Alexa speaker is as sharp as it is smart

I’ll just come out and say it: Amazon’s newest Echo hits the sweet spot.

The Echo Spot fills a hole in Amazon's Alexa lineup that I didn’t even know was there. With no less than six smart speakers, plus a variety of tablets and apps, I thought Amazon had its bases more than covered. There are Alexa options to handle every room, budget, and situation in need of a smart speaker. And if you can't find something in Amazon's stable, you can choose from a bevy of third-party Alexa-compatible devices. But while the Spot isn't the first Echo device with a screen, it is the first seemingly designed to complement whatever room you put it in. It might not stand out like the Show, but it doesn't fade into the background either.

Simply put, the Spot has something the other Alexa-powered devices in my house don’t: good looks. It’s the first Echo that I didn’t actively try to hide. In fact, I tried a few different locations in my kitchen before I was happy with its visibility, and I’m already scouting places in my bedroom and home office for future Spots. The Spot is more than another Echo with a screen. It’s a new experience and a new direction for the platform, it just might be the device that puts Alexa out of reach of Siri and Google Assistant.

An Echo that looks good

The Spot is essentially a smaller, cheaper version of the 7-inch Show, Amazon’s most expensive Echo device. But unlike the Dot, which is merely a shorter Echo, the Spot is a full reimagining of the Show—smaller yes, but also much more stylish with a more balanced design and classic good looks.

At four inches in diameter, with a 2.5-inch circular screen, the Echo Spot shares a similar aesthetic with a Nest Thermostat, right down to its huge chunk of black bezel all around. A circle of speaker holes pepper the bottom edge, and it naturally rests at a 70-ish degree angle that makes it easy to see from anywhere in a room. Its visibility is buoyed by its adaptable brightness and excellent viewing angles, as well as the trademark blue "listening" ring that circles the screen.

In fact, the Spot isn’t at all that recognizable as an Alexa device at first glance. If it’s on a nightstand or a desk, it’ll look like an alarm clock. If it’s in a kitchen (where mine is), it’ll look like a fancy egg timer. Where other Echo's look like they were designed from the inside out, the Spot feels like the first Echo that’s truly meant to be seen, with simple curves that help it adapt to whatever environment it’s in.

Real-life cable management differs quite a bit from Amazon's promotional images, seen below.

However, because you’re going to want to put your Spot in a prominent location on a counter or a nightstand, you’ll need to contend with its power cord. To look at the Spot’s promotional images, you’d think it runs on a battery. But it depends on a large AC adapter with an attached cable. I suspect that this time next year we’ll get a Tap-like Spot that includes a charging cradle for extra versatility, or perhaps a third-party manufacturer will develop an accessory. But for now, you might need to get creative to hide that cord.

See Spot run

As an Alexa device, the Spot works just as expected. Fire it up and any skills and smart home connectivity you’ve added to other Echo devices will be at the ready, as well as music, audiobooks, and of course, Alexa's bountiful brain. But the screen adds a few tricks that make it feel like an entirely new device.