This is one of the early generation Echo Dots. As a result, it does not look as fancy and the speakers are not quite as good as those in the newer Dots. For example, if you play music through it, it can be a bit tinny when compared to the larger Echo units. But, if you are listening to talk radio, news stations, or things like that, it sounds perfectly fine. This has all of the functionality of the other Echo devices (aside from the Echo Show), and Amazon continues to release updates that allow them to do more and more. I generally use them to set reminders, play music, or use the intercom functionality (the drop-in feature). For music, it works well. The drop-in feature can be spotty. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it can sound like the person on the other end is in a tunnel, and will sometimes not shut off unless you tell it to stop multiple times. It also has issues with understanding some commands. For example, if you ask what the temperature is outside it generally will give you what you want. But, if you ask it to tell you the five-day forecast (or whether forecast or weather for the next five days), it will often come back with the "hmm...I don't know that one" response. Then if you ask it slightly differently it will say "here is the weather for the next five days" and give you the forecast. And, it is still not great with recognizing a real person's voice versus responding to the TV, even if you train it to your own voice.
Obviously, you have to consider whether you want an electronic device constantly listening to you. You can turn the microphone off so it cannot listen all the time, and you can go into the app and delete the recorded interactions. More and more it gives you features that can aid you in getting help, which is good if you live alone or have an aging parent or parents that live alone. These are fairly easy to set up if you are at least fairly tech-savvy. You do have to download the Alexa app and use that to set the dot up, but once it is set up you do not have to do much reconfiguring. Basically, if you can set up a wireless printer you can set this up. One thing I have found is that, if it loses connection to the internet, it is much easier to just unplug it for a few seconds and plug it back in than it is to go through the app and go through that process to get it reconnected to Wi-Fi.
Obviously, you have to consider whether you want an electronic device constantly listening to you. You can turn the microphone off so it cannot listen all the time, and you can go into the app and delete the recorded interactions. More and more it gives you features that can aid you in getting help, which is good if you live alone or have an aging parent or parents that live alone. These are fairly easy to set up if you are at least fairly tech-savvy. You do have to download the Alexa app and use that to set the dot up, but once it is set up you do not have to do much reconfiguring. Basically, if you can set up a wireless printer you can set this up. One thing I have found is that, if it loses connection to the internet, it is much easier to just unplug it for a few seconds and plug it back in than it is to go through the app and go through that process to get it reconnected to Wi-Fi.
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