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Amazon’s new Echo Dot and Echo Plus come with more style than before

Amazon’s new Echo Dot and Echo Plus come with more style than before

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A new, fabric design and better sound comes to the other members of the Echo lineup

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Amazon has just announced an update to its most popular Echo speaker, the Echo Dot, along with its larger Echo Plus model that it had introduced last year.

The new Echo Dot, which follows the version released in fall 2016, has an updated design with softer edges and fabric covers. It doesn’t look hugely different than the other hockey puck-sized smart speaker, Google’s Home Mini.

Functionally, the new Echo Dot has the same four-button control layout as the current model, though instead of a seven-microphone array, it makes do with just four microphones. We’ll have to see how well it’s able to pick up voice commands, but since other products have worked surprisingly well with just two mics, it shouldn’t be that much of a concern.

Photo: Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Amazon says the sound quality of the Dot has been improved, which is a good thing because audio from the outgoing model resembles a can of bees. Since listening to music is the number one use for smart speakers, improved audio quality should be appreciated across the board. According to Amazon, the updated Dot is also 70 percent louder, too.

The Echo Dot has been exceptionally popular, thanks to its low price and ease of setup, and it has brought Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa into millions of homes. So it’s no surprise that the company is iterating and updating the product, which is the most common way to access Alexa.

Photo: Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Like the update Dot, the new Echo Plus borrows from the same, fabric-covered design as last year’s updated Echo, and offers more powerful bass and clearer sound. It looks a lot like the Echo, although with a more bulbous, rounded top and bottom.

The Echo Plus still offers a smart home hub built in, making it an easy way to get started with a smart home setup. Also new this year is an integrated temperature sensor, which you’ll be able to use to ask Alexa what the temperature in the room is, or as part of a routine — for example, automatically turning on a fan if it gets too hot.

Both updated Echos will still cost the same: the Echo Dot for $49.99, and the Echo Plus for $149.99. Both will be available next month in every country where Alexa is available, with preorders available today.