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The Amazon Echo Dot (fifth Gen) is now $22.99, down from $49.99—its lowest worth ever, in keeping with worth trackers like Keepa. Whereas it’d look almost an identical to the earlier technology Echo Dot, with its squat 3.9-inch sphere form and fabric-covered entrance, it is filled with some updates that make it extra handy than ever.
Essentially the most notable modifications are the addition of movement sensors, which allow you to faucet the highest of the machine to manage music, snooze alarms, and finish calls. It’s a small however helpful characteristic, particularly should you’re in search of a strategy to work together with out shouting instructions or utilizing bodily buttons. The inner speaker has additionally been barely upgraded with a bigger driver—now 1.73 inches versus 1.6 inches on the earlier mannequin—however don’t anticipate groundbreaking audio enhancements. In keeping with critiques, the sound is first rate however nonetheless restricted. It is adequate to fill a small room, however should you’re after room-shaking bass or booming sound, you’d be higher off bigger fashions just like the Amazon Echo Studio ($199.99).
On the connectivity entrance, the Echo Dot now helps Eero mesh community integration, permitting it to behave as a node in your Eero wifi system, offering as much as 1,000 sq. ft of protection. It is a good bonus should you already use Eero, however it is probably not a game-changer for everybody. It additionally helps Bluetooth and dual-band 802.11ac wifi, which is nice for streaming music or podcasts from providers like Spotify, Apple Music, or iHeartRadio. Nevertheless, one downside is the removing of the three.5mm jack from earlier fashions, so you possibly can now not join it to bigger audio system for extra highly effective sound.
After all, the Echo Dot is powered by Alexa, which stays one of the crucial broadly supported voice assistants. It could actually deal with all the pieces from setting alarms and controlling sensible house units to taking part in music and making calls. Should you’re already invested in Amazon’s ecosystem, the Echo Dot makes a strong addition, particularly with its potential to manage your sensible house units by way of routines and even Alexa’s “Hunches,” which proactively suggests actions primarily based in your habits, in keeping with this PCMag evaluation.
