Amazon introduced its first Amazon Echo in 2014, and now the company is back with the 4th generation of Amazon Echo device, offering a new spherical design instead of the old cylindrical one and more powerful features.
The company is aiming to introduce the new Echo as an alternative to the old 150$ Echo Plus. The new device will come with the powerful audio performance that was initially in the Echo Plus in addition to new features like the smart home hub, all that and more with just 99.99 $.
With this reasonable price you get Alexa for voice commands, and you will be able to control Zigbee devices.
The 4th generation of Amazon Echo characteristics
The new spherical design is similar to the forthcoming HomePod mini, however it’s made of fabric and aluminum which are 100% recycled materials.
- The new Echo measures 5.2 inches tall and 5.7 inches wide, and it comes in 3 colors; black, blue and white
- The light ring in the new design is moved to the speaker base, but it still lights blue when you speak your chosen Alexa wake word.
- The volume and mic mute buttons are at the top of the device, and on the back, you will find the power adapter connector and a 3.5mm audio output.
- The device supports Dolby audio technology through a 3-inch woofer and dual 0.8-inch front-firing tweeters under the hood
- It has two tweeters and one driver that is the same size as the third-generation Echo Plus
- Comes with a built-in smart home hub
- Bluetooth low energy support
- Zigbee hub
- Amazon Sidewalk support that extends the low-bandwidth device’s range
- Amazon’s AZ1 Neural Edge processor, which is designed for machine learning to enable new features that run on the edge of the cloud-like more responsive speech recognition which may help to make Alexa easier to talk to overtime.
Related Post : How to build an Alexa Smart Home in 4 Steps
| 4th generation Amazon Echo pros | 4th generation Amazon Echo cons |
| Powerful as the Echo Plus | Low performance at high frequencies |
| Strong bass | Weird Alexa experience |
| Built-in smart home hub |
Voice control
The new 4th generation Amazon Echo supports voice control through Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa. You simply ask the voice assistant to complete the task you want by saying the magic word “Alexa” followed by your command.
You can ask the voice assistant to tell you the latest news, play music from your favorite platform, control your smart home devices or make phone calls.
Audio
Although the new Echo is smaller than the Google Nest Audio, it has larger woofer and tweeters offering a more powerful audio performance.
When tested we found that the Echo provides nice sound at low frequencies, and the kick drums doesn’t sound overly poppy or punchy. Also:
- Improved bass
- Opening guitar plucks sound warm and full
- The electric bassline stands out over other instrumentation.
- High-frequencies are not that fine compared to the Nest Audio, making string texture and vocals obscure
- You will get more response for low and low-mids frequencies
- The backbeat doesn’t get quite enough low-frequency presence to get the proper sound. However, the guitar riffs and vocals stand out
The 4th generation Amazon Echo beats the Echo Dot audio performance, yet it doesn’t rise up to the audio performance of the 200$ Echo Studio.
Bottom line
With its sound quality and smart home hub capabilities, the new Amazon Echo is a strong follow-up to the previous models, with compatibility with Zigbee smart home devices.
| Specification | |
| Channels | Mono |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Multi-Room | Yes |
| Physical connection (audio port) | 3.5 mm |
| Portable | No |
| Water resistance | No |
| Speaker phone | No |
| Voice assistant | Alexa |
