Are you looking for a smart home speaker?
Is Amazon Echo 3rd generation or 4th generation the best for you?
Lets find out on Amazon Echo Dot 4th generation review in India
Amazon has introduced the new Home smart speaker, Echo Dot 4th Generation, and Amazon had done this before the Amazon Great Indian Sale 2020, held in October. After the success of echo dot 3rd generation, they launched the 4th generation of echo dot.
New design and features made up change for more optimization and sound clarity. The echo dot with the led display for clock features allows you to check the timer as well.
The Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation’s starting price in India is Rs3,999 comes in three colors, we will talk about later for new design and feature in this article.
During the sale, the price goes down by saving up to 500rs, plus there is some combo like a smart bulb, Amazon smart plug, etc.
[Click Here to Get the latest price]
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation: Specification
- Speakers – 1.6” front-firing driver
- Line in/out – 3.5 mm line out
- WIfi – Dual-band wifi connectivity
- Bluetooth – Yes
- Weight – 341.3 gms
- Warranty – 1 Year
- Alexa App – Android or iOS
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation Review: Design
The 4th generation of Amazon Echo dot 2021 is a 3.9-inch in a sphere shape, a half fabric and half plastic covering the body. The echo dot design is that egg-shaped around the plastic, which hikes the power interface in the rear of the echo that means you don’t need to expect the omnidirectional sound like the previous echo.
The small smart gadgets for the home which control smart appliances, where you are at your home or not, connect your echo from anywhere.
The global version of Amazon echo dot 4th gen has multiple designs like cartoons, but in the Indian version, they only launched the solid colors.
These days most smart speakers are wrapped up in fabric material that looks good for smart home appliances. Like the previous echo dot generation, this one is required to keep plugged in for continuous work.
The echo dot comes in 3 colors – Blue, Black, and white in texture color. Likewise, in echo dot 3rd generation, this one also has four buttons on top for volume up/down, turning off the mic, and activating Alexa.
The exciting part is the ring light in the new echo dot. In my opinion, the LED ring light at the bottom of the echo rather than the top like the last echo dot looks like a small table lamp or decoration light that was relocated to the bottom of the device. I like the glowing effect of different colors like Blue, Red, Yellow, and sometimes white. The led light glows on the surface, which feels mind-blowing, a friendly visual interface.
The Echo light indicator shows some meaning, like the Blue color is Alexa listening to your command. The Yellow light means you have a new notification and echo dot 4th generation they added power-saving mode. The red light indicating either the Alexa echo can’t connect, or your Wi-Fi is not connecting to the echo dot.
If you are planning to buy a smart speaker and willing to spend more, consider the echo dot with the clock edition. This shows everything the same and shows a led clock display, alarm, and temperature when you ask Alexa to show some basic information.
When you are purchasing the Amazon Echo dot 4th generation, then go for a black color like the one I have bought because it won’t show your fingerprint and dust. I have seen my colleague echo dot in white color, after a few months, the white color has become greyish because of dust stuck on the surface of the echo.
Also, the outer body texture is made on fabric that requires more careful attention while touching it. The echo dot is not waterproof; you can’t wash it, and don’t try to do that, for god sake; this will only damage your echo dot.
The size of the new design for the Echo Dot is larger than previous models. You can see that the new Dot is nearly three times as tall as the older ones if you look at some of the comparison shots above. Also, the new generation dots are much larger than the earlier echo dot generations. This implies that the Echo Dots (4th Generation) will not stash away as nicely as previous versions, and any brackets or mounts for them will also be significantly larger. So you’re probably stuck with the Echo Dot (3rd Gen).
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation Review: Sound Quality
Concerning the audio quality of the echo dot 4th generation has better sounding than Amazon echo dot 3rd generation version until and unless you truly must be comparing both the twin echo side by side to observe the difference in sound quality.
The new speaker drivers also enhance the low performance by having the 3-inch woofer, which is way louder than Google nest. However, bass becomes fuzzy in high volume.
The sound is slightly more powerful in bass and more crispy sound quality, and this is happening only because of the dome-shaped design. Unfortunately, like the previous echo dot, this one also without a stereo-like the Amazon Echo has currently for it. To get the Stereo experience, then have to buy two echo dots and pair them with each other to get the quality of the stereo or get a bigger Amazon Echo.
The newer model of echo dot reduces your options so far, putting the echo dot speaker bothered. The first thing you no longer need to mount the speaker like the previous generation for more sound clarity and noise. It’s indeed perfectly acceptable to use audiobooks and songs as stereos, but it is not particularly suitable as a music jukebox due to its lack of depth and clarity.
The dome-shaped echo dot height means the volume and mute controls have become the speaker’s round shape. Somewhat placing on the corner might make you uncomfortable reaching for buttons.
The sound is way much louder than the 3rd generation of echo dot, but the competition is against Google Nest Home Mini and Mi Smart Home. The Mi Smart Home has a bigger 12W full-range speaker than the amazon echo dot in bass and loudness, but if you seriously like the details, no one can beat the echo dot 4th generation.
The speakers are the same as the previous generation carrying the single 1.6-inch speaker. However, the front-facing speaker position gives the sound a little better.
If you tap the volume buttons, a white ring indicates the higher and lower and adjusts the volume. The button is also available to manually give Alexa the command without saying, “Alexa, do this.” Still, as a normal echo user, I prefer voice command over manual pressing the button.
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen Review: Features
Alexa has been noticeably faster in the previous model but is even quicker in this newer model than AZ1 Neural Edge Chip. Everything you had in your old Echo can be found in your new one. It’s just faster. On this new generation and better audio pick-up, I found faster response times.
There is nothing new in the 4th generation of echo dot for a setup like a previous generation, unbox the amazon echo, plug it, install the Amazon Alexa app for Android and iOS, turn on the WIFI connect to your app. Once connected, start playing with the Alexa app and start giving commands like “Alexa, play vividh Bharati” radio or play Bollywood top songs or set reminders or check the weather.
If you haven’t installed the Alexa App from the Playstore or iOS store, then process the downloading the app, then login to your Amazon account in-app and follow all the instructions.
The echo dot 4th generation can be used to control TV, Lights, AC, or play music enabled on smart home appliances. The improvement here is the ability to connect the voice commands way faster than the 3rd generation dot.
To complete any tasks you ask for, the Echo Dot uses speech recognition, including setting timers, adding calendar appointments, playing music, and operating other smart devices like lights and fans are common.
Voice recognition with Intelligent Voice Assistant by Alexa, Voice controls your home, including led lighting, air conditioner, connectors, and other smart speakers.
Access to timers, reminders, notifications, events, and weather, traffic, and news headlines updates quickly, hands-free. Alexa has millions of songs from different sources like Hangama, Gaana, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Apple Podcast, JioSaavn, which play songs through echo dot. You can also access songs in Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Bhojpuri, English, Telugu, Kannada, and many more.
Alexa’s ability to set language preferences has been the biggest improvement in the last few months. The new language like Hindi and English is designed to accommodate North Indian households better and is better understood by elders and children alike.
Spotify, Amazon Music is linked to the account that you have. Connected to an external speaker (aux or headphones). Connected via wifi or Bluetooth to a smart home.
Access thousands and thousands of Alexa skills and games, like Bollywood and Entertainment skills, Kid skills, Health, fitness, etc.
To create a multi-room system, connect to other Echo speakers and smart speakers to
Using the smart system as an intercom in other rooms to communicate to family members
The device enters and exits the low power mode automatically that save energy. It will automatically go into low-power mode if you’re not communicating with your echo dot, except in certain situations. If your device can use Low Energy Mode, you can easily wake it up by pressing the home button or controlling it with the Alexa remote by saying Wake Command “Alexa” or change the wake command from Alexa to Echo in Alexa app.
Pros and Cons of Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen:
Pros:
- New design, classy build quality
- Power Saving Mode
- Better performance than the previous generation
- Low price smart speaker
- Lots of smart features
- Optimization for Regional languages
- Loud and clear sound quality
Cons:
- No waterproof
- The round design is not for everyone.
- No Youtube compatibility
- Not full omnidirectional
- Bass is not strong as usual in small speakers.
FAQ of 4th Gen Echo Dot:
Is it better to upgrade my Echo Dot 3rd generation?
The features are almost the same as the 3rd and 4th generation. The 4th gen of echo dot has a newer design and improved sound quality, but the overall sound is the same as the 3rd generation dot. They added a power-saving mode feature when the Alexa is in idle mode. If you don’t care about these things, then stay in 3rd generation. The price is also different here with the clock edition.
Q. How to set up Alexa echo dot?
A. Download and install the app from the Playstore or iOS store, log in through your Amazon account, and connect your wifi on the Alexa app to your echo dot device by clicking on the “Add device” option, More -> Amazon Echo -> choose, Echo Smart Speaker, then follow on-screen instructions.
Q. How to connect echo dot to phone?
A. You can connect through Amazon Alexa App, Go to More -> Settings -> “Alexa on This Phone,” Tap on “Enabled Alexa Hands-Free,” check your location and time zone. Now give the command to Alexa “Alexa, what is the weather temperature,” Alexa will respond.
Q. How to turn off the echo dot?
A. There is no direct option to turn it off from the echo dot. You have to turn it off from the power cable.
Q. How to Reset Amazon Echo Dot?
A. To reset the echo dot device to default factory settings, press and hold the Action button for 25 seconds. This method is for echo dot 4th generation.
Conclusion:
The Echo Dot 3rd generation was a highly enhanced variant of a previous 2nd generation. The 4th generation edition performed very well, but it was very slight in the prior versions. Previously, the Amazon Echo Dot was always our favorite compact smart speaker, and now it seems more appealing at a lower price.
If the 3rd Gen Echo Dot is more costly than the 4th Gen Echo Dot, you can have the 3rd Gen Echo Dot over the 4th Gen Echo Dot. I really like how the newer echo dot looks, and it does sound a bit smoother and clearer. Still, the total sound quality gap between these two isn’t that much because if you’re buying the previous model for a much lower cost, then it can still be a better deal, particularly when all other features on all these versions are similar.
The 4th generation of the Amazon Echo Dot delivers outstanding performance at a reasonable price. The new design is really impressive. The Echo Dot is a marginally stronger Echo than the 3rd Gen Dot, but not very much. There is no sense in upgrading to the current spherical dome shape design unless it is what you really need. When choosing a new edition, I recommend you to select the latest generation edition. However, the Amazon 3rd generation of Echo Dot costs less and saves you Rs.1,500 or more without requiring many compromises.