Amazon alexa full specs
· PROS
· As powerful as the
Echo Plus
· Strong bass for the
size
· Built-in smart home
hub
· CONS
· High frequencies
don't get quite as much finesse as they could
· Alexa can still be
awkward to talk to
Amazon's original smart speaker is back with a brand-new look and a bit
more power. The fourth-generation Echo finds Amazon ditching the speaker's
cylindrical origins for a more whimsical spherical design. More importantly,
it's phasing out the $150 Echo Plus by putting all of its audio power and
additional features, like a built-in smart home hub, into the new Echo. So for just $99.99, the
fourth-generation Echo offers better audio performance than ever, the ability
to control Zigbee devices, and, of course, Alexa voice assistance. That's more
than you'll get from any other smart speaker at this price, easily earning the
Echo our Editors' Choice award.
Design and Features
The fourth-generation Echo is a near-sphere,
measuring 5.2 inches tall and 5.7 inches wide, available in black, blue, or
white. Amazon notes that the fabric and aluminum it uses in its Echo speakers
are 100-percent recycled materials. It's a fun new design, and looks similar to
Apple's forthcoming HomePod mini.
The light ring has been moved from the
top of the speaker to the base, providing a less direct glow that’s still
recognizable by lighting up blue when you speak your chosen wake word for
Alexa. The top panel holds buttons for Alexa, volume up, volume down, and mic
mute. The back is home to the connector for the power adapter and a 3.5mm audio
output.
Alexa
Of course, the fourth-generation Echo
also provides access to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. After summoning the
assistant with the wake word “Alexa” (or a few other options you can choose
from), simply ask it to complete your desired task. Alexa can provide general
information like sports scores and weather; play music from Amazon Music, Apple
Music, Spotify, or SiriusXM; control various smart home devices (including Zigbee devices thanks to
the built-in hub); and make voice calls to other Alexa devices in your home,
along with phone calls.
The Echo features Amazon’s AZ1 Neural
Edge processor, a chip designed for machine learning. According to Amazon, the
processor enables new features that run on the edge of the cloud (with some
processing on the device, rather than Amazon’s servers), like more responsive
speech recognition. This is important, because while Alexa is a capable voice
assistant, its natural language recognition is rather stiff and requires very
specific syntax for some commands. Hopefully the AZ1 processor will make Alexa
easier to talk to over time, though at the moment Google Assistant still offers
more flexible language recognition, making it easier to talk to casually. But
that doesn't detract from the fact that Alexa is a formidable voice assistant
with a larger library of third-party skills than the competition.
Underneath the fabric sits a 3-inch
woofer and dual 0.8-inch front-firing tweeters, through which the Echo supports
Dolby audio (but not Dolby Atmos surround sound like the Echo Studio,
which features four drivers, including a 5.3-inch woofer). They’re the same
size drivers as in the Echo Plus and the third-generation
Echo, but with two tweeters instead of one. Also like the Echo Plus,
the fourth-gen Echo incorporates a built-in smart home hub. It’s a Zigbee hub,
plus it has support for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Amazon Sidewalk, which helps extend the range of low-bandwidth
devices.
Alexa
Of course, the fourth-generation Echo
also provides access to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. After summoning the
assistant with the wake word “Alexa” (or a few other options you can choose
from), simply ask it to complete your desired task. Alexa can provide general
information like sports scores and weather; play music from Amazon Music, Apple
Music, Spotify, or SiriusXM; control various smart home devices (including Zigbee devices thanks to
the built-in hub); and make voice calls to other Alexa devices in your home,
along with phone calls.
The Echo features Amazon’s AZ1 Neural
Edge processor, a chip designed for machine learning. According to Amazon, the
processor enables new features that run on the edge of the cloud (with some
processing on the device, rather than Amazon’s servers), like more responsive
speech recognition. This is important, because while Alexa is a capable voice
assistant, its natural language recognition is rather stiff and requires very
specific syntax for some commands. Hopefully the AZ1 processor will make Alexa
easier to talk to over time, though at the moment Google Assistant still offers
more flexible language recognition, making it easier to talk to casually. But
that doesn't detract from the fact that Alexa is a formidable voice assistant
with a larger library of third-party skills than the competition.
Audio Performance
While the Echo is physically smaller
than the Google Nest Audio, its woofer and tweeters are larger, which
means it can put out a bit more power. You won’t get wall-shaking bass from
this small speaker, but low frequencies sound nicely rounded and full, as heard
in our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout.” The kick drum hits have a
good sense of thump that doesn’t reach low enough to be physically palpable,
but still avoids sounding overly poppy or punchy.
How We Test SpeakersHow We Test Speakers
The improved bass also comes through
clearly in Yes’ “Roundabout.” The opening guitar plucks get plenty of
lower-frequency resonance to sound warm and full, and the electric bassline stands
out in the mix when the rest of the instrumentation kicks in. The Echo doesn’t
have quite the same high-frequency finesse offered by the Nest Audio, so the
string texture and vocals don’t stand out quite as much, but there is
significantly more response in the lows and low-mids.
The Crystal Method’s “Born Too Slow”
also sounds very good on the new Echo. The backbeat doesn’t get quite enough
low-frequency presence to sound properly ominous (it seldom does on speakers
this size), but it provides enough thump to drive the track, while the guitar
riffs and vocals stand out in the mix.
The audio performance here easily
eclipses what you get with the $50 fourth-generation Echo Dot, which is only a cosmetic upgrade
from the previous model and falls far short of the Echo in the bass department.
The $200 Echo Studio still offers the strongest audio experience of the bunch,
but it also costs the most. For $100, the standard Echo is impressive.
The Best Echo Yet
The fourth-generation Amazon Echo is a
strong follow-up to the previous model, with a bit more power and the ability
to control Zigbee smart home devices. It isn’t enough of an upgrade to justify
throwing out your third-generation Echo, but if you’re looking to upgrade from
an Echo Dot, or simply want a new smart speaker to provide room-filling sound in
a small package, this is the model to get. We also like Google's Nest Audio for
its easier-to-talk-to voice assistant, but the Echo edges past it in sound
quality and the ability to control more smart home devices, earning the speaker
our Editors’ Choice nod.
