Amazon has unveiled two new Alexa-powered devices in the Amazon Tap speaker ($130) and the multifunction Echo Dot puck ($90). As with the original Amazon Echo, which I found compelling but unnecessary (at the time), both these units respond to voice comments – controlling an ever-growing list of products and services, such as Philips Hue lighting and native Spotify music streaming. However, whereas the Echo both listens and playbacks with a decent (if not stellar) speaker, the new devices are at once more limited and more versatile.
Amazon Tap (above left) is an attractive and portable Bluetooth/WiFi speaker that features a convenient charging dock. Yet, to engage the virtual “Alexa” assistant, one must physically “tap” the microphone button. Had they’d incorporated a mic into the cradle, I’d easily be down for two. But, as designed, I’d probably just opt for my smartphone and a waterproof UE Roll to meet my mobile speaker needs… at about half the price.
Fortunately, the new Echo Dot (above right) retains the sometimes creepy, but always-on voice recognition and is designed as something like a night stand accessory with basic speaker or to be attached to an existing Sonos, AVR, etc of presumably superior audio quality vs Echo. Sure, there’s a certain amount of smartphone redundancy, but Amazon’s ecosystem of partners far exceeds say Apple’s HomeKit limited environment.
Thanks for clarifying that a little. I’m still unclear as to why either of these new devices exists. Obviously the price point is lower but it seems like they need more differentiation.
I ordered both devices, debating if I will keep them both ordered or not. I am looking at the tap for using outside and in my garage mostly. One complaint many people have had is the lack of portability of the current Echo, the idea of taking it outside to listen to music has been mentioned. I ordered the Dot for my bedroom, I like the smaller form factor, I have an echo set up now in my bedroom and it’s really useful-I have set wakeup alarms (Alexa wake me up at 6am), turned off the lights at night, and also used the sleep timer to listen to a radio station when I fall asleep.
I still feel the device is lacking the ability to natively stream SiriusXM, I really see this being important with the launch of the Tap when people use it outside and would like to listen to a baseball game in the summer or football in fall. Having the ability to stream games for SiriusXM subs would be a big benefit (in my opinion).
Both of these products seem interesting until I actually think about how I would use them. The Tap speaker completely eliminates the great always-on features of the Echo which makes it nothing more than an overpriced bluetooth speaker that can do party tricks. The Dot shrinks the Echo and reduces the cost, but now requires an external speaker for anything other than alarms. For me that means it’s only useful for streaming music while connected to my stereo. I already have a Chromecast that handles that job very well.
I use the Echo in my kitchen almost every day and I really like it, but I can’t see myself ever purchasing either of these products.
I might get the dot for my bedroom. The Echo, currently in my bedroom, is mostly used for alarms and timers. And then also answers my questions. I rarely use it for music. So the Dot would be a perfect replacement. The question would be where I relocate the full size Echo since I already have three of them. I’ll probably just wait for the Dot to go on sale later this year or for some refurbs.
I was about to jump on the dot so that I could play prime music easily through my receiver but I started thinking about how it would be used if it was plugged in but the receiver was off. Would Alexa realize the receiver was off and use the puck? I think I can wait… I already have the original Amazon fire tv stick and would just like her to control music play through that. Not sure if that is possible though…
I’m ordering two Dots. I have lighting, outlets and heating/cooling all hooked in via Wink, along with FireTV on all three televisions. The Echo sits in our dining room, central to the first floor. We can’t use a remote in the 1st floor bedrooms *and* the upstairs because you can only pair one of them at a time (dumb dumb dumb). So…to easily control devices in rooms where Alexa can’t hear me, the Dots will be excellent extenders.
The Tap? Yeah not so much.
I hooked my Kindle 6″ up to my stereo yesterday and forgot it was on. This morning I asked Alexa what’s new. After every story it made a noise on the stereo in the other room and popped up a box on the Kindle. So apparently Alexa is aware of other things on the network, whether or not it is just kindles or things running the echo app, I’m not sure. Now if I can just get her to play music on that device, I won’t need to get another device.
Ideally it should be able to play to my dlna enabled receiver like windows and other dlna apps can.