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We’ve updated this guide with the latest information and now recommend only Amazon Echo models, which provide the best overall performance available.
We’ve added the Echo Dot (5th Gen), Echo Dot (5th Gen) with clock, and also a coming software update for the Echo Studio, to What to look forward to.
Alexa is the voice-controlled digital assistant that turns words into actions. You interact with Alexa through smart speakers and displays, using voice commands or a smartphone app. Whether you’re looking for an Alexa-powered smart speaker for jamming to music, finding and following recipes, keeping up with podcasts and the news, or controlling smart devices in your home, we’ve picked out the best model for your needs.
Because Alexa performs inconsistently on non-Amazon speakers, we focused on Amazon Echo devices.
All Echo devices have speakers, but some also include a screen to view video, access touch controls, display recipes, and more.
Picking the right Echo device depends largely on where you’ll use it, as well as what functions you want or don’t want, such as a video camera or powerful audio.
All Alexa devices have built-in microphones in order to function, and some have cameras. If you want to ensure privacy, you can manually mute or disable them.
Nena Farrell, who took over this guide in 2022, is an updates writer for Wirecutter’s audio/visual and smart-home teams. She’s been testing and reviewing home-technology gear since 2016, and she was previously an associate home editor at Sunset magazine, where she covered smart-home technology. She also designed the Sunset Smart Cottage, an interactive smart-home demonstration controlled by smart speakers.
Portions of this guide are based on previous testing by senior editor Grant Clauser, who has reviewed consumer electronics for about 20 years.
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Alexa is the name of Amazon’s personal digital assistant, which lets you use voice commands to control a compatible device for features like streaming music, news reports, or even to turn on your smart lights. Amazon’s Echo line of smart speakers and displays includes the standard Echo, the compact Echo Dot, the Echo Studio, and a few models of the video-enabled Echo Show smart display. Alexa is also available on some speakers made by other manufacturers.
All of the Echo devices are good (some are even great) audio devices, but what makes them especially attractive is that you control them primarily by using simple voice commands. To access a song, an artist, or a music channel, you can say, “Alexa, play the Dead Milkmen,” and your speaker starts playing the music you requested—assuming you’ve connected it to your music subscriptions. All Amazon Echo speakers can play music from Amazon Music Prime, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Apple Music. Some services, such as Pandora and TuneIn, don’t cost anything extra, but Amazon Music Prime requires a Prime subscription (and you can get Amazon Music Unlimited for an additional, per-speaker cost). Apple Music, SiriusXM, and Spotify Premium also require subscriptions.
You can also set up Alexa speakers as a multiroom audio system, an arrangement that allows you to play the same music all over your house or different tunes in different rooms (though your music subscriptions may impose some restrictions on that). The Alexa app allows you to group speakers in different rooms or zones, and you simply have to tell your speaker which room you want the music to play in (or whether it should play in all of them). Setting up the system is a little trickier than using a similarly featured Sonos system.
The Alexa smartphone app is mostly for setup and configuration, or to add new abilities or view to-do and shopping lists. Most of the time, you access Alexa’s features without having to interact with a screen at all (the Echo Show devices include built-in screens). You can walk into a quiet room and ask for music or step into a dark room and ask for lights.
Beyond streaming tunes, Alexa can answer general questions (“Alexa, who was Guy Fawkes?”), make quick cooking conversions (“Alexa, how many pints are in a gallon?”), help with math homework (“Alexa, what’s 9 times 48?”), or create a to-do list (“Alexa, add ‘make doctor’s appointment’ to my to-do list”). You can also use an Alexa speaker to make phone calls or as part of an in-house intercom system to talk through other Alexa speakers inside and outside your home. The list of built-in capabilities and thousands of third-party Skills continually expands.
Alexa is particularly helpful for controlling Alexa-compatible smart-home devices. When it’s integrated with devices like Wyze smart bulbs or Ultraloq smart locks, all you have to do is say, “Alexa, turn off the den light” or “Alexa, lock the front door,” and the speaker will take care of it for you. Alexa works with more smart-home devices than any other voice platform, though both Google Assistant and Siri (Apple’s HomeKit voice) are catching up. Its expanding smart-home capabilities, including the ability to create Routines and Schedules, make Alexa a viable option for taking the place of a smart-home hub. As a result, you will probably come to rely on it more and more.
This guide is for anyone looking to add an Alexa-powered smart speaker into their home, whether for the first time or when adding to an existing setup.
If you’re just getting started with smart devices, such as a smart plug or light bulb, adding a smart speaker that lets you use voice commands to control them is a logical next step. This is also a convenient addition for existing Amazon Prime users, since an Echo device can give you alerts about your latest order, and Echo Show smart displays can act like a TV for Amazon Prime Video as well as other streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
This guide is organized to make it easy to choose the best Echo device based on your needs. For smaller homes and apartments, you might find you want only one or two Alexa devices, since the microphones are powerful enough to pick up voice commands from a room away. In larger homes, you may want to enlist a fleet of Alexa devices to act as a multiroom sound system, while also optimizing your ability to control smart devices.
We can’t speak about smart speakers without addressing the fact that these devices have microphones and, in some cases, cameras, and there are plenty of people who simply aren’t comfortable adding them to their home. (If you share those concerns, please read our section on Security and privacy with Alexa for details on what these devices actually do and don’t do.)
For those who have accessibility restrictions, such as mobility and sight limitations in particular, the ability to use voice commands can also be a valuable asset. For instance, smart speakers allow someone to make voice calls without needing to physically manipulate a device, but they also can be used as an intercom to communicate with other members of a household (or, when paired with a smart doorbell, with visitors on the front porch). Echo Show smart displays allow those with vision impairment to hold up a pantry item and have it identified. We go into a little more detail on Alexa’s accessibility offerings below. And we go into even more detail in our guides to using smart-home devices for seniors aging in place and for enhancing independence for those with disabilities and mobility needs.
For this guide we considered all currently available Echo speakers and smart displays. In previous versions of this guide, we also considered third-party Alexa-compatible speakers. But the experience of using Alexa on those devices was consistently worse compared with using any Amazon Echo device; most suffered from sometimes-lengthy delays to voice commands, had fewer or less reliable integration of special features, and didn’t receive updates or new Alexa features as quickly. As a result, we believe if you’re interested in an Alexa speaker, the best choice is one of the various Amazon-branded Echo devices. This guide is focused solely on comparing those devices—the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show (we previously covered the latter only in our guide to smart displays)—to compare which experience is best for your lifestyle or different places in your home.
Most Alexa speakers do essentially the same things: play streaming audio and respond to voice commands. Because they all use the Alexa platform, they’re all compatible with the same smart-home devices, and they all include essentially the same skill set. All of them have volume controls, a button to turn off the microphones, and a button to get the device to listen without your having to speak the wake word. Many also function as Bluetooth speakers and can send their audio to another Bluetooth speaker. In testing, we consider both the speaker’s performance as a smart speaker and its sound qualities, along with any additional features, such as an included screen or a rechargeable battery.
In addition to the general Alexa features, we evaluate each speaker on the following criteria:
The Echo Dot includes all the standard Alexa features at a great price, and it sounds good enough for any starting Alexa user to enjoy music and voice commands.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $25.
With its solid sound and small size (which makes it easy to fit just about anywhere), the Echo Dot (4th Gen) is for anyone who wants to get started using a smart speaker without making a big investment. It costs half the price of Amazon’s flagship Echo, yet it still includes nearly all the same features. This latest-generation Dot is sphere-shaped and fabric-covered, just like the current Echo, and the shape makes it quite a bit larger than previous Dot generations. This Dot includes volume and microphone buttons on top, and for $10 more it also comes in a clock version and a child-friendly design (with a tiger or panda printed on the fabric).
The Dot gives you all the control and search features of Alexa, and despite its small size, it’s surprisingly loud and clear, even at high volume. The Dot would satisfy anyone looking to replace a bedside or desk radio, though it loses some of the bass and depth you’ll find in the larger Echo or Echo Studio. You can connect the Dot to any Bluetooth speaker, or use a 3.5-mm stereo jack for a wired audio connection into a powered speaker or an audio receiver.
Even though the Echo Dot doesn’t have a screen, it still has some call abilities. You can Drop In (Amazon’s term for using Echo devices like an intercom system) to other Alexa devices in your home, or send a broadcast announcement to all of your devices at once. You can also add up to 10 phone numbers with your Alexa account, or eligible AT&T and Verizon users can link their mobile number to the account to directly make and receive calls.
Overall, the Dot is an affordable and easy way to try out Alexa or to expand your ability to use voice commands throughout your home. But the more expensive Echo models are a better option for anyone who wants high-quality audio performance.
The Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) is especially well-rounded with a variety of features, but it particularly excels for video calls and helping in the kitchen.
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The Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) is a feature-packed Alexa experience in a sleek setup. The Show 8 has an 8-inch HD screen, a reasonably powerful speaker, and a new 13-megapixel camera with a privacy cover (for those moments you want to be absolutely sure you aren’t on camera). That 8-inch screen gives this model a variety of capabilities the regular Echo and Echo Dots don’t have, including video-call abilities, a library of recipes you can consult onscreen, and streaming video from services like Prime Video, Netflix, and YouTube.
The 13-megapixel camera on the Show 8 (2nd Gen) allows you to do video calls, and it provides a high-quality picture. As with other Show devices, with this one you have a few video-chat options to choose from: You can use Drop In for other Alexa devices in your home, use Alexa Messages to call Alexa devices outside of your home, or make Skype or Zoom calls. You can also use voice to direct-dial a phone for an audio call.
In our tests, a video chat with a friend over Alexa Messages looked and sounded clear enough for both parties to understand each other easily, on a par with but not better than a video call we made using a smartphone. Still, the larger screen means your speaking companion is larger, which we found helpful and makes for a more comfortable conversation. (You also don’t get a numb hand from holding up a phone for an hour.) The Show 8’s camera also has the ability to automatically zoom in and pan around to follow whoever is speaking on camera. We found this to be a mostly smooth experience, though it can be a little disorienting. Taking notes, drinking water—all those sorts of movements could activate the camera and cause it to refocus and readjust. But the transitions were pretty smooth (especially in comparison with the larger Echo Show 10).
The downside of using a Show device for video calls, instead of a laptop or tablet, is you can’t connect either Bluetooth or wired headphones; this is an issue if you share an office or work from home with others. And when you use it for Zoom calls, you can’t use the chat box.
The Echo Show 8 is especially well suited for use in the kitchen. You can do all the usual things you might do using voice commands with a regular Echo or smart speaker—set timers, ask for measurement conversions—but Show devices also have a massive library of recipes that you can search. Ask the Echo to show you recipes for “banana bread” and “chocolate chip cookies,” and it does an excellent job of pulling up relevant recipes from a variety of recipe sources. Once you choose a recipe, it’ll display the ingredients and the steps onscreen. And if you like, you can ask Alexa to walk you through these steps, or if you prefer, you can just refer to the screen. The 8-inch screen is a good size for viewing most of the instructions and seeing everything fairly clearly, versus smaller screens like on the Show 5.
We found the recipe search to be fairly decent—we usually didn’t get incorrect results, unless we asked for overly niche things, like matcha banana bread. And Alexa’s recipe library pulls from BuzzFeed Tasty, Food Kitchen, and Food52, along with smaller blogs like Kitchen Stories. The screen also displays options for filtering search results with common terms like “vegetarian” or “30 mins or less.” There’s also an option for Food Preferences, allowing you to pick dietary preferences, like vegan, kosher, and paleo, and ingredient restrictions including peanut-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
You can read more about our experiences with the Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) compared with other displays in our smart displays guide.
The Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) and Google Nest Hub Max are the best smart displays. They have big screens for video chat, TV, or recipes, and great speakers, too.
The fourth-generation Amazon Echo sounds good and works with most smart-home devices, including Zigbee-compatible ones.
The Echo (4th Gen) is the latest version of the original smart speaker, with all the Alexa functions (besides the ones limited to smart displays, like recipes) as well as impressive sound for its size and price. The fourth-generation Echo has a more direct driver design than previous generations, for better sound. And it has Dolby processing to enhance the stereo effect from a single speaker, replacing the previous 360-degree audio design found in older models. (If you want an authentic stereo setup, you can opt to buy two Echoes and pair them.)
This speaker includes two 0.8-inch (20-mm) tweeters instead of one. Its 3-inch (76.2-mm) woofer is also placed at the top of the speaker instead of the bottom. The upside of the dual tweeters is that the new Echo delivers a reasonably effective stereo effect for a single speaker. But that direct driver design means the sound quality of the speaker, as well as the stereo effect, can shift depending on where you are in the room. This Echo also plays slightly louder than previous versions, and it sounds pretty clean at high volumes. It also has the ability to dynamically equalize its sound based on the ambient conditions in the room, a feature Amazon calls Automatic Room Adaptation. An equalizer—which you can adjust by voice command (“Alexa, turn up the bass”) or in the app—allows you to tweak the bass, treble, and midrange settings to your liking.
Being a great listener is important in any relationship, and we found the Echo meets the challenge, even with some ambient noise in the room. When it is playing at full volume, you may have to walk over to the Echo and press the microphone button to get its attention. But at normal to moderately high volume, it will usually catch your voice through the din.
You can opt to pair the Echo with your smartphone via Bluetooth, if you want to play songs stored there, or to use podcast apps or a music service Alexa doesn’t support. And as noted above, you can pair two Echos for true stereo sound. You can also associate an Echo with any other Echo devices in your home to work together as a multiroom audio system, similar to Sonos. That allows you to play the same audio in several or all of your Echo speakers at the same time.
If you want to control the greatest number of smart-home devices, then this Echo is one to consider because it includes a built-in Zigbee wireless hub that connects to a wider variety of things than a Wi-Fi–only Echo like the Dot does.
Amazon’s best-sounding speaker includes Dolby Atmos and lossless music-streaming abilities.
The Amazon Echo Studio is Amazon’s biggest and best-sounding Alexa speaker, and it has a correspondingly larger price tag (more than twice that of the standard Echo), on a par with that of a Sonos One (which it rivals in sound quality and beats in functionality). Powering its audio are five speaker drivers: a front-firing 1-inch tweeter, two side-firing and one upward-firing 2-inch midrange drivers, and a 5.25-inch down-firing woofer. The result is far better bass punch than you’ll get with other Echos. You can also pair it with a Fire TV to serve as a soundbar, of sorts, which will be an improvement over any built-in TV speakers (though probably not better than an actual soundbar).
This speaker can stream lossless audio files from Amazon’s new Amazon Music HD high-resolution music service, though that’s an additional cost on top of Prime Music. The Echo Studio also supports Dolby Atmos, which adds a more immersive height effect to sound. Though it doesn’t support direct streaming of Atmos-mixed music from Tidal, it does support a library of 3D-audio tracks from Amazon Music HD, which are mastered in both Dolby Atmos and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio spatial audio codec. The Echo Studio can also upmix stereo music into a simulation of 3D audio, though in our testing, we’ve found the quality of this upmixing can be a little inconsistent.
When it comes to power and performance, the Echo Studio has no equal among the lineup of Echo devices. Yet even when cranked to high volume, it could hear and respond quickly to voice commands—a strength we attribute to its being a native Echo speaker (versus a third-party one). The Echo Studio also has a feature similar to the Sonos’s Trueplay; it’s called Automatic Room Adaptation, and it continuously auto-tunes sounds based on the acoustics of the room in which it’s playing. Unlike a Sonos, however, the Studio doesn’t require the use of a smartphone.
If you’re interested in a multiroom speaker setup, we recommend pairing an Echo Studio with the fourth-gen Echo (and other Echo devices); you can read more in our multiroom wireless speaker guide.
The Sonos multiroom music platform offers the best-sounding speakers, supports the widest variety of streaming services, and is easy to set up and use.
This pint-size version of the Echo Show is perfect for catching a weather report and playing tunes while you get ready in the morning.
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If you want a small display for a bedside nightstand or bathroom, the Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) has a small footprint and a nicely sized 5½-inch display. A physical camera cover ensures you won’t need to worry about accidentally flashing anyone if they call your device (as long as you have the shutter on, that is). The screen auto-dims when you turn out the lights, mimicking an unobtrusive vintage glow-in-the-dark clock. In the morning, it offers an easy way to set alarms, play music, check the weather report, and trigger any smart-home Routines.
You can adjust the screen’s brightness manually, but we never found ourselves fussing over tweaking the automatic adjustments. The clock mode that the display switches to in a pitch-black room is dark enough that we slept easily with the display just a foot away from our face. The display comes with useful alarm-clock features like Sunrise (which slowly brightens the display until your wake-up time), and tapping the top of the display will snooze the alarm. During the day, you can customize the second-generation Show 5 with a few different displays. For those who have relied on a smartphone to check the time during middle-of-the-night wake-ups, we’ve found that the switch back to a clock display can be calming and helpful.
The Show 5 (2nd Gen) also comes with a manual lens cover and a mute button for the microphone. Given the smart display’s placement on a nightstand, we suggest keeping the cover closed until you want to place a video call. But though the Show 5 has video and calling abilities, these sounded a little worse on the Show 5 than on other Echo devices, and its microphone picked up less sound than other Echos.
If you’re used to having an LED clock by your bedside, this version of the Echo Dot will feel familiar. It packs the same features as the regular Dot, with a small screen that can show the time and weather.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $35.
If you’d prefer a smart alarm clock that is completely camera- and screen-free, the Echo Dot (4th Gen) with Clock is a good choice. It’s the same size and design as the regular Echo Dot, and it has the same features, but there’s an LED screen built into the mesh sides that shows the time. The Dot with Clock doesn’t have a light sensor, so the screen doesn’t dim when the lights are off the way it will on Echo Show devices. Anyone who wants a pitch-black room to sleep in might not like the Dot with Clock for their bedside table. But if you’re used to having a digital clock by your bedside, the always-lit screen will feel familiar. You can also ask Alexa to turn off the clock, if the screen is bothering you, and then it’ll appear as a regular Echo Dot does.
The LED screen can change to show the weather when you ask Alexa for it, and it can also show dots on the right side of the clock—one on the top right to signal a timer is set, and one on the bottom right to signal an alarm is set. And when you ask for the weather, the screen will change to show you the current temperature outside as Alexa gives you the full weather forecast.
Consider this model if you want to stream video from your security camera and control your smart-home devices onscreen.
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If you’re looking for smart-home control, there are two key things to keep in mind: how you’d like to control your devices and whether you are interested in a Zigbee hub. While the screen-free Echo and Echo Studio include a built-in Zigbee smart-home hub (which allows you to control more devices), the Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) puts many of your smart-control functions right on the touch screen. That screen allows you to switch to see all your smart-home devices and control them with a quick tap, instead of using voice commands. This can be particularly handy if you’re the last one up at night and turning off all the lights and locking the front door, or if you want to easily check what connected devices are on when you’re in a different part of the house. You can still voice-command them as you usually would, but the screen allows for more options to control your home.
Another upside of using Show devices to control your smart home is connecting to video feeds from security cameras and doorbells, and even using it as an indoor security camera. If you have smart security cameras like an Arlo or Ring in or around your home and connected to your Amazon account, you can ask your Echo Show to show you a livestream from that camera. You can also activate Alexa Home Monitoring on a Show device, and then view the live stream from its camera on your Alexa app. You’ll need to opt into this setting on the device itself, and the device’s screen lights up with a green bar and an alert that “A household member is viewing your camera.” So it isn’t particularly discreet (whether you find that a bonus or a downside is up to you).
A smart home can provide a lot of convenience and assistance to anyone with mobility needs and disabilities, and those aging in place. The features of Amazon Echo devices can be handy for anyone in these categories—easily setting reminders and alarms, providing voice control over any smart products like lights and locks, giving you the ability to make calls to other rooms in the house over Drop In, or to use an Echo Show to make a face-to-face call. But Alexa also packs a variety of accessibility features in Show devices.
For those with visual limitations, Show devices also include the Show and Tell feature, where users can hold up a product and ask “Alexa, what am I holding?” to identify the product. We’ve tested the Show and Tell feature on several items and found it works, but we do wish it could identify items faster. Amazon recommends using this with “common pantry items” that have a barcode on the box or container.
Echo Show screens also offer caption options for calls, Alexa responses, and streaming content from Amazon Prime and other select sources. Users can also adjust Alexa’s speaking rate or ask her to speak slower.
More details about Amazon’s accessibility features can be found on the Alexa Accessibility page. And we go into more depth on these topics in our guides to smart-home devices for aging in place and smart-home devices for people with disabilities and mobility needs.
Smart-home devices can make it easier for you to help an older loved one age safely and securely in their own home.
The smart home isn’t just nifty gadgets: For those who have accessibility challenges, smart devices can be empowering and enable independent living.
It’s a bit ironic to talk about security and privacy when you’re adding to your home devices with microphones and cameras that are all designed to listen and respond to you. There have been plenty of bumps along the way when it comes to consumer privacy for smart speakers like the Echo devices in this guide. Even earlier this year, researchers found that an attacker could force Alexa to hack themselves with a self-issued command (which is something Amazon has since fixed). But those features of microphones and cameras are also what make a smart speaker so useful, and it can’t do what it should without them.
We reached out to Amazon and asked it to respond to an extensive questionnaire, in order to confirm issues we think should be of primary concern for any potential (or current) Alexa user. Amazon told us that no audio is recorded or sent to the cloud until a wake word like “Alexa” or “Echo” is stated, and users are able to review and delete transcripts and recordings from said cloud via the Alexa app. Certain devices—the Echo (4th Gen) and Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen)—allow you to require almost all requests to be processed locally, instead of sending audio clips to the cloud; this is a feature we hope Amazon adds to all Echo devices in the future. Amazon does share data with third parties, in order to make certain Skills work and to fulfill requests. So you should keep an eye on what Skills you’re adding to your Amazon account.
We’ve included more details and answers from Amazon below. We know some people don’t like the idea of being listened to by artificial intelligence in general, and we address that issue in detail in this blog post.
What specific user data does an Amazon Echo device, and its companion app, collect?
Is a user’s identifying data (such as email addresses or Wi-Fi info) encrypted when stored in the cloud?
Are interactions with Alexa encrypted in the cloud?
Does this device record and share location data (address and/or country)?
Do you share data with third parties, developers, and partners?
Are users able to opt out of sharing some or all of their data—and if so, how?
Do Amazon devices contain inactive or active but unadvertised hardware, such as sensors, cameras, microphones, or the like?
In 2021, Amazon introduced a new feature of its Echo devices known as Sidewalk, a private, low-bandwidth connection between devices, even if they’re not on the same home network. This means that if both you and your neighbor have Sidewalk enabled, you might be using a bit of their internet connection and they might be using a bit of yours. Overall, we’re not happy about the fact that Amazon chose to make this service opt-out, rather than opt-in, but other than that, we’re not as concerned as other outlets are. You can read more about our stance on Sidewalk, and get more details about how it works, here.
Many readers are concerned about how the manufacturing, shipping, and normal use of the products we recommend impact the world we live in. We take that seriously too, which is why we’ve asked the manufacturers of all our picks to answer some basic questions about materials, life cycle, and other sustainability issues. While our product recommendations are based completely on the criteria outlined in How we picked and tested, we offer this information to supplement the decision of any reader who uses environmental impact as a deciding factor in their purchases. We also recognize that this may not paint a complete picture of a product’s supply chain and life cycle impact.
For this guide, we asked Amazon whether the packaging and/or the products use recycled materials, and whether the packaging and the products are recyclable. According to Amazon, some Echo devices (the company was unable to name how many) and accessories in 2021 include 10% to 60% post-consumer recycled plastic, 40% to 100% post-consumer recycled fabric, and 80% to 100% recycled aluminum, depending on the product. The company is working toward sourcing 100% of the wood fiber in packaging from either responsibly managed forests or recycled sources. Amazon is also working toward making its device packaging 100% recyclable by 2023.
Amazon also says its Amazon Echos are designed to continue to get updates, so customers don’t have to upgrade and get rid of existing Echo devices to get the latest features and software. The company says there are still customers with active original Echo devices from 2014. If you do want to upgrade, Amazon offers a recycling program for Amazon devices and select accessories, and Amazon covers all costs associated with shipping and recycling the device. There’s also an Amazon Trade-In program to get an Amazon gift card in exchange for certain eligible items.
Amazon has announced the $50 fifth-generation Echo Dot (and a $60 version with a dot-matrix clock), which the company says has improved sound, and will include a built-in temperature sensor, and the ability to be a Wi-Fi extender for eero Wi-Fi users. Both models are available for pre-order, and we plan to test them soon.
The Echo Studio will receive an automatic software update to enable spatial audio processing technology and to extend frequency range. We plan to test as soon as it’s available. The spatial audio update will also be available on the Echo Show 15, and potentially other Echo devices in the future.
The Echo Dot (3rd Gen) is still available if you prefer the puck-like look over the rounded style of the fourth-generation Dot, but it’s only a few dollars cheaper than the latest model.
We skipped testing the Echo Dot (4th Gen) Kids, since it’s the same as the Echo Dot and Echo Dot with Clock. It does include a year of Amazon Kids+ content, parental controls, and a longer warranty period (two years), if these are of interest to you.
The Echo Show 8 (1st Gen) is a fine option if you aren’t worried about video quality (it has a 1 MP camera, not the 13 MP camera on the second-generation model), and if you can find it on sale.
The $250 Echo Show 10 is a relatively pricey model due in large part to its signature feature: a display that can automatically rotate on its base to follow you around, along with a camera that can zoom in on the subject. We found it too large to comfortably place in a home. On top of that, in our testing we learned that it can bump into nearby objects, and its mechanical zoom felt gimmicky and distracting. Our pick, the much cheaper Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen), has the same 13-megapixel camera with a much smoother software zoom. The Show 10 also left a large ring on our wood table; we discovered it was actually stuck to the surface, and we had to put in a surprising amount of effort to remove it.
The Echo Show 15 also currently costs $250, and though it has some new features, none of them merit the higher price compared with that of the Show 8. This model is too large to comfortably hang or prop it where you’d be able to make use of its touchscreen (it clocks in at 18 inches diagonal bezel to bezel, with a 15-inch touchscreen). And this smart display requires more setup than any other one we tested—even more if you wall-mount it, which is the default option. Should you decide to post it on a flat surface instead, you’ll have to buy a secondary stand. In terms of functionality, it doesn’t excel at streaming video well enough to rival a wall TV. And its Photo Frame mode shows massive pillarboxing on any photo that isn’t the right size and orientation—so much so that an entire second photo could fit onscreen. This model’s large footprint also makes it difficult to install in a kitchen location where it’s comfortable to view recipes.
This article was edited by Jon Chase and Grant Clauser.
Nena Farrell is an updates writer at Wirecutter covering audio-visual and smart-home gear. She previously wrote about technology and home design for Sunset. She can often be found adding another smart speaker to a random corner of her home, much to her partner’s chagrin.
Grant Clauser is the senior editor for the smart-home and audio/video categories. He has been reporting on technology since 1999 and has been an invited speaker at events including CES and CEDIA. He has completed certification classes from THX, ISF, and Control4. He also teaches poetry classes. Really.
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