VERDICT Better, louder audio with the same great design – the latest version of Amazon’s dinky speaker is another winner.
AMAZON HAS LONG been cheerfully ignoring the old maxim of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The original Kindle still works perfectly well, but Amazon has honed the e-reader format into both the first and last words in the industry. And that’s what it’s doing now with the compact smart speaker, one device at a time.
Equally, the Echo Dot didn’t really need fixing, but Amazon did it anyway – twice now, in fact. This is the only Echo device to be on its third iteration, and the newest Echo Dot is a masterclass in making everything better without a price hike.
The Echo Dot costs £50 – the same as its predecessor – and that means that in terms of competition, there’s only one game in town: the Google Home Mini. This, however, lacks an audio output jack, unlike the Echo Dot, which has a 3.5mm auxiliary output. As a result, it’s in the peculiar position of being both Amazon’s entry-level smart speaker and a device that can connect to any other sound system, whether it costs £100 or £10,000.
SMALL TIME
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Denne historien er fra August 2019-utgaven av Computer Shopper.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
XIAOMI Mi Mix 3 5G
VERDICT This is the most affordable of the first 5G smartphones, but even with great hardware, the service isn’t yet worth the expense
RHA T20 Wireless
VERDICT They’re not cheap, but these well-designed earphones deliver superb sound quality
Protect And Preserve
Data might be A Valuable Commodity, But It’s Remarkably Easy To Lose Or For Others To Get Their Hands On. Mike Bedford Provides Guidance On How To Preserve, Recover And Destroy Data, And Looks At The Technologies Involved
NZXT H510i
VERDICT Some qualities shine through, but this is an underwhelming case from a maker we know can do better
Kicking Off A New Era Of Football?
With the new football season well and truly under way, David Crookes talks to Jon Hare about reviving the spirit of Sensible Soccer with a new, more sociable offering that he hopes will avoid an own goal
NAIM Mu-so 2
VERDICT A luxurious and fine-sounding slab of metal, but for most homes it won’t be worth the expense
Motorola One Vision
VERDICT The One Vision comes close to being a brilliant mishmash of tech – shame about the camera
JBL Xtreme 2
VERDICT With top-quality sound and a versatile design, this is a great – if expensive – rugged Bluetooth speaker
HUAWEI MateBook 13
VERDICT What the MateBook 13 lacks in flourish, it makes up for in value and performance
GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Master
VERDICT A loaded and forward-thinking motherboard, but not one that fully justifies its high price
