Amazon quietly launched the Echo Spot smart speaker in India last week. Well, it cannot be denied that the Echo Spot is an eye-catching device when you first look at it. The display is crisp and clear, the design is compact, the white colour looks elegant and the speaker as a whole sits well with urban decor. At the top of the device are three button – volume up, volume down, and a mic/camera cut-off button.
The mic mute and camera disconnection button is the same and according to Amazon, it electrically shuts off the mic and the front camera to avoid any unwanted drop-ins or hacks.
The circular touchscreen display has a coverage area of 2.5-inches, surrounded by a half inch thick circular bezel. The display comes with adaptive brightness which adjusts itself according to surrounding lighting conditions. Brightness can also be controlled by swiping down from the top of the display to bring up the Home button and Settings menu.
In terms of clarity, the display does not disappoint. It is sharp and renders colours well enough for a 2.5-inch offering.
Alexa and her Skills
The Echo Spot keeps displaying ‘Trending’ stories from around the web when in idle condition. If you ask the AI to read out any of these trending stories, the text of the story appears on the screen and the digital helper starts reading it out as if from a teleprompter.
Calling
Speaker
he Echo Spot houses its speaker grille at the bottom of the device, but the speakers are not technically bottom firing. The grille is slightly slanted to let the sound dissipate in a 360 degree manner from the sides of the device. The audio quality of the speaker is passable. It is loud enough for casual usage, but not enough to start a party. The good thing is that like every other Echo speaker, this one also features an Aux-out port which lets you hook it up to other high fidelity speakers of your choice.