Surprise Amazon sale sees Echo speaker hit radically low price
Amazon sells almost everything, including its own hardware, and the firm's Echo smart speakers are among its most popular and most affordable. Several different models are available but all of them promise the same thing - a small mains-powered speaker for the home that responds to voice commands and queries to play music, tell you the weather, turn off the lights or answer a question.
The smallest of these Alexa-powered speakers is the Echo Pop, and Amazon has slashed £20 off the asking price, currently selling the dinky digital device for just £24.99.
That’s a much more palatable price if you are buying your first smart speaker and don’t want to break the bank to see if it’s up your street. You set up the Echo using the Alexa app on your iPhone or Android device, and within minutes it’s ready to go. It has access to services such as the BBC, so you can ask it to play Radio 2 and voila, it will.
You adjust the volume levels with your voice, but if you don’t like what’s on the Beeb, you can link it to your Spotify account (of course Amazon would prefer Amazon Music) and ask the clever gadget to play any of your favourite albums, songs or playlists. Given the Echo Pop’s diminutive design it doesn’t have world class audio, but it’ll do fine by your bedside or in the kitchen.
Of course, £24.99 is also not much to pay if you already have an Alexa army in your home and want to add an additional speaker to another room. These devices can be linked to play audio simultaneously to boost the audio levels, or can be instructed to move the audio from room to room as you move around the house.
This offer for 44 percent off the Echo Pop is listed as a “limited time deal” on Amazon, which means the retailer does not say how long the deal will last. It is creating a bit of urgency, so do think first before buying as just because this is a solid saving, it doesn’t mean it’s the product for you.
But if you are in the market for a smart speaker and don’t want to spend the earth, there aren’t many more affordable options out there.
For slightly beefier audio, the Echo Dot is on sale for £34.99, also with £20 off its RRP. It has most of the same features as the Pop but adds better sound quality and a temperature sensor for monitoring your home’s heat.
Neither the Pop nor the Dot have a display, but if you want one, the Echo Spot is for you. Discounted by £25 down to £54.99, the device is sold as a “smart alarm clock” thanks to the screen that shows the time and other information such as the weather. When playing music it can display album art, plus makes it clearer when controlling smart home lights and other tech.
Daily Express
