You can do it with pretty much any radio station, too, providing you have the TuneIn skill. It works with Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio. You can ask, “Alexa, wake me up to by at ”, or even just an artist radio by not specifying a song. This one didn’t exist when Alexa first launched, yet it was one of the first things we tried. But don’t forget, “Alexa, snooze,” for that all-important 10 extra minutes. When your alarm sounds, just say, “ Alexa, stop / turn off” - or whatever you can muster. You can also add as many alarms as you want, so it’s fine to add ones for you and your partner. ”Īlexa will then confirm with you, normally questioning AM/PM, if you forgot to say. Learn: The best Alexa sleep sounds and ambient skills.Connect: How to get Alexa to control smart lighting.Make: How to create an amazing morning routine.If you already have an Alexa speaker at the ready, though, this is how to turn it into a top alarm clock. And thanks to Alexa Routines, you can actually create an alarm that blends music, lights and sound for the full experience.Įvery Alexa device has the skills to replicate a bedside alarm clock, but Amazon has made a particular push with the Echo Dot with Clock and Echo Show 5 - those looking for the best Echo alarm clock should explore those two devices. This allows you to wake up to your favorite song, radio station or even a personalized news bulletin. There are four microphones here instead of the seven you get on the regular Echo 2 and Echo Plus but they’re just as effective at picking up commands from both near and far and against quite noisy backgrounds.With the power of Alexa, you can turn your Amazon Echo speaker or display into a very smart alarm clock. That’s a pity but it won’t alarm you to hear that the Spot employs the same excellent far-field microphone technology as its other Echo-powered siblings. It’s worth noting, though, that you can hook the Echo Spot up to an external speaker via the 3.5mm aux out or via Bluetooth for a fuller, more engaging sound. Set up in my moderately sized kitchen I often found that even turning up the volume to its highest level wasn’t enough to raise it above the background of the extractor fan or the kettle boiling. When it comes to music, though, there’s simply not enough bottom end or warmth to do your favourite tunes justice and it doesn’t go very loud either. It isn’t as thin or as scratchy sounding as the Echo Dot – the Spot is more full-bodied than that – and it’s perfectly fine for catching up on the news headlines or your favourite podcasts. Despite replicating the Echo Show for features and smart speaker capabilities, the Spot comes nowhere near it for sound quality. Okay, everything’s tickety-boo for the Echo Spot so far, but there’s one crucial and disappointingly negative aspect: sound quality. Echo Spot review: Sound quality and microphone The Spot also works well with a long list of smart home devices, from smart bulbs to thermostats and its screen means it’s particularly well-suited to smart security cameras, like the Nest IQ cam, which you can bring up the feed for with a simple voice command. Likewise, you can make and receive video and audio calls as well as view Amazon’s flash cards when you ask Alexa a question or receive song lyrics whenever you play your favourite tunes. You can access all of your device settings such as display brightness, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as watch the occasional movie or TV show via Amazon Prime Video. Beware, though: there’s no way of telling if Alexa has figured out your request exactly, so be prepared for an early morning shock as she tries to wake you up with a blast of punk rock when all you wanted was the calming sound of waves lapping the shore to ease you into Monday morning.ĭoes the circular touchscreen add to the Alexa experience otherwise? Well, much like the Echo Show, it displays stuff on the screen and allows you to interact with all sorts of things with the power of your index finger. When you’re not asking it questions or carrying out video calls it shows a nice-looking clock face on the front, with 17 different styles to choose from and, when you wake up, the display scrolls through a series of news snippets you can ask it for more details about.Īnd you can set an alarm to wake you with a regular alarm tone or your choice of music or radio station. Otherwise, the Spot is ideally suited to the role of smart alarm clock. Fortunately, just like the Echo Show, the Spot has a mute button on top to do just that and a do not disturb mode to prevent intrusions while you sleep. You can even use it, as Amazon suggests, as a voice-driven alarm clock but you’ll need to make sure you mute the microphone and camera when you go to bed to avoid your contacts dropping in on you at awkward moments. It’s like a grown-up Echo Dot and the perfect size to use on your desk as a smart speakerphone-cum-intercom.
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