Echo Dot 3rd Gen Smart speaker with Alexa

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About this item

• Our most popular smart speaker: now with a fabric design and improved speaker for richer and louder sound.

• Voice control your music: stream songs from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, TuneIn and others. You can also listen to audiobooks from Audible.

• Bigger, better sound: pair with a second Echo Dot for rich, stereo sound. Fill your home with music with compatible Echo devices in different rooms.

• Ready to help: ask Alexa to play music, answer questions, read the news, check the weather, set alarms, control compatible smart home devices and more.

• Connect with others: call almost anyone hands free including UK mobile and residential numbers (from UK only), other Echo devices, Alexa app and Skype. Link your Vodafone account to make and receive mobile calls. Instantly drop in on other rooms in your home or make an announcement to every room with a compatible Echo device.

• Alexa has skills: with tens of thousands of skills, Alexa is always getting smarter and adding new skills like tracking fitness, playing games and more.

• Voice control your smart home: turn on lights, adjust thermostats, lock doors and more, with compatible connected devices.

• Designed to protect your privacy: built with multiple layers of privacy protection and control, including a Microphone Off button that electronically disconnects the microphones.

Costumers Product Reviews

Pros

I have had just about every incarnation of Echo/Dot but I will stick to the latest Dot after saying, you can't compare the Dot with the Echo or a full stereo sound system as they are all for different purposes and WILL NOT have the same sound experience and no one should expect they will, a lot of reviewers forget that !!!

I have the 2nd Gen Dot in the kitchen and it is fine there, as when I/we are in the kitchen we are usually making tea etc and there are cooking noises and not looking to listen to music in 'detail music is really just background noise, speech is fine though.

My 3rd Gen Dot is in my computer room and is placed about 1 foot from my head on the desk, and I do listen to music in there, so some decent quality speaker is needed, the 2nd Gen was just not up to that really, it was fine for speech though and music was just 'OK'.

The good thing about the 3rd Generation is that you have a graphic equaliser in the app so you can alter the treble and bass according to your personal taste, so of you haven't a big room or the speaker is close to you this is a very good money saving alternative to the Echo.

With the 3rd Gen speaker the sound comes our all around the cloth covered sides, which is one of the main reasons why it sounds better.

Something that no one seems to have pointed out so far is that the 3rd Gen works on 15 volts, whereas the 2nd Generation works on 5 volts... and that is the reason why the 3rd Gen has a 'round' plug on it as opposed to the USB (5v) plug that is on the 2nd Gen - this is probably of no consequence unless you want to fit a Dot into your car, I don't want to but I know a couple of people who have, and if that is the case, you need the 2nd Gen (5v) Dot as the 3rd Gen won't work on the USB provided in most cars as it needs 15 volts !

Something else most people won't be aware of is that you can now ask Alexa 'repeat questions' without having to say 'Alexa' every time, for example you may ask "Alexa, how high is the Eiffel Tower ?" (1,063 feet) you can then ask "Who built the Eiffel Tower ?" (Gustav Eiffel) and then maybe "How old is the Eiffel Tower ? (127 years etc.) and so on, the whole point is you don't have to wake her up every time by saying 'Alexa' first but ask the questions in a reasonable time, it is no good asking a second question 30 seconds later !

The main point is though you MUST activate this in the App first, as it is set in the Off position by default.

You need to go into the Alexa App -> then devices (the far right symbol at the bottom) -> then select 'Echo & Alexa' (top left this time !) -> then select your speaker -> then scroll down to Follow-Up Mode (it is 5th from the very bottom !) and tap it -> then finally flick it to 'on' … phew !

Hope that will be useful to you :-)

In the end I love ALL my Dot's & Echo's it is just a matter of finding the right one for the place and job you want it to do, none will disappoint, if they are in the right environment, I am quite happy with my 2nd Gen in the kitchen and will not be changing it, as the advantages would be wasted, but I am really glad I have the 3rd Gen in my computer room as it is MUCH better than the 2nd Gen in there.. as they say "horses for courses !" and only you can decide which one is for you.

Cons

If you intend buying an Alexa device to play music through you need to be aware that Amazon only permits you to use your £3.99 monthly subscription for ONE device. If you add another Alexa device you will not be able to play your Amazon Music with it unless you upgrade your monthly subscription to £9.99 or £15.99 if you would like your music played simoustainaly through two or more devices. Amazon doesn’t tell you this when you purchase Alexa devices, so be warned.

Yes, we were caught out by this. We now have four Google devices (which are much netter quality and cheaper than Amazon products) and can play/stream music (Spotify) thought as many Google devices as we choose, singularity or combined. The software is much better than Amazon’s and can be accessed and used from any enabled device, including a PC or Mac computer. Spotify is just £0.99 for the first three months, and then £9.99 per month. At the time of writing Google devices are practically half price.

Get your smart speakers on Amazon click here https://amzn.to/2RnlXxb