Amazon Echo Spot (2024) review

Amazon’s original Echo Spot had most of the features of its Echo Show smart displays. The 2024 Echo Spot ($79.99) is more of a successor to the discontinued Echo Dot With Clock. The smart speaker offers full Alexa voice functionality, displays useful information like the time and weather on a small screen, and even supports touch controls for some smart home devices. It also delivers decent audio quality for its size, though it lacks a camera and the ability to play video. The Echo Spot is still worth buying if you want a basic smart clock for your nightstand or desk, though most people will be better off with the $89.99 Echo Show 5 for a full-fledged smart display or the $99.99 4th-gen Echo for a more powerful smart speaker.

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Design: Like half an egg with half a screen

With an elongated profile that resembles an egg sliced ​​in half widthwise, the Echo Spot looks a lot like the $39.99 Echo Pop, just slightly larger at 4.4 by 4.5 by 4.1 inches (HWD) compared to the Pop’s 3.6 by 3.9 by 3.3 inches. The Spot comes in black or Glacier White, like the Pop, though it trades the Pop’s Lavender Bloom and Midnight Teal options for an Ocean Blue finish (the version pictured in this review).

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

A speaker grille along the bottom and a semi-circular gloss black panel along the top split the upward-sloping front surface. The flat base has a rubber foot that keeps the device steady on a table or nightstand, while the back has a single recessed port for the included 15W power adapter. A $29.99 charging stand comes in charcoal or glacier white; it has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port for charging other devices. Rounding out the design are far-field microphones, along with volume up, volume down and mute buttons along the top.

In terms of audio, the Echo Spot has a 1.73-inch forward-firing mono driver. This is the same size driver found in the $49.99 Echo Dot . For reference, the standard Echo has a more advanced setup, with a 3-inch woofer and dual 0.8-inch front-firing tweeters.

For connectivity and streaming, the Spot offers dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (Amazon doesn’t specify the version or available codecs). It also supports the Amazon Sidewalk shared network for extending the functionality of Alexa devices, Ring cameras, and other Amazon products and services, though I generally recommend disabling this feature for security reasons. The Spot can function as a Wi-Fi hub for Matter devices, but cannot serve as an Eero Wi-Fi mesh node like the Echo Dot and Echo Pop.

Setting up the Echo Spot through the Alexa app (available for Android and iOS) is simple. Once you plug the device in, a QR code will appear on the screen that you can scan with your phone. This will launch a guide in the Alexa app on how to connect the Spot to your Wi-Fi network and link it to your Amazon account. After that, the Echo Spot will appear in your devices list, along with any other Echo- or Alexa-compatible smart home products in your home.

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Display: simple, yet effective

While the Echo Spot’s color touchscreen is eye-catching, it doesn’t fully transform the Spot into a smart display. The panel disappears against the glossy black face of the front to give the illusion that the entire semicircular panel is screen, but only a square 2.83-inch area of ​​the display is actually usable. It’s bright and vibrant enough that text and icons remain visible from several feet away in both dark and bright environments, though visibility drops off as you move to the side. The meager 320-by-240 resolution is disappointing.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

As mentioned, the Spot’s display is more of an evolution of the Echo Dot With Clock than the original Echo Spot. Amazon doesn’t really want you to use the Spot for visual communication or content; after all, it doesn’t have a camera and doesn’t support any type of video playback. But it does show more information than the Echo Dot With Clock and supports basic touch controls. I found it particularly useful to be able to see the time and weather at a glance, see what music is playing, and make basic adjustments to smart devices.

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Smart features: Alexa is mainly for voice

As an Echo device, the Spot is built around Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. Say “Alexa” followed by a command, and the Spot will respond. (You can also choose “Amazon,” “Computer,” “Echo,” or “Ziggy” as your wake word.)

Asking Alexa to play music is the most obvious use for a smart speaker. This works with Amazon Music and Audible, along with other music streaming services like Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, and Tidal. You’ll need to link your streaming service account through the Alexa app for this feature to work. Album art appears as a small thumbnail in the center of the screen when music is playing, along with playback controls beneath it.

You can also ask Alexa for news and weather reports, sports scores, currency and stock prices, and broader requests like unit conversions. Very limited supporting information appears on the Spot’s screen, though you do get icons and temperatures if you ask about the weather, or a plain numerical value if you ask how much a foreign currency is worth. Otherwise, Alexa’s responses are exclusively vocal.

Alexa supports voice calling on the Spot, including directly to phone numbers in North America and the UK via Skype, and via Alexa’s Drop In service. However, without a camera, you won’t be able to make video calls via Zoom or another service like you can on a smart display.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

If you have Alexa-compatible smart home devices, you can connect them through the Alexa app and control them through the Spot. Alexa works with most major brands of smart bulbs, smart plugs, smart locks, and smart thermostats. You won’t have access to feeds from your home security cameras, however; as mentioned, the Spot doesn’t support video playback.

All the features I tried worked very well during testing. Whether I asked Alexa to adjust a light in my apartment, call a phone number, give me a weather report, convert yen to US dollars, or play music, I always got the right answer instantly. A brightness slider for the smart bulb appeared on the screen when I turned the bulb on/off, while the temperature and converted yen value were displayed when I asked.

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Sound Quality: Fair audio with little bass

Small speakers typically don’t deliver much bass, and the Echo Spot is no exception. Thanks to its front-facing driver, you’ll get the best audio experience when you’re sitting right in front of it.

The kick drum hits and bass synth notes on our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” are poppy and completely lacking in punch. They also start to distort at max volume. The Echo Dot performs identically here, though the standard Echo captures the lows more completely.

Yes’ “Roundabout” sounds much better on the Spot. The opening acoustic guitar notes get a nice sense of low-mid resonance, while there’s some treble clarity to bring out the string textures. The bass, high-pitched guitar, and vocals all remain clear in this busy mix, and benefit from strong detail as the song fully kicks in. The treble drops off a bit, however, leaving the guitar strums a bit behind the bass and vocals. I’m quite pleased with the audio quality considering the speaker’s small size, especially since it can get loud enough to fill my living room without distortion.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

You should stream via Alexa over Wi-Fi rather than via Bluetooth from your phone if you want the best audio quality. Music I streamed from my iPhone during testing seemed noticeably less detailed and hollower than music streamed over Wi-Fi.

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Verdict: A quality smart speaker with a small screen

The 2024 Amazon Echo Spot sacrifices some of the smart display features of its predecessor, but it works well as a smart speaker. It sounds just as good as the Echo Dot, has a more useful display than the Echo Dot With Clock, offers basic smart home controls, and responds reliably to Alexa commands. Overall, it’s a worthwhile purchase for a desk or nightstand if you just want a modern, Amazon-centric take on the clock radio. Just keep in mind that you can get a full smart display experience from the Echo Show 5 or better audio from the base Echo speaker for a bit more money.