An alarm clock used to be an important, though irritating, part of our lives for a long time. Now, it is one of those gadgets that the smartphone has sent to the grave. However, the Amazon Echo Spot could help revive the alarm clock for a generation that is used to asking Alexa to check their time. But this one goes a step further and can put you to sleep before waking you up in the morning.
The Amazon Echo Spot has clearly evolved from the earlier Echo Spot, but it now has a 2.83-inch touch screen (240x320px). There is no camera on the device, and that will make many comfortable about keeping it in their bedrooms. The Spot is the size of a small alarm clock and can easily be placed on any side stand.
A bed side digital clock. (Image credit: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
Set up is easy via the app; you are ready to use the device within a few minutes. You can also use the Alexa app for most of the settings from clock faces to motion detection and enabling gestures. But you don’t need the app for everything as the touch screen too lets you access most of these settings with a swipe down from the top.
While it is easy to think of the Echo Spot as a smart alarm clock, it is in fact a full-fledged Alexa device as well. So almost all Alexa functionalities are available here with the exception of maybe playing video. Even on this one, the Echo Spot comes close by showing animations when you are listening to music. Also, you can customise the clock face and even choose from a set of colours for the same. However, this is minimalist and not a riot of colour on the screen.
For me the most obvious use case was of asking Alexa to set up an alarm, even though I don’t need one as most mornings I am up wondering when the alarm will go off. I could also ask Alexa to play my favourite A R Rahman song to wake me up, but I doubt my wife would approve of the early morning musical intervention. Also, you can set up the alarm to keep increasing the volume with time, in case your son is in no mood to get up for school.
The music playback on the Echo Spot is clear and loud. It is not as good as a Bluetooth speaker but certainly not bad considering that this is a very small Alexa device. However, you can stream music to the Spot from a smartphone via Bluetooth if you feel like it. At higher volumes, the audio struggles a bit and you are better off not pushing it beyond 80 per cent. But this one is perfect for listening to William Dalrymple’s Return of the King from Audible before you fall asleep.
An affordable smart speaker with a display. (Image credit: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
This Alexa even has a bit of a character and responds to certain conversations like ‘Alexa, Good Morning’ or ‘Alexa, what does the weather look like tomorrow’ with some cool animations. These also made me think the Echo Spot is the perfect device to keep in your kid’s room. This also makes sense since you can use this to start a conversation via the Alexa App and maybe even ask your daughter to come for dinner. Plus, you can set this up to work with a smart switch or light with the latter even switching on as you enter a room thanks to motion detection on the device.
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The only issue I felt with the device was that the clock gets stuck if your Wi-Fi is not working. I found this a bit weird as the clock does not have any local backup, which should have been quite easy to do given that this Echo Spot has 1GB RAM and 8GB storage.
At Rs 6449, the new Amazon Echo Spot is a great companion device for the bedroom, one that reads a bedtime story for the child and even wakes her up in the morning and converses with her all through the day. If nothing else, it is a good timepiece for the bedside table.
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