Amazon Echo Spot (2024) review

Amazon’s latest smart alarm clock combines a speaker with a small display, packing in clever features to help manage alerts, news briefings, alarms and music playback before bed and in the morning. With the familiar Alexa voice assistant at its core, the Echo Spot is ideal if you’re looking to replace a traditional alarm clock with something that does much more.

However, if you already own an Alexa device like an Echo Dot or an Echo Pop, you’ll be wondering if there’s enough that’s different about the new Amazon Echo Spot to justify buying it. After testing it out, I’m here to break down what works, what doesn’t, and if this little smart alarm clock earns a spot on your bedside table.

Amazon Echo Spot (2024): At a glance

The Echo Spot is a small speaker, and it doesn’t take up much room so it should work well on a bedside, countertop, desk or shelf. It’s shaped like a dome with an angled flat face where the screen sits. I found the design to look neat and discrete, and it fits perfectly on my bedside table, leaving plenty of room for other items and not looking bulky. It comes in black, white or blue. I’ve noticed the black model picks up a bit of dust, but it’s easy to wipe clean.

The 2.83inch screen might seem tiny, but it’s enough to display the time, the weather, and when your next alarm goes off or the song you’re playing. It’s easy to customise too. I switched between several different clock face styles before picking my favourite, and you can change the text colours in the Alexa app. Don’t expect the screen to act like the Echo Show 5 or Echo Show 8, though. It won’t stream videos or show live feeds from doorbell cameras. It’s a functional clock rather than a fullon smart display.

Setting it up is straightforward. You plug it in, open the Alexa app, and within a few minutes of following onscreen instructions, it’s ready to go. Even if you haven’t used an Echo speaker before, you’ll find it simple to get started.

The Echo Spot is louder and clearer than you might expect from a device this size. Unsurprisingly, it sounds about the same as the cheaper Echo Pop and can’t deliver a performance to match the beefier Echo Dot.

The 1.73inch frontfiring speaker delivers crisp audio for alarms, podcasts, and audiobooks. While it won’t be your primary wireless music speaker for big spaces – and other portable Bluetooth speakers will beat it for audio playback too – it works well for a bedroom or small office. The music quality is decent and there’s enough thump to the bass for casual listening. Because it works on Alexa, it can be part of your multiroom audio setup too.

It’s designed as a smart alarm clock, so you’ll be glad to hear that it’s easy to use if you want it to help with your sleep schedule. You can set alarms with your voice, and program it to wake you up with your favourite playlist or radio station. The screen dims automatically at night, which I found great for keeping the room dark while still being able to glance at the time.

It’s also ideal if you’ve set up your smart home devices with Alexa. You can use schedules and routines, and you can connect smart devices like lights and plugs so everything’s ready for you when you wake up.

After spending several weeks with the Echo Spot, I think it’s Amazon’s best smart speaker to use as your alarm clock. If you’re someone who already has an Alexabased smart home system, it’s a great addition that won’t take up much space and is ideal on a bedside table. The small display sets it apart from the Echo Dot, but it’s more basic than the Echo Show model.

It’s unlikely you need to buy this if you already own a smart display, but if you want something simple and functional for the bedroom, the Echo Spot is a top pick. It does exactly what it’s designed for – it’s an excellent smart alarm clock. I found it easy to control alarms, it’s great for viewing the time and weather, and it puts Alexa access within easy reach while having an obvious button to turn the microphone off when you don’t need it.

If you’re thinking of buying it, though, I’d suggest keeping an eye out for discounts. It went on sale when it launched before Amazon Prime Day in July, and it might end up on offer again before the end of the year, especially during Black Friday.

Amazon Echo Spot (2024): Other products to consider

The price is reasonable, but you can get better sound quality from the Echo Dot and the fourthgeneration Amazon Echo only costs a little more for much more impressive sound.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you want more functionality from the screen, the Echo Show 5 might be a better pick – it can display shows on Amazon Prime, recipe videos and your video doorbell feed.

Simon Cocks is Hearst UK’s Technology Ecommerce Editor, overseeing tech shopping content and strategy across a range of titles including Good Housekeeping UK, Esquire UK, Digital Spy, Men’s Health UK and Women’s Health UK.

Simon specialises in testing the latest smart gadgets, home entertainment gear, headphones, speakers, portable chargers, radios, ebook readers and smartphones. He’s reviewed top tech products from brands including Google, Apple, Amazon, JBL and Bose.

A magazine journalism graduate from Kingston University in 2014, Simon also worked on the Discovery and Silkroad inflight magazines. He then gained experience writing about entertainment at SFX and Total Film. He also contributed reviews and interviews to TwitchFilm (later ScreenAnarchy), CultBox and Frame Rated.He joined Good Housekeeping UK as the Editorial Assistant for Special Projects and was part of Good Housekeeping’s Consumer Affairs Team between 2014 and 2019. In this role, he conducted price comparison research, wrote detailed household and moneysaving advice guides and edited thousands of indepth reviews for the Good Housekeeping Institute. He has focused on technology and gadgets since 2020, where he started by testing out power banks and instant cameras. He writes reviews, roundups, news articles and deals updates, and also covers top tech deals during sales like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.When not testing out the latest gizmos, you’ll find Simon either catching up with the newest releases at his local cinema or out shooting with his beloved compact camera.You can follow Simon on Instagram at @simonrcocks, on Threads at @simonrcocks, and on Twitter/X at @simoncocks.