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Amazon
Amazon Echo Pop
Best on a budget
The Amazon Echo Pop comes in three eye-catching colourways and has a semi-spherical design. It’s the cheapest option in the current lineup, and an affordable way to get Alexa in your home.
Pros- More colour options
- Lower price
Cons- Fewer sensors onboard
- Sound not great
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Amazon
Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen)
Best for smart homes
The Amazon Echo Dot is one of the most popular smart speakers in the world. It offers great sound quality, excellent smart home integration and brilliant voice recognition. If you’ve got a lot of smart devices, this is the way to go.
Pros- Temperature sensor and tap controls
- Easy access mic mute button
- eero Wi-Fi built-in
The Echo Dot has been one of Amazon’s most popular smart speakers. It’s easy to see why, too, it’s one of the most affordable and compact options in the Alexa smart speaker lineup.
That is, until the Echo Pop was announced. The newer speaker is even cheaper, has an attractive design, is available in multiple colourways, looking to offer many of the same features as the Echo Dot.
The question is, how does this new speaker compare to the 5th-generation Echo Dot and which one is right for your needs? We’ve taken a deep look at the specifications, tested and reviewed both devices, and this is how they compare.
Specs, pricing and availability
The Amazon Echo Dot, now in its fifth iteration, was a puck-shaped device for many years, before moving to a spherical design in 2020. The latest version was released in 2022 and currently retails for $49.99.
The Echo Pop was released in May 2023 and it’s available for $39.99. Silicon sleeves that can change the color of the Echo Pop are available for an additional $16.99.
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Amazon Echo Pop Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen) Dimensions 99 x 83 x 91mm, 196g 100 x 100 x 89mm, 340g Woofer Size 1.95in 1.73in Connectivity Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Matter Colors Charcoal, Glacier White, Lavender Bloom, Midnight Teal Charcoal, Glacier White, Deep Sea Blue Others Matter Temperature sensor, Accelerometer
Design
The design differences between the Echo Dot and Echo Pop are quite plain to see. The Echo Dot has a spherical shape, whereas the Echo Pop has a flat front, creating what Amazon calls a semi-sphere design.
Both devices have LED illumination to signal when they’re in use, but the location is different on each model. The Echo Dot has an illuminated ring around its base, whereas the Echo Pop has a small illuminated section at the top.
The Echo Dot is available in Charcoal, Glacier White and Deep Sea Blue colour options. They’re all quite subtle, whereas the Echo Pop goes for a slightly louder approach.
The Echo Pop can be purchased in Lavender Bloom and Midnight Teal options, as well as classic grey and white versions. But, if you want to liven things up further, you can purchase silicone sleeves in Blue, Red, Orange, Grey, Lilac, Purple, and even Glow in the Dark – funky stuff.
Sound quality
We have listen to both these speakers and the soundscape is quite different. The 5th generation Echo Dot has a 1.73-inch driver which creates a good amount of bass from its tiny chassis. It’s surprisingly robust in sound delivery, allowing flexible placement in a room.
Surprisingly, the Echo Pop has an even larger speaker inside, at 1.95 inches. But the Echo Pop is designed for small spaces, and that sound projects forwards, so it’s best suited to solo listening or limited spaces. Of the two, the Echo Dot offers richer more room-filling sound, so if it’s sound performance you’re interested in, it’s the Echo Dot that you want.
However, the Echo Pop is well suited to a bedside or other area where listening demands are lower.
Alexa and smart home connectivity
Both devices house Amazon’s AZ2 Neural Edge processor at their core. This means that they’ll give you roughly the same Alexa experience, with speedy response times and reliable voice recognition. Features will be the same, too, since they both rely on Alexa’s universal capabilities.
The difference comes in the form of the additional sensors. The Echo Dot has a temperature sensor built-in, as well as an accelerometer. This means it can be used to create temperature-based automations – or just used to report the temperature of a room – and can also be tapped to turn off an alarm, for example.
The Echo Pop is a simpler device overall, with fewer features, which is why it is cheaper.
Conclusion
The Echo Pop is a great addition to the Amazon Echo lineup. We think it’s one of the nicest-looking speakers from the brand so far, and the wealth of colour options means that it’s easy to match with your home decor.
Amazon
It’s also the cheapest option, which is a big selling point in and of itself. But the sound isn’t as wide or room-filling as the Echo Dot, so while it convenient for adding Alexa to your room, it’s not the best for music.
Amazon
Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen)
If temperature-based automation and alarm clock usage are features that you want from your smart speaker, then you’re likely best off with the Echo Dot: it also offers better sound performance, so if you want background music on a regular basis then you’ll be better off with the Echo Dot.
No matter which device you choose, you’re getting a lot for your money, and you can rest assured that you’re not likely to find a better smart speaker for the price.
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