This is the review of the comparison between two smart speakers from the same brand and from the same series. The comparison here is between the Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen and the 2nd Gen. There is only 10 dollars difference in their price range currently but that does bring the differences in their features and performances. To know which one is good for you to buy, go to the detailed review.

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen	Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Eye-catching spherical design. Space-age aesthetic. Alexa functionality keeps getting better. The LED clock display is natural for the Echo Dot.	Bluetooth audio provides flexibility. Access to thousands of Alexa “Skills”. The aggressive roll-out of new skills. Fast, accurate voice recognition. Audio-out port and Bluetooth speaker support.
CONS	CONS
Somewhat bigger than its predecessor. Directional, shallow sound. Considerably taller than its predecessor.	The Alexa app can be buggy. No digital audio output. Audio cable not included. Anemic sound from the built-in speaker.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

I’ve been using the regular Echo Dot 4th generation for the past couple of weeks. I will say they’re a nice upgrade from the previous generation if you don’t mind the new design. I think the one with the clock though is the best budget Echo to buy. The regular Echo Dot is $49.99, the Echo Dot with the clock is $59.99. So $10 more, I think it’s worth it. Both models are the same except for the addition of a clock.

Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen

The Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen is the updated version of the speaker of the Amazon Echo Dot.  There are not only changes in their looks but also in their performances. This smart speaker is retailing for around forty dollars currently on Amazon which is quite budget-friendly.

DESIGN:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

The clocks come in, Glacier White and Twilight Blue while the regular Echo Dot had a charcoal color. I do wish they had the charcoal variation with a clock though, I think that looks great. I do like the round design better in the smaller dot compared to the larger size, with the Dot I do think they look better in the charcoal or glacier white. The new Echos have a light ring along the bottom, that’s meant to shine off of the surface the Echo is on. If the light ain’t too bright it can make it harder to see the rings since it is towards the bottom of a sphere. I know there’s a couple of times that I was above it like this, and didn’t see the ring go off to know it was listening, but it does look cool when you can see it reflect off of the service, especially with that red on. I do wish you could pick some other colors, to leave glowing all the time.

Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen

The body size kind of resembles a hockey puck and that’s kind of Amazon’s kind of aiming for the compact body design. So you have a mute button, a volume up and down button, and that right circular button at the top right is actually like an action button, so if you have an alarm set pressing that button will turn off the alarm. At the back is powered by a micro USB port for power and a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack if you want to connect to headphones or speakers. The bottom is kind of a soft texture so you want to put it on its surface and will scratch anything. Built-inside is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapter.

FEATURES:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

This is the best budget Echo but that does not mean it’s an amazing speaker with unbelievable sound. It sounds good for a little speaker at its price point, especially when it goes on sale. I will suggest to you that to keep it real and manage expectations, it is a little ball speaker. The Echo Dot 4th gen is a nice sound upgrade over the previous generation, the Echo Show 5 and the Nest Mini. There are a couple of other features of this New Echo Dot. The first would be the new Amazon AZ1 processor, this is used with a new machine learning model for better, faster responses. We can’t test that since Amazon hasn’t turned on this machine learning model yet. So you’re not gonna notice any speed improvement but in some cases, you may notice a slight slow down. 

Another feature with the Echo Dots is the line in and out on the back you could hook up a device to use the Echo Dot as a speaker or you can plug the Echo dot into a better-sounding speaker or audio setup. You can use Bluetooth to connect and use the Echo Dot as just a speaker or send audio from the Echo Dot to another speaker. So if you want to stream some music off of this to a better-sounding speaker. One of the best features that I love about this Echo Dot is that clock, I think all Echo should have it if they don’t have a display and for some reason, it comes with it, you don’t like it, you can turn off the display in the settings you could set the brightness by default is set to auto-dim as the lighting in the room changes.

There are a few reasons I love the clock. Number one is being able to see the time, timers when they’re running, volume level, alarms, and alarm indicator, and being able to see the weather when you ask for it. Number two reasons that my eyes are faster than voice, I get this argument saying you don’t need a clock just ask Alexa for the time. That’s true, but I did run a scientific experiment to determine which one is faster and more practical. Number three reason would be to put the Echo to work. I’d estimate that I speak to my Echo less than 1% of the day. I don’t listen to a lot of audio on them, so basically the Echo spent about 94 to 97% of its time doing nothing. Number four is that it’s one less device. I don’t need a separate clock in the room, I don’t need to pull out my phone, It’s just there on the Echo I already have.

Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen

There are many features that Alexa can do, for example, if you have an Amazon Prime service in the US, you can tell Alexa to say for example order your deodorant it’ll then add it to your cart and actually put in an order to order deodorant and I’ll come to your door with Amazon Prime service. Amazon’s also working on another feature where you can actually use the Echo Dot or any other Alexa power device to say “hey make a phone call to a particular person”, it’ll actually call them using voice technology. They also work in my future where you can use it as an intercom service so for example, if I have multiple Echo Dots or other Alexa powered devices throughout my home and I’m making dinner downstairs and my mom is upstairs, I can use it as an intercom and tell my mom “hey dinner is just ready to come downstairs.

If you get the true potential of the Echo Dot, you really have to go into the app itself. I’m using the Android version for example so it’s available for iOS. If you’re seeing home which kind of has some recommendation in some recent commands you did, also we can show what’s playing so if you’re playing a song, for example, I’ve integrated with my Spotify and it works pretty well. You can see the list you have available, your favorite apps, and whatnot. I don’t really use assess often because I kind of has it more of an on-the-fly voice assistant personally. Then you have some timers and alarms, so for example, if you have something baking in the oven you can tell it to hit some alarm for the turkey.

The skills are where you’re really going to get more out of the Echo Dot because this is where you have third-party applications so you have Dyson for example, you can use Spotify for example, so third-party applications with their integration really through this skills section. That’s where developers can integrate their own applications with the smart home assistants of Alexa. So, you have a smart home section that has more devices connected, a list of things to try, some kind of commendations in case you not sure we can really do with it. The app is pretty well organized gives you great ideas about what you can or cannot do especially with the skill set.

It’s pretty hard to nitpick about the device but considering that it’s just so cheap and it’s a homing system that works pretty well for the most part it’s great. I know this device is really small, it’s like a little hockey puck but I would expect it just will be a little bit louder not only that I do find that sometimes when I’m telling Alexa to turn on my bedroom lamps, it’ll say ok but not actually do it. And that happens about once or twice a month, so not a big deal but the fact that it has that kind of strange bug that it will do whatever command it to is strange. But taking this into consideration I would never expect Amazon to be at the forefront of AI home assistant control.

SOUND QUALITY:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

I do appreciate the sound update in this version. Amazon has gone with the more traditional front-facing speaker, this is a nice step up from the 360 audio approaches of basically slamming sound down or up and then just spitting it out the side. The New Echo Dot does have a 1.6-inch speaker, same as this but their front-firing design will make a big difference. Amazon says the Echo Dot 4th generation delivers crisp vocals and balanced bass for the sound you can enjoy anywhere. I think this is a nice improvement in the clarity versus the Echo Dot 3rd Generation and I think it has a little more bass than the Nest Mini. And I’ve seen a lot of people say the Echo 3rd Gen Sounded muffled, I think this new speaker layout and design fixes that.

Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen

As far as the sound quality of the Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen, it sounds pretty good compared to its predecessor. Probably, the Echo Dot 2nd Gen had pretty terrible audio quality than the 1st Gen. As this speaker is more of a smart speaker than that speaker in the market that is designed for only the sound output, we should not expect that sound quality out of this speaker. But still, for its size, it sounds pretty good.

WHICH TO BUY?

In my opinion, you should buy the Amazon Echo Dot 4th, Gen, because it is better than the Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen as it has better features. For the price, you are getting a great little smart speaker, not an amazing speaker, but it’s nice for casual listening. I think it’s a nice upgrade from some of the other smart speakers, such as the Nest Mini and even the Echo Show 5 which has a sound that’s a lot more similar to this.

Expert Reviews of Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen:

By Tech Radar
The new Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) delivers what you’d expect in terms of sound quality and Alexa integration, but it feels like the same internal components from last year packed into a new spherical shell.

By slashgear.com
Alexa is getting a fresh wardrobe for 2020, and the new Echo Dot (4th Gen) is going spherical just like its bigger Echo sibling. As always, the pitch…

By techhive.com
Like chocolate-covered peanut butter or eggs served with bacon, an Amazon Echo Dot with a built-in clock turns out to be a splendid combination. The latest Echo Dot with…

By theverge.com
Amazon may get more attention for its higher-end Echo speakers, such as the Echo Studio and the new 4th Gen Echo, but the humble Echo Dot…

Expert Reviews of Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen:

By Engadget
Even with multiple wake words, the inability to stream to multiple devices, and an app that sometimes fails, the Amazon Dot is an incredible value…

By slashgear.com
Amazon may have all but stumbled onto its hit Echo speaker and the smart Alexa assistant that powers it, but the new $49.99 Echo Dot proves the retailer has…

By cnet
The Echo Dot takes Amazon’s popular smart home speaker and wraps it in an ultra-affordable package — but the Google Home Mini is a very worthy competitor.

By techaeries.com
For the price of $49.99USD you really can’t go wrong if you don’t mind getting a smaller version of the Amazon Echo.