What Is an Echo Dot?
Starting at $50, the Echo Dot is the least expensive Echo speaker. For example, the Echo Studio costs $200.
Once you say the wake word, you can follow up with any of Alexa’s voice commands. Of course, you need to be close enough to your Echo Dot that it can pick up your voice—it works best when you’re within 10 meters. Your Echo also needs to be connected to Wi-Fi to function.
With your Echo Dot’s Alexa, you can learn and use new skills that can add safety, convenience, and joy to your life. You can view all of your Alexa skills and browse for new ones in the Alexa app. Once Alexa learns a skill, it can be accessed through voice commands.
Here are some of Alexa’s best skills:
How the Echo Dot Differs from Other Echos
Take, for example, a smart plug that supports Alexa. Yes, you can control the smart plug with Alexa, but you won’t be able to talk to the plug to use any of Alexa’s features or skills. The most that you can do is turn the plug on or off, track energy consumption, and create a schedule for it to operate using Alexa.
The main differences are from the design of the devices, which make certain Echos better than others for specific activities.
The compact screen makes the Echo Show ideal for these activities. You can still talk and access all of Alexa’s features and skills, just like with the Echo Dot.
The Echo Dot doesn’t have a display, so it can’t show a video recipe or display photos. For recipes, Alexa will verbally list the steps to follow a recipe or ask to send the recipe to your phone—so you can watch or read it there. Alexa doesn’t support photos on the Echo Dot, so you’ll have to look for another Echo device that does.
And of course, larger Echo devices have room for more capable speaker hardware, boosting audio quality.
Other Echo devices besides the Echo Dot and Echo Show include:
Echo Auto: designed for your car. Echo Studio: designed for professional quality and optimal sound. Echo Spot: designed as a mini-display. Echo Plus: designed as a speaker like the Echo Dot, but better in terms of quality sound. It also supports Zigbee products. Echo Flex: designed as a mini-speaker, with USB ports that can plug into wall outlets. Echo Input: designed to add Alexa to an external speaker by plugging it in. Echo Link: designed as an upgraded Echo Input, with a volume knob and additional output ports. Echo Sub: designed as a subwoofer that connects to other Echo speakers for dynamic music and sound. Echo Wall Clock: designed as an LED wall clock. Echo Frames: designed as smart glasses.
Should You Get the Echo Dot?
If you’ve never tried Alexa before, the Echo Dot is a fantastic and affordable smart device to try. With the features and skills that we mentioned earlier, you’ll see how valuable and fun Alexa can be.
For starters, to keep it simple, use your Echo Dot as an alarm clock, to play music, to set reminders, and to create to-do lists. You can also treat the device like Google by asking Alexa any questions that you have. This is a great way to break into the smart device world.
From there, you can play around with other Alexa features and browse the skill list. With over 100,000 Alexa skills (and growing), you can personalize your Echo Dot’s Alexa to the fullest.
