I have six Amazon Echo smart speakers in my house and have tested others, but my favorite is the Echo Dot with Clock. I love how the fabric-covered LED dot-matrix display makes the time discreetly accessible, casting its soft white light from my dresser into my dark, blackout-curtained bedroom. (It sure beats asking Alexa for the time.)
So I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news: Amazon has discontinued the Dot with clock in favor of a more expensive and less pleasing-to-the-eye model.
Amazon hasn’t explained why this issue is disappearing. At first, I mistakenly thought it might be due to hidden glitches: My own Echo Dot with clock started mysteriously freezing a few weeks ago, no longer responding to voice commands at all and with images stuck on its screen. Multiple resets didn’t help.
But after I managed to convince Amazon to credit me with a replacement Echo, it started working again. (I had to reset it and then go through the setup process) several times in the Alexa app to get it working.)
When I looked for a $60 replacement Echo Dot with clock, I was surprised to find that Amazon no longer stocked it—only refurbished models were available when I checked, though the blue model is available again on Amazon And Target today. So I bet instead on the company’s spiritual successor: the $80 Echo Spotwhich replaces the matrix display with a screen.
But despite its higher price, I find the Spot inferior to my needs. While its screen isn’t too bright for a dark room, it is not What I would call visually pleasing. It never lets me forget that I’m looking at a cheap screen. Also, the entire screen is tilted upwards, probably to be used as a nightstand, not for my large dresser. I don’t have a nightstand in my bedroom.
My colleague Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is currently working on a full review of the Echo Spot, and she likes it much better than I do!
But she says the sound isn’t as good as the Dot’s (though the sound is more directional), and it still doesn’t let you do something as basic as setting an alarm with touch as you can with other smart displays. The main pluses are music playback controls and the ability to display the time, date, temperature, and weather simultaneously.
Now that my Echo Dot with clock is working again, I’m going to return the Spot — and the money Amazon credited me.
