Gabe Turner: Hey, folks.
This is Gabe at Security Baron.
Today, we're looking at an upgrade on the Amazon Echo Dot, and our review of the Amazon
Echo Dot with Clock.
[background music]
Gabe: In today's review, the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, we're going to go over some pros
and cons, its design, its feature set, the installation process, the mobile app, and
user experience before recapping by answering some common questions, and recommending who
this is for.
If you like to see a list of our favorite smart assistant speakers, google, "Security
Baron best smart assistant speakers."
If you have a question about today's review, leave us a comment and I'll get back to you.
Let's kick off today's review of the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock by going over some pros
and cons, beginning with the pros.
Right off the bat, I have to talk about the fact that this device gives you access to
the vast library of Amazon virtual assistant skills.
Personally, I like to use it when it when I wake up.
Not only to ask what the weather is going to be like where I live in Brooklyn, but also
where the rest of my family will be on that day.
I often say what's the weather like in Nashville, Tennessee?
How's the weather in Philadelphia?
Just all over the globe, I like to know how people's days are going to look.
On top of that, I like looking at the display.
That clock, you'd be surprised at the difference it actually makes.
I use it to maybe keep me off my phone a little bit more.
I can look at the clock here, not look at my phone to know what time it is.
It just gives you another option in your home for knowing what's going on.
Finally, I have to talk about the auxiliary jack.
The fact that we can plug this into an external speaker and really pump up the volume is really
fun and just gives a little bit more variety.
When it comes to cons, I did find that the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock does have some
difficulty hearing me when media is playing.
What that means is that, generally between four and six, depending on the type of media,
it could have difficulty understanding my commands.
All media is different.
For podcasts, it will probably understand you maybe all the way to seven.
For a little bit more dense music, like rock or hip-hop, it does seem to have a little
bit more difficulty in understanding commands.
[background music]
Gabe: Now that we've gone over the pros and cons with the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock,
let's talk about its design, beginning with that LED display.
It actually does make things a lot nicer.
I really like the LED display.
Not only does it function as a clock, but it also tells you your volume controls.
You can go look around.
Of course, beyond just having it in the LED display, the top of the device lights up,
kind of giving you an idea of how much volume that's being used.
I like the design of this in terms of its coloring.
The sandstone gray with the fabric surrounding the device make it look really nice.
The top of the device, you have volume controls up and down.
You have your mic mute button and the Amazon virtual system button itself.
Each one, you'll note, is coupled with its own microphone.
It's a four-microphone array so it can really understand you.
The back is pretty simple.
You got your power port and your 3.5 millimeter auxiliary jack so you can plug this into a
larger speaker and really get that party rowdy.
That's a look at the design on the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
[background music]
Gabe: Whoa.
Hold on.
I hope you're enjoying today's review of the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
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All right, let's get back to the video.
Now that we've gone over the pros and cons and the design on the Amazon Echo Dot Clock,
let's talk about its feature set, beginning with that lovely LED display.
This LED display gives you the time.
It is the Amazon Dot with Clock after all.
It can actually serve as a visual timer.
If you set a timer for let's say a minute, you can actually see that countdown.
Beyond that, if you want to see things like weather, you can actually ask it the weather,
and it will give you the degrees in Fahrenheit or Celsius, however you like it.
One thing I like about the LED display is the fact that it can adjust itself for the
ambient lighting so if you find yourself in a darkroom, maybe you're trying to get some
sleep, it'll adjust for that.
If you find yourself in a super bright space, it will adjust for that as well to make sure
that you can see it.
Amazon Echo Dot with Clock is a smart speaker so you want it to actually function well as
a smart speaker in terms of the sound.
I actually think it does sound good.
It's a small package, but you get a nice, round sound out of this device.
[background music]
Gabe: As you can hear, it's got a pretty solid round sound even at three on the Amazon Dot
with Clock.
I can take it up to five.
You get a nice sound.
Even six.
Take it down to three.
[music]
Gabe: You can hear that it's got a really solid sound quality on the Amazon Echo Dot
with Clock.
Of course, this being an Amazon device, the Amazon Echo Dot Clock is Amazon virtual assistance
power which means you have that treasure trove of Amazon skills accessible to you.
That means you can ask any number of trivia questions, play games, you can even control
all the elements of your smart COM apparatus and all those integrations like your lights
and your locks and even your home security system, all right here with the voice control
enabled Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
Another feature with the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock is the ability to call other Amazon
Echo device users without having to use your phone or anything of that nature so you can
just call them directly.
For example, I know every morning my mom gets up around 6:00, has a cup of coffee on the
couch and there's an Amazon Echo Dot right beside here.
If I want to give her a call, I can simply do so directly through my Amazon Echo Dot
and we can have a nice conversation.
You can do that with anyone in the world.
The opposite of that is just having a little bit more privacy.
Fortunately, we have this mic button and from here the device will no longer be listening
to anything.
It won't even hear its wake word.
If you want to take it a step further, you can actually now go in and delete your voice
recordings that it takes every time you ask it a question.
Finally, if you're one of those people who misses that tactile feeling of snoozing your
alarm clock, well you can bring it back with the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
You can actually tap or hit the top of your Amazon Echo Dot with Clock and it will trigger
that snooze alarm giving you those extra few moments of sleep that you so desperately want.
That's to look at the feature set on the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
[music]
Gabe: Now that we've gone over the feature set with the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, let's
talk about the installation of mobile app experience.
When it comes to the installation, it could not have been easier.
I have the Amazon Alexa app on my phone.
Once I opened it and plugged in the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock, it immediately recognizes
and said, "Would you like to set up your Amazon Echo Dot?"
I said, "Yes, I would."
From there it asked me the WiFi password.
I put the WiFi password and then everything from there was just the customization of the
settings on my Amazon Echo Dot with Clock in terms of what groups I wanted to put it
in and where it was located and that's it.
It was very straightforward, super simple installation process with the Amazon Echo
Dot with Clock.
[music]
Gabe: When it comes to working in the mobile application, remember this is a voice-controlled
device so most everything we can be doing we do voice.
However, it is where you're going to want to add your new Amazon Alexa skills to the
library so that you can just do more things with your voice, pair Bluetooth devices or
even things like change the unit of measurement that you use, if you decide you want to go
from Fahrenheit and miles to Celsius and kilometers.
I'm going to go ahead and show you some of these actions on my iPhone 7 Plus.
Here I am checking out the mobile application with the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
Now, the primary thing you're probably going to be doing with this mobile application is
adding new skills.
Let's just go ahead and say, "I want to know when all the Premier League teams are playing."
I go to EPL.
I think it's called match day.
Here we go.
Now I can ask my device for the matches of the day which is always going to be very early
in the morning on the weekend.
Now I can enable the skill right here in the mobile application.
Now any time ask this Amazon Echo Dot with Clock it's going to know exactly the answers
that I want.
Let's go ahead and look directly at the device itself.
I've named it, "clock."
Here you can see the audio, what the settings are.
You can see what other wireless devices are connected to it, even the WiFi network if
I wanted to change it along with connected devices like stereo or subwoofer.
What's really interesting is that you can decide if you want to have that snooze tap
element added or not along with the devices' location of course from New York even choose
things like your wake word.
If I wanted to change it from this current wake word to something like echo, I could
do so right here in the application.
Along we just change the unit of measurement.
If I want to go to Fahrenheit and miles because I am American after all, that's what I'm going
to use.
Let's just look at some of the settings and elements you can change using the Amazon Echo
Dot's mobile application.
[music]
Gabe: Now that we've gone over the mobile application with the Amazon Echo Dot with
the clock.
Let's check out the user experience and start to get at some of these tactile and voice
control functions that you get with a device like the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
Here I am checking out the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock and just some of its many functions.
Now you'll note that I'm actually using a wake word that isn't as common.
I'm going to use one that's a little less popular, so I don't set off all your Amazon
products in your home.
Now if I want it to listen to me, I can just say, "computer."
If I touch that mute mic button, you'll note that it will stop listening to me and I get
this really clear visual indicator that it is not listening to me at the moment.
If I wanted to go back to it, I can turn this off and I can turn the volume up and down
this way and you get a nice indicator.
Not only here in the center but also the top of it gives you this nice indicator of where
you are in terms of sound.
If I want to ask it something like the weather, I'll get a nice LED display and if I don't
want to use the wake cord, I can touch this button.
What's the weather like today?
Automated Voice: Right now, in Brooklyn, it's 56 degrees Fahrenheit with partly sunny skies.
Today's forecast has mostly sunny weather with a high of 59 degrees and a low of 48
degrees.
Gabe: That's pretty great, got that nice LED display.
Then I can also set a visual timer.
I can say, "Computer, set a timer for one minute."
Automated Voice: One minute starting now.
Gabe: I like this visual element.
If I had this in my eyesight, I could do things.
I would know how much time I had or how long it had been taking me to do that thing.
I really find that particularly useful.
Let's go ahead and cancel that, so I can say, "Computer, cancel timer."
Automated Voice: One-minute timer canceled.
Gabe: Then if I want to go ahead and set an alarm, I can do so using my voice.
What's fun is you get this nice tactile snooze capability.
I can say, "Computer, set an alarm for 11:49 AM."
Automated Voice: Alarm set for 11:49 AM.
[alarm]
Gabe: Now you can see the alarm is going off.
If I want to snooze it, I can simply tap the top of it.
I get that old tactile feeling we use to get with our alarm clocks.
Beyond those really clear functions, you can ask it any number of things.
I can say, "Computer, who won the Lakers game last night?"
Automated Voice: Last night the Lakers lost to the Raptors, 113 to 104.
They will play tomorrow at 9:00 PM away against the Suns.
Gabe: Or I can say, "Computer, what movies are playing today?"
Automated Voice: Here are a few movies playing near you today, "Joker," "Terminator," "Dark
Fate," "Dr. Sleep," "Parasite," "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil," and "Harriet."
Would you like to hear more movies?
Gabe: No, thank you.
Automated Voice: OK.
Gabe: Or I can do something a little more personal.
I can control the various devices in my home.
I can say, "Computer, turn off main room light."
[chime]
Gabe: You'll note that when I turned off the light it also changed how this LED display
looks.
It has ambient sensors to let you know how bright it should work, let itself how bright
it should be.
If I turn that light back on, these LEDs will become brighter.
I say, "Computer, turn on main room light."
[chime]
Gabe: Voila, you can see it clearly once again.
Then what's really fun with this device is the ability to just call any other Amazon
Echo device anywhere in the world.
Let's test it by call myself.
I will just call another Amazon device I have here at Security Baron.
I can say, "Computer, call Security Baron Show."
Automated Voice: Calling Security Baron Show.
[chime]
Automated Voice: Call from Gabriel Turner.
[chime]
Automated Voice: It's Gabriel Turner.
Gabe: Now what if I wanted to play some music?
I can say, "Computer, play Vallis Alps."
Automated Voice: Vallis Alps from Apple music.
[music]
Gabe: I can use my voice to control the volume.
I can say, "Computer, turn it down a little bit."
[music]
Gabe: Or I can use it to end it.
I can say, "Computer, turn off music."
That's a look at just some of the functions you get out of your tremendously capable Amazon
Echo Dot with Clock.
[music]
Gabe: Now I want to answer some common questions about the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
Like, does it have a battery?
No, the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock does not come with a battery.
It is required to be plugged in with an A/C adaptor at all times.
A second, does the Amazon Echo Dot come with Bluetooth?
Yes, it is Bluetooth enabled.
You can pair things like your phone directly to this device, even other speakers you can
pair with the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
Third question is, does it listen to your conversations?
Well, the Amazon Echo Dot is always listening to you.
However, they state that they do not record anything until you use the wake word, be it
Echo or Amazon or computer.
Then it starts to register and record what you're saying.
However, you can at any point go into voice history and delete your recordings.
[background music]
Gabe: All right.
We've gone over a lot now with our Amazon Echo Dot with Clock and you want to know,
"Gabe, who is this for?"
Honestly, who's it not for?
It is not prohibitively expensive coming in under $60.
With that you get a nice LED display alarm clock.
You get pretty solid sound quality from something with speakers this size and you get that almost
limitless Amazon virtual scale library which ultimately makes your day more convenient
and potentially productive.
Personally, I'm impressed with this device and I think it's a nice addition to anyone's
smart home ecosystem.
That concludes our review of the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock.
If you appreciate today's video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron, be secure.