We highly recommend the Echo Dot as the best CHEAP high tech gift, for this and any other season. They make great, affordable gifts for almost anyone, even those who are not very techie. Basically, the Echo Dot is a smaller-but-just-as-smart version of the immensely successful Amazon Echo (read our full review of the Amazon Echo here).
The Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled, smart speaker without the speaker, which you can get for a third of the price of the best selling Amazon Echo. Echo Dot is rapidly become a best-seller in its own right, and for very good reason. Like the Amazon Echo, the Amazon Dot does not ask you to change anything you do – it just makes many things that you already do much easier to do, in your own home. It is simply the best device you never knew you needed.
The Amazon Echo and the Echo Dot are both wonderful high tech devices that can really enhance the quality of our family life. In the short video below, you can see just a few of the amazing things Alexa can do for you – with just voice controls!
The Echo Dot offers a cheaper option than Amazon Echo
Amazon introduced Echo Dot to extend Amazon Echo beyond your kitchen or living room. We live in a small condo, and Alexa (aka the Amazon Echo) can hear us in the entire open plan kitchen/office/living room area. However, from our bedroom we have to use the Amazon Echo remote control (basically you talk to the remote control instead of talking to Alexa direct). The idea of the Echo Dot is that you have one in each bedroom, so you don’t have to find the remote control. The Echo Dot relays the message to the Amazon Echo.
The Echo Dot is a tiny little thing, scarcely noticeable in a room. As with the Amazon Echo, there are a whole range of “skins” you can buy to make it blend into your decor better. These are also designed to protect the device.
However, the great thing is that the Echo Dot costs a third of the price of the Amazon Echo, but you can use it as a standalone. It is basically the smart speaker without the speaker! It can do everything the Amazon Echo can do – except play music. To stream music or listen to Alexa’s responses, you have to use a cord or Bluetooth to connect the Echo Dot to a speaker. That also means you have to leave your speaker on all the time. However, it works, and it is a much cheaper way to experiment with the amazing voice-control features of Amazon Echo. And of course, a really great, extremely affordable gift idea.
Bottom line on the Echo Dot as a gift
The Echo Dot would be an excellent gift for just about anyone – even if they have never heard of it. Almost everyone who gets an Amazon Echo reacts the way that we did – it’s the best item we didn’t know we needed! The Echo Dot puts the same technology in your hands (or the hands of the lucky person you give it to) for a fraction of the price. And for about $50 for some of the most impressive technology I have ever seen in my life, you really can’t go wrong! When we first switched on our Amazon Echo, my teenage daughter, my wife, and I all instantly fell in love with Alexa’s amazing technology – and had tons of fun. Echo Dot gives you all that for much less money, provided of course you already own a speaker.
| Did you like this post or find it useful? If so, please support our blog: We would appreciate it very much if you would SHARE it with others (using the Share buttons). If you really want to show your appreciation, please consider clicking on one of the Amazon links  before buying from Amazon; or clicking on any of the other affiliate links on this page. Small commissions help pay for our time. Or BEST OF ALL - just SUBSCRIBE to our blog. It makes you part of our community, and gets you free weekly updates about our posts. Thanks in advance – reader support keeps us going and makes it all worthwhile! |
||
 |  |  |
Leave a Reply