Amazon’s third-generation Echo Dot looks good and sounds great. With its much-improved sound, it’s now a much better smart speaker than the Google Home Mini and can replace the larger $99 Echo for less picky folks. That makes it our Editor’s Choice for entry-level smart speakers. If you already own an old Echo Dot and are using it to power a bigger, better speaker, there’s no need to upgrade. However, if you use your Echo Dot as your main speaker, you may want to opt for the new Echo Dot.
The Echo Dot is chubbier and snugger than its predecessor, though it’s about the same size. Instead of hard plastic, the speaker now has a fabric cover in one of three shades of gray. Choose wisely, because unlike the big Echo, you can’t change the cover after you buy the speaker. The sound quality of the single 1.6-inch driver is much, much better than the old Echo Dot. The old Echo Dot sounded miserable, like a transistor radio from the 1960s. It was fine for Alexa’s voice, but music was extremely tinny. The new Echo Dot at least has a hint of bass and a much rounder midrange.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]The Philips Hue Bluetooth White and Color Ambiance is the first Hue bulb to come with a Bluetooth radio, which means you can control it without connecting it to a Hue Bridge. It has its own app that lets you turn it on and off, dim it, and change the color and color temperature settings, and it supports Alexa and Google voice commands. It offers a quick and easy way to add smart lighting to your home. However, it’s not cheap and you need to stay within Bluetooth range to control it.
The Bluetooth model is essentially the same bulb you get in the Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Starter Kit, but with one big difference: it includes both Bluetooth and Zigbee radios. It’s an A19 LED bulb with a standard E26 screw base, which is also available as a BR30 downlight. The bulb is dimmable and can display 16 million colors and white temperatures from 2000-6500K. It has a light output of 800 lumens, which is approximately equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb. Its estimated lifetime is 25,000 hours or up to 22 years.