Amazon Echo Spot Compact Smart Alarm Clock Radio

Last updated: January 17, 2023


For a modern twist on a clock radio, choose the Echo Spot Smart Alarm Clock. With Alexa-equipped software, a video screen and customizable dimming features, this product is sure to save you time and patience. The video quality is great along with the audio features. We love the sleek look of this alarm radio.

Amazon Echo Spot Compact Smart Alarm Clock Radio

We looked at the top Clock Radios and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best Clock Radio you should buy.

Product Details

Key Takeaway: This clock radio has a video screen, plenty of customizeable options and Alexa voice.

In our analysis of 63 expert reviews, the Amazon Echo Spot Compact Smart Alarm Clock Radio placed 12th when we looked at the top 17 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.

From The Manufacturer

Echo Spot brings you everything you love about Alexa, in a stylish and compact design that can show you things. Just ask to see the weather, get the news with a video flash briefing, set an alarm, see lyrics with Amazon Music, see your calendar, browse and listen to Audible audiobooks, and more. Personalize your Spot with a collection of clock faces to suit your style or set a photo background from Prime Photos. Plus, make calls to friends and family or make video calls to anyone with an Echo Spot, Echo Show, or the Alexa App. Echo Spot features far-field technology with four microphones, beamforming technology, and enhanced noise cancellation, so it can hear you from across the room-even while music is playing. Echo Spot provides hands-free voice control for your music. Watch as the display comes alive to show song lyrics, custom stations, curated playlists, and album art with Amazon Music. You can also listen to audiobooks from Audible, podcasts, radio stations, news briefs, and more. Echo Spot also connects to Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio–giving you voice control for all of your music. Echo Spot is Bluetooth-enabled so you can stream other popular music services. Echo uses tens of thousands of skills and counting. Skills are like apps and help you do more with your device, like test your trivia knowledge with Jeopardy!, find your inner Zen with Headspace, track your fitness with Fitbit, fall asleep to ambient sounds, play games, and more. It’s easy to get started – just say “Alexa, help me get started with skills.” New skills are being added all the time. Discover skills and see ratings and reviews in the skill section of the Alexa app or by visiting the skill homepage. You can also create your own custom Alexa responses in minutes by using Alexa Skill Blueprints to create your own Alexa Skills.

Expert Reviews


What reviewers liked

Again, this is functionality you can have on other Echo devices but having it at-a-glance on the screen is great and means you don't have to whip your phone out for this sort of stuff.
As with the Echo Show, the Spot has a small camera that you can use to video chat with other Alexa users. The quality was pretty good; I could make out strands of hair, and the colors were accurate.
The Spot would be a great addition to a kitchen, but where it will likely shine is on a bedside table or desk. You can customize the device to auto-dim, or do not disturb, at a certain time. One fun feature is the ability to set an alarm featuring various celebrities, such as Ian Ziering from Sharknado yelling at you to wake up
The clock is the killer app for the screen, at least for now, but there are a few other useful things you can do with the display.
We found the voice control to be good, those four microphones ensuring our commands could be heard from across the room with no problems.
But unlike the Dot, which is merely a shorter Echo, the Spot is a full reimagining of the Show—smaller yes, but also much more stylish with a more balanced design and classic good looks.
The Echo Spot sounds pretty good for a small speaker, and better than the Echo Dot. It’s more than loud enough to command from across the room and clearly hear the answers, and it’s perfectly fine for playing the odd spot of music, particularly as a bed-side speaker.
This is easily one of the unique features of the Echo Spot. Thanks to the front-facing camera and the display, you can make calls to anyone from your contact list.
Video chatting or dropping in from room-to-room and interacting with a touchscreen for certain skills is way cooler – so is having an alarm-clock on steroids.
Given its size, I’ve found it not only works well in my bedroom or on my desk without taking up too much space, it would also be perfect for carrying along to use in hotel rooms. Connecting to Wi-Fi during setup is a breeze — you just type in the Wi-Fi credentials right on the circular display.
- CNBC
The Amazon Echo Spot will easily sit on the nightstand and greet the morning with a personalized briefing of weather, important news and even pre-programed pep talk.
The screen enhances Alexa's information display and experience
Amazon Echo Spot is an amazing Smart alarm clock for anyone’s interested in an Alexa with a display. The Spot looks like a cool little alarm clock and for the most part that’s exactly what it is.
Some other nice features with the clock is a night mode. This allows you to set particular times of day where the clock will dim automatically. Otherwise, brightness can be controlled at any time through the touchscreen settings or your voice.
The tiny screen is not going to disappoint you because it has adequate space to display the required information. In fact, when you use this device personally, you will happy to see the screen quality of the device is exceptionally good

What reviewers didn't like

Round screen means video cropping. Can be pricey
However, perhaps fortunately, the camera's resolution is low enough so that your pimples will be hidden from those chatting with you.
We do have a few small gripes about the Spot as an alarm clock. First, we’re uncomfortable with having a device with a camera facing our bed. You can turn the camera and the drop-in feature off in the settings menu, but the camera is still there.
Keep in mind the Spot is not a full-room audio speaker. It's quiet, only 1-2dB louder than an Echo Dot at its various volume levels.
The other element is Drop In. This is an Alexa feature that essentially calls the Spot (or Show) and gives the recipient a few moments to compose themselves before the screen clears and all appears. This is where having a video camera next to your bed might raise some privacy concerns: what if your mother "drops in" while you're busy doing something you don't want mother to see?
Hefty cord somewhat limits where it can be placed
always-listening object in your house, no web video support, expensive compared to Echo
I just wish the Echo Spot had an inbuilt battery so that it could just be put anywhere conveniently without bothering about the wire.
Lacking in display integration and touchscreen interaction with Alexa/Skills
I really wish Amazon embedded small batteries into its Echos, which would make them much more portable. The Echo Spot, like all other Echos, has to be plugged in at all times.
- CNBC
Similarly, its small screen is very reluctant for video playback, and many three-party applications do not support this small screen, which makes its existence sometimes redundant.
As per the audio quality, the Amazon Echo Spot is equipped with a 1.4-inch speaker, which isn’t exactly stellar.
After the clock, the usefulness of the screen takes a dip. As we mentioned in our Echo Show review, having a screen doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be used a lot. So while the concept is nice, there unfortunately aren’t enough skills that utilize video.
The device is not impressive for watching videos for a long time.
View our Clock Radio  buying guide for in-depth advice and recommendations.

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