In addition to Alexa’s pronouncements on the weather and my daily calendar, I mostly use it to play podcasts and audiobooks. I did spend a few days streaming music, and while it can’t compete with my Sonos speaker, it was fine for casual listening. I found it to offer robust, room-filling sound, and though it may not offer massive bass, it also doesn’t sound tinny. You obviously won’t get the frequency range of a device with multiple drivers, but its one driver is capable enough.

The Echo Dot won’t give you the rich, crisp sound of a more expensive piece of audio equipment, but it sounds pretty darn good for a small Bluetooth speaker. The updated fifth-gen model uses a larger driver for clearer vocals and deeper bass. The LED display across the centre of the device shows the time, any alarms set, or a song title if you're listening to music. It's bright and vibrant without being distractingly so. Again, perfect for the bedside cabinet. New motion sensors in the Echo Dot lead to additional ways of interacting with the speaker beyond using your voice and the few physical buttons on top. Now you can lightly tap the top of the speaker to play or pause songs, end calls, stop ringing timers, or snooze alarms. But look closely and you’ll notice that the LED display on the front now has a brighter, scrolling display so it can show things like the time, the weather, the music you’re listening to and all kinds of helpful information. It may not seem like much, but I found it to be surprisingly useful.A new temperature sensor is also perfect for anyone with a smart heating system. You can assign certain Alexa routines to be performed once the temperature dips or goes too high.

On the top of the Echo Dot are the volume buttons, an Alexa action button, and the mute button for those times you don't want to be heard. The bottom of the sphere illuminates red any time this is activated, so you know when you're being left alone. And, of course, you can set up routines tying into your smart home. For instance, you can be woken each morning by an alarm, followed by your favorite radio station and your lights coming on.

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