Smart Displays / Amazon
Amazon Echo Spot (2024 release)
A bedside Alexa clock with no camera — and almost no smart-home hub either.
Overall score 5.2/10
Pros
- + The only Alexa display with no camera in it at all — the honest answer for a bedroom
- + 240 x 320 half-circle screen is dim enough at night not to light the room
- + Cheapest way into a screen-equipped Echo at $79.99
- + Physical mic-off button, and nothing to un-shutter
Cons
- − Matter over Wi-Fi only — no Zigbee and no Thread border router, so it hubs almost nothing
- − One 1.73-inch driver: this is a voice speaker with a clock on it, not a music speaker
- − 240 x 320 is too coarse for recipes, video or camera feeds
- − Sponsored content on the clock face cannot be disabled, per Amazon's own help documentation
- − Alexa+ — the whole reason the 2026 Echo line exists — costs Prime or $19.99/mo on this hardware
Amazon Echo Spot (2024 release) review: what the specs say
A bedside Alexa clock with no camera — and almost no smart-home hub either. At $79.99, Amazon's 2024 model sits among the cheapest we cover — the smart Displays we compare run from $79.99 to $399.99. It scores 5.2/10 overall, calculated from published specifications across 8 categories rather than from a subjective impression.
Its strongest showing is Privacy Hardware at 8.5/10 — physical camera shutters, hardware mic cut-offs and how much sensing runs by default. The weakest is Smart Home Hub at 3.0/10, which is the trade-off to weigh before buying: if that is the specification you care about most, one of the alternatives below will serve you better.
Worth knowing before you buy: matter over Wi-Fi only — no Zigbee and no Thread border router, so it hubs almost nothing; and one 1.73-inch driver: this is a voice speaker with a clock on it, not a music speaker. Every specification on this page comes from Amazon's own documentation or a verified retail listing — where a figure is not published, the table says so rather than estimating it.
Specifications and price last verified . Report an error
Full Specifications
| Voice Assistant | Alexa+ — Amazon's own FAQ states there is no free Alexa+ tier on Echo hardware: it needs Prime or a $19.99/mo Standard plan |
| Screen Size | 2.83 in |
| Resolution | 240 x 320 |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Camera | No camera |
| Physical Camera Shutter | No camera fitted, so no shutter; a physical microphone-off button is the only hardware privacy control |
| Speakers | One 1.73-inch full-range front-firing driver (mono) — the same driver size as the $49.99 Echo Dot |
| Smart Home Hub Radios | Matter over Wi-Fi only — no Zigbee radio and NOT a Thread border router |
| Subscriptions Required | Alexa+ requires Prime or $19.99/mo; music beyond the ad-supported Amazon Music tier needs its own subscription |
| Home-Screen Ads | Sponsored cards appear on the home screen; Amazon's own help page says these ads cannot be turned off, only swiped away |
| Video Calling | None — audio-only Alexa calling, Drop In and announcements |
| Wall Mountable | No |
| Connectivity | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (A2DP/AVRCP), Bluetooth Low Energy Mesh, Matter over Wi-Fi |
| Material | Fabric-wrapped body with half-circle tinted cover glass |
| Warranty | 12 months |
Compare Amazon Echo Spot (2024 release) With
Premium Alternative
Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen, 2023) — $89.99