Home automation was considered an expensive affair until Amazon introduced the Echo Dot speaker in 2018. The small smart speaker became the starting point for home automation starters. The built-in Alexa voice assistant allowed users to shop, control smart devices and even get weather and news updates using voice commands. The speaker was not only smart but it also sounded great, which also made it the ideal choice for those looking for an entry-level speaker. Amazon has made minor updates to the speaker over the years, but the 4th generation Echo Dot brings some of the most major ones.
The 4th generation Echo Dot has an all-new spherical design with a premium fabric finish on the top. The speaker is 3.9 inches in width, and 3.5 inches in height. This makes the new speaker slightly larger than its predecessor, but it is still compact enough to be placed on a bedside table or in your living room. The device is fitted with volume controls, mic mute, and action buttons on the top for easy use. The device also has a 3.5mm aux jack that can be used to connect external speakers.
Amazon has also migrated the blue light ring of the speaker from the top to the bottom. Amazon says the glowing effect adds a nice futuristic look to the design. The speaker is available in blue, white and black.
The 4th generation Amazon Echo Dot is an eco-friendly device, made of 50 per cent recycled plastics. Even the internal metal components, the charger and cable are made of 100 per cent recycled die-cast aluminum. The fabric covering the top of the speaker is said to be 100 per cent recycled cloth-based material. Amazon has also introduced an all-new Low Power Mode, that reduces the power consumption when the device is in idle.
The new Amazon Echo Dot also promises significantly better audio quality than its predecessor. The device has a 1.6-inch, full-range, front-firing speaker which promises to deliver balanced high, mids and lows. This means you can hear music and podcasts for hours in crystal-clear audio. Amazon says the Echo Dot speaker’s spherical design helps deliver balanced bass even at maximum volume. The speaker comes with four in-built microphones for registering voice commands. Amazon says the recent software update has made the microphones more sensitive so the speaker can hear your voice commands even in noisy environments.
The 4th generation Echo Dot runs on Amazon’s Neural Edge processor. Amazon says the new chipset is specially developed to accelerate machine learning applications. The new Echo Dot speaker also uses Amazon’s new neural speech recognition model to make Alexa even more responsive.
Amazon’s Alexa can make your life easy. It can play your favourite music from Amazon Music, JioSaavn, Spotify and Apple Music. The recent update lets you stream Indian radio channels on your Echo Dot speaker. You can use Alexa’s Routines feature to quickly automate tasks using voice commands. For example, when you say good morning, Alexa can be triggered to turn on the lights, and even turn on your coffee brewing machine. You can also set it up to play your music, or to get news, weather, traffic, and calendar updates for the day. Alexa also lets you create location-based routines. For example, you can set up Alexa to turn off smart lights and other home appliances such as air conditioners, televisions, when you leave your home.
Amazon keeps pushing updates to make Alexa better. Amazon recently introduced an Alexa Guard feature, that protects your home when you aren’t around. It uses the Echo-Dot’s far-field microphones to listen for sounds of footsteps and it notifies you on your smartphone. The Alexa Guard feature can also work with your smart lighting to make it look like you are at home when you’re out. You can also pair Alexa with smart gas sensors to get notified about any leakages. Amazon says they are also working on a Natural Conversation feature, which lets users speak back and forth with Alexa, even with multiple human participants in the conversation.
The Amazon Echo Dot 4th generation is a perfect gateway to home automation. The new device looks and sounds better than its predecessor while offering tons of smart features. Priced at Rs. 4,499, the Amazon Echo Dot 4th generation is available at www.reliancedigital.in and at your nearest Reliance Digital store.
