Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: an affordable bedside smart speaker

This Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review is aimed at anyone who wants one of the best smart speakers without spending a fortune. It’s one of Amazon’s smallest and most affordable Alexa devices, and thanks to the clock face on the front, it’ll make the perfect bedside alarm clock.

Combining solid performance and loads of cool features with a tiny contemporary design and an affordable price tag, the Echo Dot is one of the most popular smart speakers, and it makes a great gift.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: what’s new 

Amazon has made a few changes to the Echo Dot since the 4th generation of the smart speaker. Firstly, they’ve increased the size of the driver from 1.6 inches to 1.73 inches. You get a few more features than before too including a built-in accelerometer to control the speaker with a tap, and there’s now a temperature sensor as well. Plus Amazon has upgraded the processor.

The design of the latest Echo Dot isn’t too different from the last model, although they have done away with the 3.5mm audio port and you can now buy it in a Deep Sea Blue option.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: price and availability

You can buy the Amazon Echo Dot with a Clock (5th Generation, 2022) for £64.99 in the UK and $59.99 in the US. If you choose to buy it without the clock face, it'll cost a bit less at £54.99 in the UK and $49.99 in the US.

Keep an eye on the price as it’s likely to be discounted during sales events like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: design and setup

When you first take the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) out of the box, you’ll be surprised by how small it is. This cute little spherical smart speaker is a bit bigger than a cricket ball, measuring 100 x 100 x 89mm. What’s great about that is it won’t take up much space so you can put it just about anywhere, like on your bedside table, or up on a shelf.

The ball has a flat base and back made from plastic, but the rest is covered in a meshed fabric. Across the front, there’s an LED display to show the time, song titles, the temperature and so on. Around the bottom is the Alexa ring light letting you know when the voice assistant is listening to you. Despite being so small, the LED display showing the time is quite big so you’ll be able to read it from across the room, if you need to.

You can buy the version with a clock in Cloud Blue or Glacier White, or if you buy it without the clock face, you can choose between Deep Sea Blue and Charcoal as well as Glacier White.

Across the top of the sphere, there are four buttons: one to turn the volume up, one to turn it down, one to mute the microphone and the action button. The action button serves to physically trigger the voice assistant, put the speaker in setup mode and answer incoming calls, amongst other things.

Unlike the 4th generation of the smart speaker, the 5th model of the Echo Dot doesn’t have a 3.5mm audio port on the back. There’s only the port to connect it to power. I found the included cable was long enough to reach a shelf, and if you want to put it higher, there's the option to buy an extension cable.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: performance and features

A 1.73-inch driver sits underneath the shell of the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022). Being bigger than before, the audio quality has ever so slightly improved across the whole soundstage, but you still can’t expect to be blown away with huge room-filling sound.

In smaller spaces, the Echo Dot (2022) will provide a solid bass, strong mids and crisp highs, but there’s not enough power behind the sound to please a crowd. Rest assured though, for listening to podcasts, audiobooks and music in your bedroom or office, this speaker will perform well. Naturally, you get all the perks of an Alexa smart speaker here, with the ability to set alarms, ask random questions, control your smart home and so on.

Since I've been using the Echo Dot, the wake word has never been missed, and thanks to the latest AZ2 neural edge processor, the smart features work almost instantly each time. I tested it out against an older Alexa device and the voice assistant has noticeably sped up.

On top of the Alexa smarts, the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) can be used to extend your Eero mesh Wi-Fi network, stretching it into every corner of the house. It can provide up to 1,000 square feet of additional coverage. This smart speaker also doubles up as a Zigbee hub, expanding your smart home and communicating directly to your smart home tech including your lights, doorbells, coffee machines and so on.

The temperature sensor is another great extra feature worth mentioning. At any time, you can find out how warm the room is, not only by hearing the response but by seeing it on the LED display as well. If you have a smart thermostat like Nest, you can use this smart speaker to adjust it with a simple command or set up routines to be triggered according to the temperature of the room.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: verdict 

Given its price tag, the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) is a very convincing piece of kit, especially if you’re looking for something small to pop into your bedroom. 

The clock itself is an excellent feature making this work like a super smart Alexa alarm clock, but add to that the temperature sensor, Eero compatibility and its modern, discreet design, Amazon is onto a winner. Granted, this won’t be best placed in a large space nor will it be the best choice for entertaining because it's simply not powerful enough, but for anywhere or anything else, it’s a perfect budget smart speaker.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (2022) review: alternatives to consider

If you want something even cheaper than this, the Amazon Echo Pop costs a bit less, and it’s smaller too. You can buy it in a few fun colours, or you can buy a colourful skin to make it match the room you intend to put it in. The sound quality isn’t quite as good as the Echo Dot but it’ll be fine for solo listening.

Those who want a new smart speaker to be placed in a living room or kitchen that will be powerful enough for entertaining should look to buy the Echo (4th Generation) instead. It’s a bigger device that will do a much better job of filling the room with sound.