Then when the sun comes up in the morning, or when you turn on the lights, the brightness will increase. The clock display will immediately dim to its lowest possible brightness level when you use that command. Adding a clock is a small change but a significant one, especially if you keep the Echo Dot in the bedroom as I do. Aside from the third and fourth-generation Echo Dots, the Echo Show and Echo Spot both have LED screens to display the time.

When using a voice command, you can set the brightness using a numerical value or turn the display off entirely. It won’t be displaying advanced graphics or video like an Echo Show but it works well, and adapts its brightness to meet the needs of the room. If you have an Echo with a screen, like Echo Show, you need to set the brightness with touchscreen controls. That suggests that there’s a little more going on here than just the voice changes, but your mileage may vary.Underneath that fabric is a segmented LED display capable of showing a digital clock and shows other things when required. The LED display is extremely welcome offering little “glance details” without detracting from the screen-free charm smart speakers were supposed to offer in the first place. It’s a look that actually works well – it’s certainly a lot nicer than the plastic puck of the second and first generation Dots, only the former of which was released to the UK.

This isn’t a smart speaker itself but it does connect with other Echo devices to show any live timers set as well as the time. Yes, you could have a digital clock, too, but the new Echo Dot with Clock kills two birds with one stone by displaying the time in bright LEDs across its side. The Echo Dot with Clock is a great example of this – far from an essential upgrade but very nice to have. It can turn off the lights, saving me bumped knees trying to navigate the room in the dark, and it can play a series of sleep sounds to lull my unsettled mind to rest. If you want to dim your Echo Dot clock display quickly, you can use the Alexa voice command “Alexa, change brightness to minimum.This option was first made available in the third-generation Echo Dot, and the spherical fourth-generation Echo Dot also has a version that includes a clock display. With other smart speakers, you have to ask how long is left every time you want to know, and obviously being able to see it at a glance is far more convenient. Here, I’m in two minds: as I said earlier, Google Assistant is just far better at answering questions and hearing what you’re saying clearly. You can adjust the brightness on your Echo Dot clock with voice commands or through the Alexa app on your phone.

It’s an LED display that can’t show anything more complicated than a few numbers or letters at a time, but you can switch it between 12- and 24-hour formats. You can also use voice commands like, "Set brightness to one,""Change brightness to maximum," and "Turn display off. Cards on the table: for me Google Assistant is streets ahead of Alexa in the smarts department but the Google Home Mini is severely hobbled due to its lack of 3. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.One other peculiarility: these Echo devices with the new voice suddenly stopped working with my Xiaomi smart bulbs. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. It has the same chunky 99 x 99 x 43mm dimensions of the previous model, and sticks with the fabric wrap, which wraps around the sides. You can adjust the brightness with a slider; there's also an adaptive brightness setting in the app. Given the iPhone it used to house – a 2009 iPhone 3GS – has long since departed, it only exists to tell the time.

The former is handy for cooking, as the clock is replaced with a visual countdown when a timer is set. You access the Adaptive Brightness feature through the Alexa app on the same screen you use to manually adjust the clock brightness, as described in the previous section.

Whether it’s Kindles, Fire Tablets or Echos, each new version brings small improvements that you weren’t aware you needed until they arrived. But for the basics, Alexa is just fine: ably playing music, radio and podcasts, connecting with smart home gear and telling you about your day. Alexa still isn’t as good as Google Assistant but in terms of hardware, the Echo Dot comfortably beats the Google Home Mini, so until somebody puts Google Assistant in a dinky speaker with a 3. One more thing I noticed with this and the new third-generation Echo: Alexa has a new, smoother sounding voice, closer to Google Assistant’s to my mind.