Pros & Cons
-
- Affordable
- Simple to use
- Shows time, alarms, and temperature
-
- Only a cosmetic change from previous model
- Weak bass
Amazon Echo Dot with Clock 4th Gen (2020) Specs
| Bluetooth | |
| Built-In Voice Assistant | Amazon Alexa |
| Channels | Mono |
| Multi-Room | |
| Physical Connections | 3.5mm |
| Speakerphone | |
| Wi-Fi |
Editors' Note: There is a new version of the Echo Dot With Clock available. Check out the Amazon Echo Dot With Clock (5th Gen)Amazon Echo Dot With Clock (5th Gen).
What time is it? It's Alexa time! Amazon's fourth-generation Echo Dot With Clock smart speaker takes the attractive, spherical new Echo Dot and puts a digital clock on the front for $59.99. You'll still want the larger $99.99 Echo speaker for room-filling sound, but if you want a Dot to use as a kitchen timer or a bedroom alarm clock, this is the one to get. Ultimately, the Echo Dot With Clock earns our Editors' Choice award for affordable smart speakers thanks to its sheer convenience and functionality.
A New Look
Like the $49.99 fourth-generation Echo Dot, the Dot With Clock is a 3.9-inch sphere available in blue or white (the regular, clock-less model also has a dark gray color). The top of the orb has volume up, volume down, action, and mic mute buttons, and it glows a soft blue along the bottom when it's listening. A power connector and 3.5mm audio output sit on the back of the speaker.
The additional feature here over the standard Echo Dot is the white LED clock, which can also display alarms, the outdoor temperature, and any active timers. If you slap the top of the Dot, it will snooze your alarm. You can tell Alexa to dim the clock or turn it off if it's near your bed and you like to sleep in total darkness. The simple act of adding a clock to the speaker makes it much more visually useful, and is easily worth the extra $10.
Alexa
As an Echo speaker, the Echo Dot With Clock uses Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. Just say, "Alexa," and give a command, and the speaker will do its best to accommodate you. Alexa can answer general questions, control smart home devices, make phone calls, make voice calls to other Alexa devices, and play music from supported streaming services including Amazon Music, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, and TuneIn. Any other music source will require streaming over Bluetooth directly from your phone or other device.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for Amazon's Echo Lineup: What's the Difference?
Alexa is an effective voice assistant, with more third-party skills than the competition, but its syntax can be a little stiff. You might find yourself needing to use very specific language to get Alexa to do what you want, as opposed to Google Assistant (on the Nest Mini and Nest Audio speakers), which is a little more conversational.
Audio Performance
As with the base model Dot, this is mostly a cosmetic change from last year's model. The Dot With Clock's audio capabilities are the same, and it still has the same 1.6-inch driver—fine for bedside use, but not something you'd want as a primary music speaker in your living room. You can attach a better speaker via the 3.5mm output jack, of course.
The Echo Dot With Clock has identical audio capabilities to the standard Echo Dot, so you can head over to that review for a deeper dive into its sound quality. Essentially, this is a small speaker with little power and almost no bass response to speak of. It's balanced heavily toward the highs and mids, with little low-frequency presence to anchor it. It's better audio quality than you'll get from a standard clock radio, but it isn't enough to fill a room with full sound. It works just fine for podcasts, though.
A Good Time to Upgrade?
The Echo Dot With Clock remains our favorite affordable smart speaker. Amazon's little $24.99 Echo Flex has a clock attachment for an additional $15, but the device doesn't look like a handsome bedside alarm clock; it looks like a plug-in air freshener. Amazon also has the $89.99 Echo Show 5 if you want a richer clock experience with a fully functional video screen (and we've seen it on sale for significantly less). But the Echo Dot and Echo Dot With Clock are excellent, affordable ways to access Amazon's Alexa voice for information and smart home control, even if they aren't suited for use as primary music speakers. Of the two, the Echo Dot With Clock earns our Editors' Choice nod because the simple usefulness of its display is well worth the extra $10.