I doubt Amazon is making much, if anything, on this one. The newest Echo Dot is down from $79.99 to $39.99 on Amazon, a 50% cut, and the price is open to every customer, with no Prime membership required. The Echo Dot is the small speaker of the Echo range, the one Amazon suggests for bedrooms, dining rooms and offices, and this generation is designed for Alexa+, the newer version of the assistant.
A Speaker That Also Senses Motion and Extends Wi-Fi
Two sensors are built into the Echo Dot, one for motion and one for indoor temperature, and both can trigger Alexa routines. Amazon gives two examples: the lights come on when you walk into a room, or a fan starts when the temperature goes above the level you set. Both suppose that the lights or the fan are connected to a compatible smart home device, such as a smart bulb or a smart plug, so the speaker is the trigger and something else does the switching. I find this more useful than voice commands, because a hallway light that reacts to your presence asks nothing of you.
The second extra is eero Built-in. The Echo Dot can work as a mesh Wi-Fi extender and add up to 1,000 square feet of coverage, which could fix a bedroom at the far end of the house where video calls drop. There is a condition, though: it extends an existing eero network, so with a router from another brand this feature does nothing for you.
As a speaker, it plays music, podcasts and audiobooks from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and other services, or from a phone over Bluetooth. Several compatible Echo devices can play the same music in different rooms, and the Echo Dot can be paired with a Fire TV for TV sound. Its size sets the expectations: this is a speaker for a radio station in the morning or a playlist while you work, and I would look at a larger Echo for a living room.
The everyday Alexa functions are all here. You can ask for the weather, set a timer by voice while your hands are busy in the kitchen, get an answer to a question, and tap the speaker to snooze the morning alarm. For privacy, Amazon states that it is not in the business of selling personal information and points to several layers of controls, the most concrete being a button that switches the microphones off. That button is what I would want on any speaker that lives on a nightstand.
Deep Sea Blue, Charcoal and Glacier White are all included: the newest Echo Dot is $39.99 instead of $79.99 on Amazon in the three colors, for a single speaker with no accessory. Amazon labels it a limited time deal with free returns, and bundles with a wall mount or a stand are listed separately at higher prices.