Amazon Echo 3rd Gen, We Review The Big New Echo

Amazon continues to launch its devices, we already told you at the time about the novelties that the North American firm had prepared and that arrived in Europe at the end of last October. We've had the 3rd Gen Amazon Echo for a while now and we've been testing it, as always, so we can tell you about our experience with this popular new product. So that, stay with us and discover what is new about this new 3rd generation Amazon Echo and what it can do, We will tell you about our experience in which there will be no lack of references to the most outstanding points, but of course also to its weakest points.

Design and materials: Very new, very Echo

The first thing you are going to notice undoubtedly is that this Amazon Echo 3rd Gen It has grown, we are 148 millimeters high by 99 millimeters in diameter. The total weight is just under a kilogram for a speaker that sounds quite loud. And it is that in essence it has inherited the architecture of its "older brother" the previous Amazon Echo Plus, so the logic is overwhelming, to sound so good and so strong it had to be bigger.

• Size: 148 x 99 mm
• Weight: 780 grams

We continue with a cylindrical design covered in nylon, in the upper part we have the controls in white or black depending on the color we choose for the device. We have seven openings for the microphones, a hoop-shaped status LED and four buttons: Invoke Alexa; Volume +; Volume - and mute the microphone. For the base we have a silicone coating that makes it not slip or shake too much at high volumes. The design is successful, classic in the Echo range and quite minimalist, it looks good in almost any room. It is in the back where we have the current input port and the audio output.

Technical characteristics

As we have told you before, in essence this Amazon Echo 3rd Gen It is still the Amazon Echo Plus of the previous generation, but cheaper if possible. We met with a 76mm woofer and a 20mm tweeter, It must be said that Amazon does not give exact references about the power, but it is more than enough, I can assure you. To function, take advantage Dual band WiFi, i.e. both 2,4 GHz and 5 GHz depending on our needs.

We also have Bluetooth with A2DP and AVRCP profiles and a shot of Jack 3,5mm in case we want to accompany it with other "non-intelligent" speakers. This 3rd generation Amazon Echo has something that the previous one did not have, it does not include Zigbee support (the Plus does), that is, it cannot function as a source of accessories for the rest of our smart and Alexa-compatible devices, this is truly fantastic and from my point of view the main negative point that I found with the previous second generation Amazon Echo, which was the first to reach the points of sale in Spain. Therefore, this Amazon Echo is indeed very similar to the Echo Plus.

Differences Echo 2nd generation and Echo 3rd generation

Although the 3rd Gen Echo is the evolution of the previous standard Echo, it actually has something more to do with the Echo Plus than this older version. And it is not only bigger, but it sounds much louder, this is because it has much larger speakers. On the other hand we we find that the Amazon Echo 3rd Gen has seven microphones, as counted by the previous second-generation Amazon Echo. It also coincides that both have 3,5mm Jack.

As for the speakers, we have 70mm of subwoofer and 20mm of tweeter in the 3rd generation Amazon Echo, however in the second generation we have 63mm of subwoofer and 16mm of tweeter. Another example is that the 2nd generation Amazon Echo weighs 821 grams, which is more than the 3rd generation Amazon Echo weighs, which stays at 780 grams, curiously it is larger, but weighs less. These are basically the main differences, which are quite a few. And is that the Amazon Echo 3rd generation has maintained the price of the previous version that we had.

User Experience

Definitely this Amazon Echo 3rd generation is an important evolution such as has not happened before in this product. It is true that in terms of size it has grown, but it is still compact enough to look good practically anywhere. In terms of sound, however, the increase has been quite interesting, it is heard not only louder but clearer (it goes without saying that it has compatibility with Dolby Audio). This 3rd generation Amazon Echo is a sufficient and spare companion for a room and even for the living room if what we are looking for is to play music.

Regarding setup and syncing with Spotify Connect we found that it works as well as its predecessor and the rest of the devices in the range. Honestly in terms of value for money I find it the most interesting of all devices, although I do not know why Amazon does not include the relevant Zigbee device in this 3rd generation Amazon Echo and thus be able to take advantage of more devices in just one, I don't quite understand it but hey, I can understand that it is the mechanism that Amazon uses to be able to sell more Echo Plus.

Editor's opinion

Definitely the 3rd generation Amazon Echo is postulated for between 65 and 100 euros (depending on specific offers) as the most interesting product in the value for money of those available in the Amazon catalog, it sounds quite strong, it is quite compact and has an immense amount of possibilities when configuring it and add the relevant skills. Remember that you can buy it now in five colors: Red, black, gray, blue and white. This choice of colors was not present before and gives a more lively pop of color, a successful move.