Amazon has reintroduced the Echo Spot, a familiar face in the Alexa device lineup. This miniature smart display is designed specifically for nightstands or desks, serving primarily as a customizable smart alarm clock.

The centerpiece of the Echo Spot is a 2.83-inch touchscreen occupying the top half of the device. Unlike the original version’s circular screen with thick bezels, the new display offers a more modern semi-circular design.

The display shows the time and date at a glance. Users can personalize their experience with various clock faces. Additionally, Amazon has included special visuals for core functions like alarms, music playback, and weather forecasts. These visuals include illustrations like a shining sun, storm clouds, or a snowflake depending on the weather. The user interface can also be customized with six color options: orange, violet, magenta, lime, teal, and blue.

Below the display is a 1.73-inch front-firing speaker hidden behind a mesh grille, identical to the speaker in the 5th Gen Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock. Built-in microphones allow users to interact with Alexa through voice commands, and there’s a microphone mute button that is conveniently placed between the volume up and down buttons on top of the device.

For privacy-conscious users, the Echo Spot does not have a camera, unlike the Echo Show 5 or Show 8. Voice recordings can be deleted through the Alexa app on Android or iOS devices. The Echo Spot also features a motion sensor, allowing users to dismiss alarms by tapping the top of the device.

The Echo Spot positions itself as a focused device. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone, instead excels as a smart alarm clock with a customizable interface. 

For those who want to buy it, the Amazon Echo Spot is priced at $79.99, but Prime members can take advantage of a limited-time discount of $44.99 until July 17th, 2024, coinciding with Amazon’s Prime Day celebrations.

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After launching Echo, Echo Plus and Echo Dot, Amazon has now launched yet another smart speaker in the Indian market — Amazon Echo Spot. This comes after Google launched its own Google Home and Home Mini in India earlier this month.

The biggest difference between Echo Spot and other Echo devices available in India is that the Echo Spot comes with a touchscreen display. Another device that has a display is Echo Show, but the company currently has no plans to launch it in India.

In terms of design, the Amazon Echo Spot looks like an alarm clock and comes with a circular display that measures 2.5-inches in diameter and has a screen resolution of 480 x 480 pixels. There are multiple options available to the user to configure the watch face, either in analog or digital form.

Just like other Echo devices, this one too is powered by the second-generation far-field technology that uses four microphones. It also has an acoustic beam-forming technology and enhanced noise cancellation support.

For the connectivity, there’s Bluetooth and a 3.5mm Aux-in port that lets user transform the Echo Spot into a home entertainment system. Users can browse through songs on the device by asking Alexa to show or play songs by genre, artiste, decade, composer, and film language. It also has a multi-room music feature that helps synchronize music across multiple Echo devices.

Unlike other Echo speakers which read the news briefings back to the user, the Echo Spot can play the flash briefings from various news organizations. Further, users can also play the whole movie through Prime Video as well as video clips from IMDB. However, the experience may not be good enough given the smaller display size.

According to the company, Echo Spot is still a voice first device at heart and is meant to be even more personal than the other Echo speakers. The audio from the speakers is supposedly loud enough that the device can just rest on the kitchen counter or table top.

Furthermore, the Echo Spot also comes with a front-facing camera sensor that enables Alexa-to-Alexa voice-controlled video calls. Video calls and messages work between any two Echo Spot devices and on Android and iOS devices using the Alexa companion app.

Read More: Facebook Is Reportedly Delaying Its Smart Speaker Launch Amid Data Crisis

Priced at Rs. 12,999 (approximately $194), the Echo Spot is available in two color options — Black and White. It can be purchased in India through Amazon India as well as through Amazon devices kiosks in Bengaluru and Mumbai, and over 350 offline retail outlets across 20 cities in the country.

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