page_title: Amazon Echo
section_title: Echo Dot
hierarchical_section_title: Amazon Echo / Variants / Echo / Echo Dot
caption_attribution_description: English: The black Amazon Echo Dot (second generation) sitting idle on a wood surface.
context_page_description: Amazon Echo is a brand of smart speakers developed by Amazon. Echo devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service Alexa, which will respond when you say "Alexa". Users may change this wake word to "Amazon", "Echo" or "Computer". The features of the device include: voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, and playing audiobooks, in addition to providing weather, traffic and other real-time information. It can also control several smart devices, acting as a home automation hub. The smart speaker needs to use Wi-Fi to connect to Internet, there is no Ethernet port.
  According to confirmed reports, Amazon started developing Echo devices inside its Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and in Cambridge, Massachusetts as early as 2010. The device represented one of first attempts to expand its device portfolio beyond the Kindle e-reader. The Echo featured prominently in Amazon's first-ever Super Bowl broadcast television advertisement in 2016.
  Amazon initially limited the first-generation Echo to Amazon Prime members or by invitation, but it became widely available in the United States on June 23, 2015.
context_section_description: In March 2016, Amazon unveiled the original Amazon Echo Dot, which is a hockey puck-sized version of the Echo designed to be connected to external speakers due to the smaller size of the onboard speakers, or to be used in rooms such as the bedroom as an alternative to the full-sized Echo. Beyond these distinctions, the Amazon Echo Dot possesses the same functions as the original Amazon Echo.
  External third-party portable batteries are available for the Dot.
  The second generation of the Amazon Echo Dot became available on October 20, 2016. It is priced lower, has improved voice recognition, and is available in black, grey and  white. The Echo Spatial Perception (ESP) technology allows several Echo and Dot units to work together so that only one device answers the request. As of November 2017, the Echo Dot maintained a 78% score on GearCaliber, based on 23 reviews.
  On August 18, 2017, an Amazon promotion allowed Amazon Prime customers to receive a 100% price reduction on the Echo Dot (from $49.99 to $0.00). Amazon never commented on the promotion or gave any indication of how many Dots were given away.
  In September 2018, an updated Echo Dot (3rd gen) was unveiled with a fabric covering, similar to the second-generation Echo. Similarly, in October 2019 the 4th generation dot was released.
  In January 2019, Amazon's SVP of devices and services, Dave Limp, revealed that over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices had been sold. The company's earnings reports and press releases also reveal that the Echo Dot has been among the top-selling products on Amazon.com for 2017 and 2018.
caption: The black Amazon Echo Dot (second generation) sitting idle on a wood surface
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