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Jefferson Graham, of USA Today, suggests tips on the best way to shop from Amazon's home assistant, Alexa.
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI

LOS ANGELES – With seven different choices in his Amazon Echo family, consumers are naturally confused as to which smart speaker, if any, to buy.

The entry-level point is the most affordable and Amazon's best seller, but has the worst sound. The video versions of Echo have not yet worked, but cost about the same price as the classic and complete Echo. What to do?

USA TODAY HUI is here to help, with a guide for each of the seven speakers, the pros and cons of each, and a summary at the end. Monday / Tuesday Prime Day sale of Amazon should have the best deals on Amazon's own products, with particularly good discounts on Echo speakers.

With a smart speaker, you can use your voice and word commands "wake" "Alexa" to do a lot of different things. It's mostly about music or podcasts, weather reports, morning news, recipes and control of your smart home.

For more information: Is Amazon Prime Day sales a good deal? We asked 4 pricing companies to find out

To learn more: Shopping with Alexa on Amazon Prime Day will be difficult.

For more: These stores have incredible sales to compete with Amazon Prime Day

Your Guide to Echo Speakers

Echo

The second-generation Echo speaker is wider than the original Echo line. (Photo: Amazon)

Pre-Prime Day Price: $ 99.99

Pro. Amazon has improved the sound emanating from the Echo in its second generation, compared with the original Echo since dropped. It has a nice fabric design, supports Bluetooth streaming and has a standard audio jack.

Con. The sound is better than before but still just ok. There are better sound speakers there.

Echo Plus

Pre-Prime Day Price: $ 149.99

Pro. Aimed at those who want to use the control unit of your home automation. It comes with a Philips Hue smart bulb free.

Con. The smart home controls can improve. The cylindrical speaker is not as attractive as the last regular echo.

Echo Dot

Pre-Prime Price day: $ 49.99

Pro. Compact and cheap (and often at a reduced price). The small size makes them easy to place anywhere, including on night tables. Audio socket Bluetooth support.

Con. Poor sound quality for listening to music.

Echo Dot Kids Edition

Pre-Prime Day Price: $ 79.99

Pro. The Kid version of the Dot comes with a red, green or blue protective case and a free one year subscription to FreeTime Unlimited from Amazon with protected content centered on the. ;child. Strong parental controls. Alexa answers questions from young people.

Con. Critics worry about commercial offers for children and confidentiality issues. Dear

To find out more: Children were rude with Alexa, so Amazon updated it

Echo Show

Pre-Prime Day Price: $ 129.99

Pro. The first echo with a display can display a range of video content, movie trailers, news, lyrics and a view of your security camera. And you can make video calls "drop-in". The price has already been sharply reduced by $ 100

Con. Amazon-Google bicker means no YouTube on Echo Show and that means not a lot of video content to watch.

Echo Spot

Pre-Prime Day Price: $ 129.99

Pro. The size of Alarm Clock is like a cross between the Dot and the Show, which gives the second Echo with a screen. You can use View for home calls or for the same content as the slideshow.

Con. The screen is small. Problems of formatting on some videos

Amazon Tap

Pre-Prime Price day: $ 84.99

Pro. The portable and battery powered Bluetooth speaker lets you take Alexa on the go. The price is already reduced. Now the voice is on, which means that, like the Echo devices, it will respond to the "Alexa" wake-up message.

Con. Middling quality of the speaker. Requires Wi-Fi, which is not always available when you go out.

Our Choices

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The Echo was the first but there is a bunch of Amazon powered Amazon products among which choose days. So which one is the best for you? Watch the video!
Reviewed.com – Mike Roorda, Jackson Ruckar

Best general classification:

Jefferson Graham: Echo. The speaker who started everything is always the best. And the differences in sound between the small dot and the biggest echo are too big to skimp. However, our overall choice for a smart speaker is not at all an Amazon product, so you are ready to spend a little more money.

Ed Baig : Dot. This is the cheapest and even with the lower sound, you can improve it considerably by using Bluetooth and transmitting it to a better speaker. With the Dot, you can still enjoy almost all Alexa skills.

Best connected global speaker : Sonos One. For about $ 100 more, you get a smart speaker with a more powerful hi-fi than on one of the smaller Amazon or Google units. And if you listen to music every day, it is money well spent. It's a more versatile speaker with better sound than any of the Echo speakers. It will allow you to play, for example, music from Apple's subscription service, which no Echo can do, while offering the same full functionality of Alexa.

Amazon or Google? Amazon dominates the connected speaker market, with Google catching up on its Google Home speaker. The advantage of Google is smart – it can answer anecdotes, calculate percentages and more with more precision than Alexa. And its speakers usually cost less than those in Amazon. However, we (Graham and Baig) give the green light to Amazon. He built the smart speaker market from scratch and made it a cornerstone of everything they do.

For more information: How to Choose the Best Intelligent Lecturer for You: Buying Guide

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