Amazon Echo Dot Review UK

Amazon Echo Dot Review Overview & Price

In this Amazon Echo Dot (3^rd Gen) review, we go over everything you need to know about this accessory, as well as showcasing the best Amazon Echo Dot deals.

In the past, the Echo Dot was purely a way to extend smart home tech over your home. However now Amazon has upped their game.

Currently priced at £49.99 here in the UK, the Echo Dot is a fantastic smart speaker that allows you to easily control your day using your voice.

The Echo Dot looks more aesthetically pleasing than previous generations, allowing it to easily blend into your home without it being an eye saw.

The Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3 release date was back on October 11^th of 2018, it’s easy to see why this device sells so well here in the UK.

Let’s take a closer look…

Amazon Echo Dot Review Design

The Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3 design is pretty cool; it looks a little like a hockey puck.

The Echo Dot is a plastic design with a coating of fabric around the outside, this is mainly to compete with the likes of the Google Home Mini, and ensure that it looks good when in your home.

On the top of the device, there are four buttons, the top and bottom buttons are used for volume up and down, the button on the right is to mute the device, finally, the button on the left is used to activate Alexa.

Around the outside of these buttons is four microphones, these are used for the device to pick up your voice, and allow Alexa to accurately understand what you have said.

Just like on the Amazon Echo there is a LED light around the outside of the device that lights up different colours depending on the action Alexa is taking.

We love that the LED lights up darkest on the side that the microphone detected your voice from too.

Image: TechAdvisor

Around the back, there is also a power jack and 3.5mm audio output used to connect a third-party speaker if necessary.

The Echo Dot comes in three different colours too, Charcoal, Grey and Sandstone. We were lucky enough to get our hands on the Charcoal version for our review.

When it comes to size, the Echo Dot is small, 43 x 99 x 99mm, it’s still a little larger than the old model, however still small enough to place it wherever you like.

This is definitely the best looking Amazon Echo Dot we have seen previously, it blends in nicely to any environment and is super lightweight too, meaning it’s easy to pick up and move around the house if you need too.

For the best experience with these devices, we would recommend investing into 2 or 3, allowing you to place one in every room to ensure you get the best experience.

This won’t be a problem design-wise or make your house look cluttered; they are extremely small, about the size of a doughnut and look great in all colours.

Amazon Echo Dot Review Performance

The Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3 is packed full of amazing features, but how easy is it to set the device up?

Getting the device paired up is extremely quick and simple, head over to the Amazon Alex app where the app will do a quick scan for nearby device, then simply hook it up to your Wi-Fi and you are good to go.

If you don’t have the app already installed simply head over to the app store, download it and then log in to your Amazon account.

Once you have your device connected to your Amazon account, this is where the fun begins.

See Related:

*Amazon Echo Review*
*Apple HomePod Review*
*Sonos One Review*
*Amazon Echo Show 5 Review*
*Amazon Echo Plus Review*

One of our favourite features is using Alexa to play our favourite songs, through either Amazon Music, Spotify, TuneIn and more.

We absolutely love waking up and saying “Alex, play an album by James Arthur”, helping us get up and attack the day with positivity.

The Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3 is great for helping you with small things too, like settings timers, reminders and adding items to your shopping list.

Image: TechAdvisor

Alexa can even add things to separate lists, so if you have a shopping list for IKEA and a shopping list for Sainsbury’s, you can say “Alexa, add some tea bags to my Sainsbury’s shopping list” so you can keep track of what you need to buy from each retailer.

We love how seamless it integrates with your Amazon account too, for example, if you need to top up on toilet roll, simply say “Alexa, order me some toilet roll” and Alexa will look through your recent purchase history and determine which one you are most likely to buy.

This works great and you even get a notification afterwards on your phone to make sure that you have ordered the correct items.

The Amazon Echo Dot is compatible with other smart tech in your home too, so if you happen to have smart bulbs in your house or a thermostat.

This allows you to turn on your lights via voice control, or turning up the heating if you are too cold.

The Echo Dot allows you to call any UK mobile and landline number from your device too, we found ourselves using this feature a lot as its super convenient and plays voice through the speaker.

Simply say “Alexa, call mum” and you’re calling your mum.

Integrating this with your mobile number is easy too, so it will come up your actual number rather than a No Caller ID number.

Alexa has a ‘Drop-in’ feature too, which is perfect for room to room calling, allowing you to quickly connect with other Echo devices around your home, so you can ask the kids to come downstairs for tea without having to raise your voice.

Easily one of the best Amazon Echo Dot features has to be the skills that the device has, Alexa has tens of thousands of skills and they are increasing all of the time.

These are for things like tracking fitness, ordering an Uber or even ordering a Dominos Pizza.

This is perfect for those hangover Sundays when you are the equivalent of a shrivelled up grape and cant reach for your phone, simply ask Alexa to order a pizza, whether it be from Just Eat or Dominos.

Alexa is cloud-based, meaning it is constantly getting updated so it can stay on top form, the device also learns your voice over time, ensuring that it can understand what you say better, and respond faster each and every time.

As a whole the performance aspect of the Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3 is spectacular, packed full of features that make daily life easy.

Amazon Echo Dot Review Sound Quality

The Amazon Echo Dot sound quality is impressive, voice sound clear and crisp and the volume goes up to a strong level too.

That being said we certainly wouldn’t recommend this as a speaker, as when music is played through the device it does lack clarity.

The Echo Dot is speaker is supposedly 70% better than the previous generation, so those who do have a gen 2 device can expect a solid upgrade.

The 1.6-inch speaker inside of the Echo Dot is great. It really does sound better than the Google Home Mini and the Echo Dot Gen 2.

There is an equalizer option in the app that allows you to adjust things like bass and treble, ensuring you get the sound that you want out of your device.

We recommend picking up a second Amazon Echo Dot for even better sound quality, this gives you a stereo setup that ensures you have quality sound from all areas of your home.

If you love music and require something to compliment the Echo Dot, then we advise you to check out our Amazon Echo review, as these devices go hand in hand.

Amazon Echo Dot Review Summary

So should you buy the Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3?

Well if you are looking for a speaker that is also an assistant, then the Amazon Echo Dot is certainly cheap and a viable option.

The Amazon Echo Dot features are extensive and it is great for those that would like an extra hand keeping control over their day.

With a design that can blend into almost any environment, the Echo Dot is a perfect speaker that can be linked up to multiple devices to give a real stereo effect.

The Amazon Echo Dot sound quality won’t blow you away, however, when linked up to a second echo dot or an Echo, the difference can really be heard.

Echo Dot (3rd Gen) - Smart speaker with Alexa - Charcoal Fabric 

As a whole the Amazon Echo Dot Gen 3 is great, we were extremely impressed with its overall performance.

We hope you have enjoyed our Amazon Echo Dot review and feel free to leave a comment and share, as well as check out our Amazon Echo review.