Amazon’s New Echo Spot Looks Like a Poké Ball for the Bedroom

WITH Prime Day just a week and a day old, the retail giant is hoping there’s a circular hole in your life that could be filled with a smart speaker and smart alarm combined (perhaps literally) into one. The new 2017 version of the Echo Spot boasts better speakers, new and beautiful visuals, and quick access to Alexa from behind the bed. The only thing missing is a red and white color to finally make it look like the Poké Ball smart alarm clock we want.

The original Echo Spot featured a full-screen display with a more rounded design. In short, it was more of a smart alarm than a speaker. new Echo point The device shrinks the screen to 2.83 inches, making the 1.73-inch directional speaker much more visible. At first glance, it looks like a deflated device with an unadjustable flat bottom and a hemispherical back. The new smart alarm has a set of clock faces and six color options to match your morning mood.

While this may not be the best type of device for your living room, especially when it comes to devices like Echo Hub already exists—it’s designed to sit on your nightstand, where you can use Amazon Alexa to check the day’s weather forecast or quickly set an alarm before snoozing. The new spot will also play a collection of animations set to your choice of music, and it should also be compatible with other compatible smart home devices. Amazon also touts that you can set Routines to automatically turn on different smart devices at different times of the day.

Echo devices like the Dot have been become more rounded over time, but despite Amazon’s obsession with circles and spheres, these devices have high-quality sound systems. This is not Echo Showand instead of showing YouTube videos, its screen is only used to show simple weather animations. Another thing the new Echo Spot lacks is a camera for spontaneous work calls right from the bed. Sure, it can be used as a spy camera to keep an eye on the kids, but it has also raised serious privacy concerns for the company eager to vacuum up user data whenever possible. The new Spot has a physical microphone mute button to address some of these privacy concerns.

Which means those limitations are largely a good thing. The new Spot looks to double down on what’s already working in Amazon’s smart home lineup. The seven-year-old Spot started at $130 when it first came out. The new device starts at $80, though those already spending $140 a year on a Prime membership can get it for $45.