This is the review of the comparison between two smart speakers from two different brands that are popular in the market. The comparison here is between the Amazon Echo Dot 4th gen and the Apple HomePod Mini. To know which one is good for you to buy, go to the detailed review.

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen	Apple HomePod Mini
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.	Ultra-compact size fits anywhere. Incredible sound. Small and inconspicuous. Easy to use. Neat proximity features.
CONS	CONS
Somewhat bigger than its predecessor. Directional, shallow sound. Considerably taller than its predecessor.	Still hugely dependent on Apple devices and services. Music handoff not available. Not as smart as other speakers. No Spotify support yet.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

The Amazon Echo Dot 4th gen is a popular smart speaker in the market that is retailing for a budget-friendly price. This smart speaker is retailing for around fifty dollars currently on Amazon which is really surprising if we compare its sound quality.

Apple HomePod Mini

The HomePod Mini really surprised me because the original HomePod was not exactly a smash hit. It was a 350 dollar Siri-enabled smart speaker that sounded amazing but didn’t really do a whole lot. But this HomePod Mini kind of flips the script as far as what you would expect and priorities for someone looking for a little smart speaker like this. This speaker is retailing for around a  hundred dollars by Apple.

DESIGN:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

This is the first time that they have completely redesigned the Amazon Echo Dot and the whole line in general. But since it came out it has had that kind of circular flat on top design. This one is a kind of sphere and this change was not just for appearance, there are actually some benefits to sound quality through this design. As far as the actual build quality and the design of this speaker, at the top down it is a cloth upper where the speaker is gonna go and you have some physical buttons there which you’re probably never going to use but they do look nice moving down from that. Then you have a strong plastic base and that is where the little ring that lits is and it has moved to the base from the top. In my opinion, it is much better because whenever you set this on that ring is going to glow down onto that surface, it just looks a little bit better and a lot more premium.

Apple HomePod Mini

As far as the design of the HomePod Mini, I think is pretty nice. Honestly, this is about as good as a compact smart speaker can look without a real functional display. It’s only about three inches tall, it’s got this mesh fabric all the way around, the animations that play while you’re using that little circular top display are pretty neat, they go all the way to the edges of the circular display, and the thing still feels premium when you touch it if you ever do. But there are some things that feel less elegant about this one in particular. So, I have the black one, it has a black plastic top, and if you touch this black plastic to change the volume or change songs or anything like that, you instantly leave fingerprints. So if you plan on doing that maybe get the white one so it doesn’t look like cheap fingerprint plastic quite as fast.

FEATURES:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

One of the pros is going to be upgraded voice command recognition. Already the amazing system on the third-gen was near perfection but it’s going to get even better than last time. Normally I can play music on the third-gen and no problem it’ll usually still pick it up even if the speaker’s right next to it but with this system, it’s just even better. I don’t know how it keeps getting better but it does pretty much recognizes your voice every single time. You could be outside of your room, outside of a living room and it’s in that you yell at it or you just talk at it and it picks it up it’s fantastic. One of the nice things about this speaker is that they kept it at 49.99 dollars and if you want the little led display on it for the clock that’s just going to be 10 more that is for around 60 dollars which is a fantastic price. You’re getting a ton, you’re getting the most cutting-edge technology in one of these little Echo Dots, it’s pretty amazing.

This also features a new processor the AZ1 Neural Edge which is going to increase response time. So when you say Alexa turn on all the lights, it’s going to actually take less time for that to happen and that is just a big pro. It really wasn’t a problem before but it’s just going to make daily communication with your assistant that much quicker and seamless. This is definitely a big thing with creating smart assistance to be that much more seamless and that much easier. If you want to be able to walk into a room and tell her to turn the lights on without having to click a switch would it be faster to tell to turn the lights on or would it be faster to turn the switch on? with this chip, it’s making even faster, so I’m really happy that they put this chip in this Echo Dot. This Echo Dot actually has the same processor that’s in the Echo although the Echo has a little bit more ram they both have the same processor so you’re definitely getting your money’s worth in the Echo Dot.

As far as the cons of this speaker, there’s only one. So this con is across the board for all of the Amazon products, the old generations, the new generation, they just still have not allowed Google music, Youtube music. You can’t do that through these assistants which is kind of a bummer especially because I actually subscribe to youtube music. So, that is a downside here in this speaker, however, the pro is that the Echo line, the Amazon line actually has more compatibility than any other smart assistant in the world even more than google assistant. You do get some trade-offs, you can’t use some google products but you will have the maximum amount of capability and compatibility with the Echo Dot.

Apple HomePod Mini

It still has a permanently attached braided power cable that comes out the back but it terminates in a USB-C port and then it actually does come within the box the Apple standard 20-watt USB-C power brick. We actually have to specify that it comes with a power brick but thankfully, it does. But I also think it looks kind of odd with the black cable but comes with the white brick. But really my complaint is we all know this thing is gonna plugin behind a dresser or a nightstand or in a corner somewhere. I think it would have been nice if it were like a 90-degree plug or something smaller like we’ve seen in some other smart speakers. But it’s not, so that part feels kind of inelegant too.

The reason people are buying these cheaper smaller smart speakers is just as the entry point to turning your home into a smart home. Basically, a lot of people’s first time doing that, and in theory, a Siri-enabled speaker should be the ideal place to start. So my take is this for HomePod Mini, the more Apple things that you use, the deeper you are in the Apple world, the better this thing is. If you don’t use that many Apple services but you just have an iPhone for example, you set this thing up and you can talk to Siri. We’ve all seen the gradual improvements in Siri over time, she knows more facts now, so you can ask her to do more things, you can listen to the news, or get the weather, or all the classic stuff. Siri can do timers and she can do more than one timer at once despite not having a functional screen to keep track of them all.

Also, when your iPhone is on the same wi-fi network, you can send and receive texts or start phone calls and it glows green while it’s doing that, so that’s already pretty convenient. But if you just add also Apple music to the things from Apple that you use, suddenly HomePod becomes a lot more useful. So, you can ask Siri for songs or playlists or ask what song is playing and she’ll tell you what it is but the best feature the most impressive actually from the U1 chip and the new iPhones is the beam feature. All you have to do is touch your iPhone to the HomePod in just the right spot on the front or the back, and it pretty much instantly beams whatever music you’re playing to the speaker. When the speaker’s playing music, you can touch them and it snatches the music back to playing from the phone. It’s pretty quick but also a side note, this only works with other devices that are in your family or on your network already.

SOUND QUALITY:

Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen

As far as the sound quality this Echo Dot has significantly better sound quality than the last generation, the third-generation Echo Dot. This actually features directional sound, so it’s actually instead of having a 360-degree speaker like the third generation had, this actually has a speaker directly pointing in one direction. The reason this is good is that if you put this thing near a wall you’re gonna get the best sound quality possible and because of the sphere shape, it allows for better sound quality and you can directly hear the difference.

Apple HomePod Mini

This speaker definitely sounds massively better than any of the other Google or Amazon speakers. That’s how HomePod kind of started with the original HomePod focused on sound quality, this one it’s obviously much smaller so you’re not expecting nearly as much sound and it also has fewer drivers but it’s still for something three inches tall, gives you a lot of audio. There’s also a pretty good amount of bass too and clarity at all volume levels while the others like Google Home Mini and Amazon Dot which are similar in size anyway definitely sound bad at those higher volumes. So this HomePod is getting louder and sounding better and the sound is also roughly even from all directions, so no matter where you are in a room it’s going to sound pretty much the same unlike some of the more directional setups like from Google and from Amazon.

WHICH ONE IS GOOD TO BUY?

If it’s the best compatibility you’re after for starting off your smart home, then the Amazon’s Echo Dot 4th gen that’s going to be dramatically more compatible with way more smart home stuff to start. But if you want that seamless experience with the Apple ecosystem and sound quality that you’re after then you should get the HomePod Mini because it is really good to buy at a 100 dollars price range.

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 Apple HomePod Mini:

By Tech Radar
For anyone looking to enter the Apple smart ecosystem or an Apple Music subscription, the HomePod mini is the speaker to go for. It’s far cheaper than…

By Tech Advisor
The HomePod Mini excels in the audio department despite its small stature, but it falls over in terms of connectivity – not just the smart devices…

By Expert Reviews
The HomePod mini was a bit of a surprise when Apple launched it alongside the iPhone 12 and chums in October 2020. Not because a HomePod update hadn’t been expected…

By TechHive
If you’re a dedicated Apple and Siri user, the HomePod Mini makes for a solid choice, but if you’re willing to try Alexa or Google Assistant, there are better values out there.