Difference Echo Dot 3 Et 4

Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen vs 4th Gen: What should you purchase?

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The Amazon Repeat Dot has been one of the about popular smart speakers, because, well, it's cheap. Amazon typically sells the Repeat Dot for less than $50, and often bundles it with some other smart home device, such as a smart light bulb or video doorbell, making it all the more than affordable to acquire one of the best Alexa speakers.

At the moment, Amazon is selling ii versions of the Echo Dot: The Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen), and the Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen). Both are two of the best smart speakers, but have unlike capabilities and different prices. In this guide, nosotros'll compare the Amazon Echo Dot 3 vs. 4 to help y'all decide which y'all prefer.

Amazon Echo Dot iii vs. 4: Specs

	Echo Dot (Gen 3)	Repeat Dot (Gen 4)	Echo Dot with Clock (Gen 4)
Cost	$34.99	$49.99	$59.99
Year Released	2018	2020	2020
Size	3.ix (dia) ten 1.7 inches	iii.9 (dia) x three.five inches	3.9 (dia) x 3.5 inches
Color options	Charcoal	Charcoal, white, blueish	White, bluish
Speaker	i.six-inch	one.6-inch	ane.half dozen-inch
Ports	three.5mm audio	3.5mm sound	3.5mm sound
Brandish	No	No	Aye

Amazon Echo Dot 3 vs. iv: Price

Whichever Echo Dot you choose, yous're not going to pay a heckuva lot. The third-generation Echo Dot typically sells for around $35. The 4th-generation Repeat Dot is listed at $l, but is unremarkably nigh $x more than the tertiary-generation model.

The 4th-generation Echo Dot with Clock — which has a small LCD display that shows the time — is near $ten more than than the version without a clock.

Yet, some of the best Amazon deals oft bring big discounts to the Echo Dot lineup, and so you can usually find them for much less than their list cost.

For Amazon Prime Twenty-four hours (July 12 and thirteen, 2022), both models of the Echo Dot are being slashed fifty-fifty more:

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen): was $39.99, now $17.99 (opens in new tab)
Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen): was $49.99, now $nineteen.99 (opens in new tab)
Amazon Echo Dot with Clock: was $59.99, now $32.99 (opens in new tab)
Amazon Echo Dot Kids: was $59.99 now $24.99 (opens in new tab)

Amazon Echo Dot 3 vs. 4: Design

The 3rd-generation Echo Dot has roughly the aforementioned hockey puck shape as the start ii generations; notwithstanding, it has fabric wrapping around its sides, and has a slightly curved summit, where you can find its control buttons and a circular LED band.

The fourth-generation Echo Dot has a completely different shape; like the larger Amazon Repeat (4th Gen,) the newest Repeat Dot is spherical, and looks similar a Magic 8-Ball that'southward sitting on its apartment side. The majority of the Echo Dot is wrapped in the same material equally the 3rd-generation Repeat Dot, but the rear of the device, where you plug in the ability, is hard plastic. It's non equally elegant as the Apple HomePod Mini, just information technology's a squeamish expect.

Four buttons on the height allow you control the Echo Dot, but in this model, the LED status ring has been moved to the bottom. Check out our guide to decoding Alexa'due south flashing lights if you've ever unsure what the current LED color means.

The Echo Dot with Clock, as you might imagine, looks the same equally the 4th-gen Repeat Dot, just in the middle of the face is a pocket-size LCD brandish that shines through the textile, showing the time. Amazon in one case made an Echo Dot with Clock shaped like the third-gen model, only now the spherical version is the only "with Clock" Repeat speaker available.

Amazon Echo Dot 3 vs. 4: Sound quality

Both versions of the Repeat Dot have a single i.half-dozen-inch speaker. In our tests, we really didn't hear much of a difference between the ii; the 4th-gen model had a scrap more bass, owing to the larger size of the device. Both are best when you want a little background music, or to mind to news or podcasts. However, neither can hold a candle to larger smart speakers like the Sonos I, HomePod Mini, Google Nest Audio, or even the full-size Amazon Echo.

If you know how to employ Alexa, yous'll be able to stream all kinds of audio using your speaker, from music and meditations to podcasts and audiobooks. See how to play Spotify on Alexa and how to Utilize Multi-Room Music with the Echo Dot for making the most of the speaker.

Amazon Echo Dot three vs. four: Which should y'all choose?

Unless you really like the design or color options of the 4th-generation Echo Dot, in that location's fiddling reason non to choose the 3rd-generation Echo Dot. It's $10 less expensive, is virtually as adept when it comes to sound quality, and gives y'all access to all the best Alexa skills and Alexa tricks just the same as the newer model.

Plus, the more than compact shape of the 3rd-generation Repeat Dot makes it easier to place in tighter spaces, and companies have made a number of accessories that let you lot mount information technology on a wall or next to an outlet.

All the same, nosotros do think the Amazon Repeat Dot with Clock is worth the extra dough; having a small clock that tin can show you the fourth dimension and temperature and be used every bit a timer is incredibly useful. That's why is the one of the best smart home devices nosotros recommend — period.

For more than advice on raising your home'southward IQ, be certain to bank check out our smart home guide. That fashion, yous can run into everything your new Echo Dot, 3rd- or 4th-gen, can piece of work with.

Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Principal for Tom's Guide. He oversees all evergreen content as well equally the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories, only also tests out the latest standing desks, webcams, drones, and electric scooters. He has worked at Tom'due south Guide for many a year; before that, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Mag, a reporter at Fast Company, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. When he's non testing out the latest running sentry, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he's probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the please or chagrin of his family.