At the back end of last year, Amazon launched a slew of new devices, of which the Echo Spot was among the most interesting, if not THE most interesting. However, while the new Fire TV, Echo 2, Echo Plus and Echo Show all arrived in the UK prior to the Christmas break, the Echo Spot was missing from the lineup. Now, at last, Amazon has confirmed the softball-sized smart speaker is to go on sale over here.

The Echo Spot is the fifth speaker in the Echo range, and it essentially does the same job as the larger Echo Show, except that it’s smaller, it’s spherical and it has a circular, 2.5in, 480 x 480-resolution touchscreen. It’s cheaper, too, costing £120 for one and £200 for a twin pack where the Echo Show is £200. You’ll be able to pre-order the Echo Spot today (which comes in white and black, by the way) with shipments beginning on the 24th.

So what can you do with it? Effectively, everything that you can on the Echo Show. It has a VGA camera so you can carry out video calls, it displays the lyrics to songs played on Amazon Music and, when you’re not doing anything with it, it shows a nice looking clock face (with 17 different looks to choose from) along with a selection of pithy news headlines.

And, if you’re planning on buying a Spot to use as an alarm clock, it’ll probably please you to know that it has a do not disturb mode, and you can manually disable both the camera and microphone using the mute button at the top of the speaker.

And, like all the other Echo devices, its far-field four-microphone array can hear you across a crowded room and it can control your smart home, tell you jokes, let you know the weather and give you news briefings only now with added visual cues where appropriate.

Amazon Echo Spot review: Early verdict

The sound quality is deliberately weak – if you want beefier sound, you’ll need to hook it up to an external speaker via the 3.5mm audio jack on the rear or connect it to a Bluetooth speaker – and it’s certainly not a patch on that kicked out by the excellent Echo Show.

However, for a device that’s designed to be sat on a desk in your office or as a fancy alarm clock on your bedside table, it’s perfectly acceptable. And, in fact, I rather like the device as a whole. It’s a rather well made, attractive-looking smart speaker that, like the Show, adds a little extra to the whole smart speaker experience.

Just to reiterate, the Echo Spot is available to pre-order from today for £120 with the twin pack available for £200 and shipping starts on the 24th. We’ll have a full review ready for you shortly after our review samples arrive.

Source: alphr.com