![]() This is useful because you can then have the Dot fire off an action - such as turning your smart lights on - whenever it detects you're around. The same is true for the Dot's top-tapping feature I wish you could customize it more than the Alexa app's paltry options that you can mess with the ultrasonic sensitivity, a fun little feature it uses to discern movement in a room. Unfortunately, you can't have the display automatically show you anything else by default, which is a shortcoming if you'd rather see up-to-the-minute local weather conditions rather than the time. You can also switch the clock from 12- to 24-hour mode. Specific to the Dot with Clock, you can adjust its display brightness manually or have the device do it based on however bright the room is that it's in. And you're only a tap or two away from announcing something to your Dot, making phone calls, or streaming music from a compatible service to its speaker. ![]() It's effortless to assign your various smart home devices, including the Dot, to rooms throughout your house, making them easy to find. That includes helpful reminders about the basics, like personalizing your Alexa's voice or "dropping into" speakers to see what's happening in the room. And it's just as easy to find Amazon and other compatible smart home devices your Echo Dot can control, as they're all available in the (somewhat cluttered) app interface.Įven though the app feels a bit busy, I appreciate that Alexa always tells you about the new features or settings your devices can play with. If you haven't, here's a quick overview: the Echo Dot can connect to Wi-Fi networks on 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz when setting it up, a painless process within the Alexa app. Other than that and the Echo Dot's ability to function as a repeater for your Eero network, all the software-driven features of the Echo Dot should be pretty familiar to anyone who's ever played around with Amazon's Alexa app. But it's useful to have some visual screen over the standard Echo Dot I can't see myself going back to the legacy design. Like the tap-sensing functionality, though, I wish it could do more (or be programmable). ![]() Still, it's wonderful to glance at your small Amazon globe and see the time instead of continually asking Alexa. This integration isn't as great as what you'd find on a full-fledged smart display, such as any of Amazon's Echo Show devices. The fifth-generation Dot can display weather conditions and the artist and track title of whatever you're listening to. Previous iterations of the Echo Dot with Clock could show you the time, timers, and temperature. Now that it's made out of a grid of LED dots, the Echo Dot can scroll text horizontally across its front, which looks much better than the less-dynamic, fourth-generation Dot. The biggest change in this version of the Echo Dot is an improved LED display integrated directly into the sphere's front. You can also hit it to end calls and drop-ins, which is a reasonable mix of actions, but I still wish you could customize the tap gesture to do more within the companion Alexa app for iOS or Android. New to the fifth-generation Dot is a tap sensor, for lack of a better way to phrase it, that lets you perform tasks like snoozing your alarm, dismissing timers, or pausing your music by gently whacking the top of the sphere.
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