Amazon Echo Spot vs Echo Dot with Clock: Which should you choose?

There’s a new Echo Spot in town, but how does it compare to Amazon’s other bedside device?

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Amazon has added to its already extensive range of Echo speakers by bringing the Echo Spot back from the dead with a new and improved form factor compared to the 2017 model. Taking a couple of leaves out of the Echo Pop’s design playbook, we’ve compared the new Echo Spot to the Echo Pop separately. 

Here though, we are covering how the new Echo Spot compares to the Echo Dot and the Echo Dot with Clock. Which is the right Echo speaker for your bedside table or kitchen counter? Let’s take a little trip through the Echo Spot and Echo Dot differences.

Echo Spot vs Echo Dot: Price

The Amazon Echo Spot launched on July 8 as a celebration of Prime Day 2024. As part of this celebration, its price is $44.99 / £49.99 for Prime members, while stocks last. It will go up to $79.99 / £79.99 after Prime Day or when stocks run out.

The Amazon Echo Dot costs $49.99 / £54.99, while the Echo Dot with Clock is a little more expensive at £64.99 – it’s not available in the US anymore. There is a good chance both will see discounts for Prime Day too, so you might be better to wait until the Prime Day sales in the middle of July before making your decision. 

When there is no Prime Day sales or Black Friday, the Echo Spot will be more expensive than both the Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock, though availability for the Echo Spot and Echo Dot should be multiple countries, including the US and UK.  

Echo Spot vs Echo Dot: Design

Unlike the Echo Pop and Echo Spot where some design similarities can be found, the Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock are quite different to the Echo Spot. As we mentioned, the Echo Spot has an angled front and a domed rear, featuring a speaker element at the bottom and a small, 2.83-inch touchscreen (240 x 320) display at the top. 

The Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock are both spherical in shape. The Echo Dot with Clock has a clock within the material on the front, but neither offers a display in the same sense that the Echo Spot does.

All three devices do have physical buttons on top however, with the Echo Dot, Echo Spot and Echo Dot with Clock all offering volume up, volume down and a mute button. 

When it comes to colour options, the Echo Spot comes in Black, Glacier White, or Ocean Blue. There are also customised displays however, with six themes comprising orange, violet, magenta, lime, teal, and blue, plus you can mix and match with different clock faces. 

The Echo Dot with Clock comes in one colour option, which is a light blue, while the Echo Dot comes in three colour options of Charcoal, Glacier White and Deep Sea Blue.

Echo Spot vs Echo Dot: Sound quality 

The Echo Spot has a full range 1.73-inch front-firing directional speaker, which is the same size driver as what is offered on the Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock. 

The differences in design may mean the Echo Dot devices are better at delivering sound however, with a 360-degree speaker mesh compared to the small section on the front of the Echo Spot. Still, we will need to wait until we review the Echo Spot before we can determine that, and it also may not really matter too much given the Echo Spot and Echo Dot with Clock are both designed for a bedside table.

Both the Echo Spot and Echo Dot devices will respond to Alexa, play tracks from popular music streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music, as well as play podcasts and audiobooks. 

Echo Spot vs Echo Dot: Alexa and smart home features 

The beauty about Amazon’s Echo devices are that while they might all differ in terms of their appearance and designs, the Alexa experience under their hoods is largely the same.

The Echo Spot does have a few extras given it has a screen, but that screen is smaller than the likes of an Echo Show so it’s really about the clock and basic information like weather. 

There are some visual animations, theme colours that we mentioned, new alarm tones and illustrations like a sun, rain cloud or snowflake not he Echo Spot, but otherwise, the features offered between the Echo Spot and Echo Dot are virtually identical. 

That means you can control any smart home devices you have set up using Alexa, get alerts from Alexa-enabled doorbells, call other Alexa-enabled devices and use Alexa Routines. You can also do basics like add to your shopping list, order Amazon products, play games and of course play music and podcasts as we mentioned.

Echo Spot v Echo Dot: Connectivity

The older Echo Dot actually trumps the newer Spot, slightly, on the connectivity front as it is able to extend your home Wi-Fi using Eero built-in.

Aside from that extra option on the Dot though, they are much of a muchness for connectivity.

Both operate over dual band, 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi, both can act as Matter controllers (Wi-Fi only) and both can tap into Amazon’s Sidewalk network.

Echo Spot vs Echo Dot: Which could you choose?

The decision between the Echo Spot and Echo Dot will be a little trickier than the decision between the Echo Spot and the Echo Pop. The Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock are both likely to deliver a slightly better sound experience than the Echo Spot, though we will confirm when we have reviewed the new Spot. The Echo Dot with Clock version also has the advantage of a clock too, like the Spot. 

The Echo Spot has a small screen and a big personality however, based on what we have seen so far. It is a little more money than both the Echo Dot devices, but it will add a little more character to your bedside table than the Echo Dot especially.

It is also cheaper for Prime users currently, though this will only apply until Prime Day is finished or stocks run out. 

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