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Amazon’s $50 Echo Dot promises same functionality at a fraction of the size

Lulu Chang
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amazon echo dot white lifestyle
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Alexa is infiltrating your house — one room at a time. Now that Amazon has released its latest version of the Echo Dot, you can bring the online retailer’s AI assistant into any room in your house — all for $50. Who needs the full-size Echo when you can get all the same functionality at a fraction of the size, and more importantly, of the cost?

The brand new Echo Dot promises hands-free voice control of just about everything in your smart home. You can play music, turn on the lights, keep up to date on the latest news, set alarms, and more. Because the Echo Dot is powered by Alexa, you will have a robotic friend to talk to in every room. And of course, you will also have access to more than 3,000 of Alexa’s skills.

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“With the same high-quality array of seven microphones found in Echo, the all-new Echo Dot can hear you from across the room, even when it’s noisy or music is playing,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, in a statement. “And, at under $50, it is easier than ever to add Echo and Alexa to any or every room in your home.”

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The new design of the Echo Dot is meant to integrate the smart hub seamlessly into any part of your home, “designed to disappear into any room in a house.” Available in either black or white, the Dot has boundless options when it comes to functionality. In your bedroom, you can use it as a smart alarm clock capable of turning on or off your lights. Use it in your kitchen to set timers, ask for recipes or shop for ingredients using nothing more than your voice.

While it is smaller than the Echo, the Dot features the same array of seven microphones found in its larger counterpart and boasts “a more powerful speech processor, which delivers improved far-field speech recognition accuracy.” The more your make use of your new Dot, the smarter it — and Alexa —  becomes.

Available in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, a single Echo Dot will set you back $50, or you can buy five and get one free. Alternatively, if you buy 10, you will receive an extra two Dots at no additional cost, so your mansion is covered.

“Millions of customers love Alexa, and we’re thrilled to introduce her to the U.K. and Germany,” Senior Vice President Amazon Devices and Services Dave Limp said. “We’re also excited to expand the Alexa Skills Kit and the Alexa Voice Service, so developers and hardware makers around the world can create Alexa experiences for U.K. and German customers.”

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Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
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