The new Echo Dot is the best compact smart speaker on the market by a wide margin.

Impressive full sound quality; Inexpensive introduction to smart home control; Alexa smarter than ever; Improved aesthetic befitting modern home design; Better microphone sensitivity

Fabric covering could show dirt over time; New power port is less universal

For not a lot of money you get a whole load of smart voice functionality and decent sound The new Echo Dot is the easiest, cheapest and best way to bring Alexa into your home. It works well on its own or can be nicely integrated into myriad other smart home and AV products, bringing voice control...

Clear; solid sound; Improved Alexa capabilities; Budget price

Alexa intelligence is limited

The Black Fridays Deals started earlier than ever in the UK. I opened the Amazon.co.uk to see what's going on – online window shopping for the things I can't afford is a guilty pleasure of mine. I noticed Amazon Echo devices on sale.

For smart home control and filling your home with Alexa devices, the Echo Dot has always been a popular choice. The old versions had two main problems: they were a little ugly, and a little quiet.

Clear and loud audio; 3.5mm and Bluetooth audio outputs; Same price as old model; Improved design

No longer USB-powered; Not ideal for music

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) review : Both Google and Amazon have been trying to convince consumers to spend on a smart speaker, a device which can play music, control lights and appliances and serves as a home assistant.

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) review: The new Echo Dot offers a lot of genuine improvements: superior sound quality, premium looks, and bet...

With a nicer design and vastly improved audio, the third-generation Echo Dot is Amazon's best, cheapest speaker yet.

Inexpensive; Nice design; Vastly improved audio

Can't change its look

The latest smart speaker comes with improved design language, better sound output and all the goodness of Amazo...

Design; Sound output; Price

Heavy power adapter; Fabric gets dirty

Cool little gadget. Does the job as advertised. Setting up the skills is easy - but finding the right one can be a mission. But this is not a fault of the unit. Works well and also looks pleasing on the eye with the fabric outer.

Wouldn't connect to WiFi no matter how many different things I tried. Tried to find out on YouTube and there's 100s of people with the same problem. The one stair was for prompt delivery and reasonably east refund. Product just would not work. Was raging cause they do look good WHEN THEY WORK!!