Amazon Echo (3rd Generation) Review - The Best Smart Speaker Money Can Buy in 2020

It’s been a few years since the Smart Speaker game started to invade our homes on Earth.

And since then, they have continued to improve and evolve, and some have been redesigned.

But Amazon has been continuously pushing out some new cool Smart Devices lately, which was cool to look at.

And Amazon has them in all sizes and shapes, which any company could imagine in 2020.

And guess what, there is at least once Amazon device that fits you and your family.

So, its now time to put some hands on them and have a spin for some reviews.

In this review, we would be digging deep to find out what the Amazon Echo 3rd Gen is and all about it.

Build

Amazon Echo 3rd Gen is like all other Echo devices, connect with you via their Virtual Assistant “Alexa” the intelligent cloud-based voice service.

It allows you to play music, make calls, set alarms and timers, ask questions, and even check in to your calendar and get some news, whether traffic, sports, or learning about people.

And even add and manage your shopping lists and buy products online on Amazon and control your Smart Home Devices.

So the question is, what’s new with the Amazon Echo 3rd Gen cause it’s already passed two generations before.

Technically speaking, primarily, it’s the quality of the speakers.

It comes with new premium speakers powered by Dolby Play 360 Audio, and now you can also personalize your listening experience by having access to some equalizer settings on your App.

The Speaker quality on the Amazon Echo is pretty good. Maybe you are listening to some music, podcast, or any other audio source; whatever that is, the speaker sounds clear and has some pretty decent bass.

In terms of pricing, you get a lot for what you pay for at this price range.

But if you love the cool stereo sound feature, you can connect it with one of your other 2nd Gen Echo, a 3rd Gen Echo, or even with a 2nd Gen Echo Plus.

Unfortunately, unlike the Echo Plus, the 3Rd Gen Echo does not come with a built-in Smart Home Hub or a Temperature Sensor.

The Echo will respond to its name “Alexa” and you can then ask her whatever you need to do at the moment, and she will be happy to help you.

The built-in microphone is always listening for you to call for it and is keeping its lovely speaker to respond to you because you would not understand any Assembly language or any Python unless you are a tech-savvy coder.

And most importantly, it is connected to cloud storage to make sure it doesn’t run out of storage with all of the daily interactions you have with Alexa, and it also doesn’t need any updates downloaded to it.

Setting Up

Setting up an Amazon Echo device has always been pretty straightforward, but Amazon has made it even easier this time.

All you need to do is to download the Alexa App, Plug your Echo in to make sure you are not just talking to yourself multiple times until you get to realize that the Echo is plugged out. Once you plug it in, it will automatically greet you Alexa’s voice requesting you to go through the process of setting it up through the App for the first time when you plug it in to use it.

So, Next, open the App, and within 5 – 10 seconds, you should get a popup inside the App itself, which will prompt you to complete the setup.

And then you just basically login if not only register for an Amazon account and then connect it to your home’s Wifi network.

But, if you already own an Amazon device in your home, it will automatically detect and connect the new device to that same network for you.

Now, you might ask me how you can connect your Smart Home devices to the Echo?

But before that, one thing you should always make sure to do is to set up those devices from their Apps and make sure you have already gone through their setups, and they are all good to go.

Adding them to Alexa is super easy; you do that in the Alexa App.

You can click on the Add New Device button on the top right, or you can go to skills and games from the menu on the left-hand side, and then it’s a matter of time when you start to link those devices to Alexa inside the App and then signing in to all of your Smart Home accounts.

Most of the time, if you own a smart device from a specific brand and have set it up with Alexa, she is going to know you are going to set up a new device or adding something from that particular brand’s lineup because everything is interconnected in the Smart Device Ecosystem.

Inside the Alexa App, you can also organize things like rooms, group them under specific names, or even manage how your devices work together.

Features

One of the most competitive and cool features that come with Amazon’s Alexa Devices is using them as in-home intercoms between rooms, meaning you can speak with your phone to an echo device or from an Echo device to another Echo device.

You can make a call to someone in your contact list as well if you want to.

You can also have your Echo to show you some skills like playing some white noise or some soothing nature sounds and providing you with some details about some flights and delays and plenty more features.

You can surf the skill section of the App to find out the best options that will make you love your Alexa devices.

 One most useful feature is that you can ask Alexa to reorder what you have bought from Amazon previously.

But, to do that, you’ll have to ensure that you have turned on one-click payments on your Amazon account.

Another pretty useful security feature is that you can also add a four-digit PIN to prevent your funny little kiddos from ordering stuff on Amazon without your permission to make sure that they don’t empty your bank account making Mr.Bezos richer ;]

So, suppose you order something on Amazon via an Alexa device. In that case, she will search for the most popular product on that specific search topic and then ask you if you want that. If you say NO, she will continue suggesting to you the most popular products among other users on that specific search topic on the website.

So, should you buy the new 3rd Gen Echo by Amazon?

Well, overall, the 3rd Gen Echo is a pretty good and handy device to own if you love the Amazon ecosystem.

And most especially if you are a person who shops a lot on Amazon, to make sure you have a hands free shopping experience and use their technologies and devices to the fullest.

And it can control almost most of the smart home gadgets on the market right now.

And of course, when you get used to Alexa and when she starts learning more about your voice, you’re your requests; it becomes a better experience for you to interact with Alexa on a day to day basis.

But if you need a better sounding Amazon Echo device, you always have the option to choose from one of their other devices in the complete Echo lineup.

So, the Echo 3rd Gen is one of the most useful Smart Home gadgets on the market right now that you can add to your Smart Home Device ecosystem to have fun with and help you with, with your day to day life and works a lot better when paired with other Smart Home gadgets.