard Black and White options.
At the top of the speaker are volume controls and a microphone mute button. There’s no button to activate Alexa, as per recent Echo devices, and there’s no camera shutter as there’s no camera on this speaker.
Features and Display
- No video support
- Neat new display animations
- Responds well to requests
As the Echo Spot (2024) has a screen, you may be expecting an experience similar to that of an Echo Show 5 (3rd Generation), but that’s not what this product is about. So, rather than getting a large screen with enough resolution for video, there’s a 2.83-inch display with a resolution of 320 x 240, which is quite shiny, so it can be hard to see clearly if it picks up reflections. I found in my office that the reflection from the window and blinds made the Spot’s screen harder to see, where as the Echo Show 5 dealt better with the same situations.
As it’s such a small screen, there’s no room on the display for the standard Echo Show interface, and video isn’t supported, not even from a Ring Doorbell.
I asked Alexa to show me the feed from my Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro, but the response was, “Sorry, cameras don’t work on this device.” Alexa suggested that I use a Fire TV device instead.
This restriction is a shame for those with a video doorbell. I liked being able to answer my Ring doorbell from my Echo Show 5 in the bedroom, but with the Echo Spot, I get the audible announcement but need to get my phone out to talk to callers.
Similarly, there’s no video calling (or webcam) on the Spot, nor can it play videos from any source. These restrictions alone may mean that this isn’t the smart display you’re looking for.
If you don’t care about video, then the screen’s actually quite nice. Rather than being multi-purpose, the Echo Spot has been designed as a smart clock from the ground up. When it powers up, rather than the distracting array of recipe ideas and breaking news, the Spot simply shows a clock with a choice of themes that range from an analogue replica to the basic digital clock with the current weather forecast above.
In this regard, the Echo Spot is far closer to the Echo Dot with Clock than a regular Echo Show. While the Echo Dot with Clock’s display was basic and showed information only, the Echo Spot has a full-colour display with touch, so it can do more.
Ask Alexa about the current weather, and in addition to responding, an animation showing the outlook appears on the screen. I could swipe between two information screens: one showing the current temperature and another showing the minimum and maximum temperatures.
When you control a smart device, you get touch controls on the screen. For example, with a smart light, I get a slider to control brightness and a button to toggle the light on and off.
Play music, and there are controls to play/pause and skip tracks.
In this way, the Echo Spot replicates some of the features that an Echo Show has, but there are limitations. Ask an Echo Show where the nearest pizza restaurants are, and you get a list on-screen; the Echo Spot can’t do that. What controls and information the Spot shows, is handy, but the Echo Show range can do a lot more.
An always-on display can be distracting, but the Spot has a Night Mode that drops the screen’s brightness at night. I found it worked well, and I could happily sleep with the smart speaker turned on while being able to see the time if I woke up in the night.
Of course, the Echo Spot is there to be an alarm clock, set by voice. When an alarm goes off, a tap on the top of the speaker will snooze the alarm, which is handy. I would like to see an improved way of stopping an alarm: with this device, I have to say “Alexa, stop”; Google smart displays listen for just the word “stop”.
For the most part, the Echo Spot (2024) is a voice device, similar to the rest of the standard Echo range. Alexa is a mature voice assistant and, for my money, the one that is most likely to understand what you’re asking. It’s also the best smart assistant for controlling smart devices, eagerly controlling individual devices or entire rooms. Matter support is available over Wi-Fi, too, but this smart speaker doesn’t support Thread.
Voice calls and drop-in are available to other Amazon speakers, but as mentioned there’s no camera for video calls. I understand the decision to not have a camera, as people are wary about having camera-enabled devices in their bedroom, even with a privacy slider.
Sound
- Front-firing 1.73-inch speaker
- Loud
- Lacks detail
There’s a front-firing 1.73-inch speaker on this model, the same as in the current Echo Dot speakers. Given the Echo Spot (2024)’s size, audio is quite impressive. I found it loud and with an impressive level of bass.
Playing the Imperial March, the bass delivers the menace to the soundtrack; it could even handle, to a degree, the bass-heavy into to OK Go’s This Too Shall Pass.
The high-end can sound occasionally harsh, and there’s a lack of detail through the midrange, but for occasional music or for waking up to your favourite track or radio station, the Echo Spot (2024) does a good enough job.
The speaker is more than up to the task of delivering clear speech, whether that’s a podcast, talk radio or just Alexa’s own responses.
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Should you buy it?
You want an alarm clock with smart features
Compact, well-priced and with a focused, small display, the new Echo Spot is handy on a bedside table.
You want more features or something cheaper
If you want better audio or the ability to stream video from cameras, there are other alternatives. Ditch the screen, the Echo Dot sounds as good but is cheaper.
Final Thoughts
The Echo Spot (2024) isn’t really a smart display, dropping many of the features that the regular Echo Show range has.
If you want these, such as for answering your doorbell, then the Echo Show 5 costs just a little bit more (although when Amazon does its frequent deals, it’s often cheaper). Considering that the Show 5 does more, and doesn’t take up much more desk space, it’s the one that I’d buy over the Spot every time. In fact, the Echo Spot would have to be on quite a discount and considerably cheaper than the Show 5 before I could recommend it.
If you don’t care about the screen, the Echo Dot is cheaper, and the full-size Echo isn’t much more expensive, but with much better audio.
That leaves the Echo Spot (2024) in an odd position, but if you want a simple smart clock for your bedside table, it does a good job.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every smart speaker we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
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We test smart speakers with a variety of smart devices to see how well they control them
We test smart displays with a variety of video streaming services to see how good they are for entertainment.
We use the same test tracks for each smart speaker to see how well each handles music.
FAQs
No, the screen does not support video, whether it’s an online video or from a smart doorbell or camera.
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