Computer Shopper - UK (2020-10)

38 OCTOBER2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE392

BYANYMETRIC,it’sclearthatAmazon’s

Echoseriesofsmartspeakersisdoingwell

–fromsimplesalesnumberstoAlexa’sentry

intopopcultureandthesheernumberof

spin-offEchodevices.There’sthedisplay-

equipped Echo Show,the tiny Echo Dot

series, the alarm clock-like Echo Spot, and

even adedicated subwooferinthe Echo Sub.

Forall this variety,each new productinthe

Echo family has generallybeen asensible

addition that brings something newtothe

table, or at least introduces Alexa to anew

form factor.The Echo Flex is the firstthat

makes us wonder if Amazon has gone toofar:

it’s notastylishspeaker that could sit neatly

on ashelf,oranall-in one smart displayfor

your kitchen. It’s awall plug, and noteven a

particularlyinteresting-looking one at that.

PLUGAND SAY

The concept is understandable enough.

Plug the Echo Flex intoapoweroutlet, and

you have another point in your house

whereAlexa is listeninginand ready to react.

It can answer questions, tell you about your

calendar forthe day, give youaweather

forecast andcontrol smart home devices,

just like anyotherEchosmart speaker.

On the plugitself there are onlytwo

buttons: one that cuts the microphone for

privacy,and anotherfor getting Alexa’s

attention without saying thewake word.

Volume,therefore,can only be controlled by

voice commands, anditdoesn’tgothathigh.

It does everything anyother Echo speaker

can do,but withsignificantly weaker sound

quality,thankstoits tiny 0.6in minispeaker.

Granted, musicplaybackisnoworse than it

was on the 2nd-genEcho Dot,but the 3rd-gen

modelonwardsdrastically improved audio

quality,sothe Flex still represents aregression.

It’s fine forvoice commands,withsound

quality similar to old clockradios but anything

more advancedwill require an upgrade.

Fortunately,aswithother Echo devices, it

also has a3.5mm audio-out jack, so that poor

soundquality is fixable by connectingitto

another speaker,although doingsowilltake

up anotherplug socket, which kind of takes

AMAZON EchoFlex

★★★★★

£25•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

It’s one of the weirder Echo devices, but this

smart speaker-meets-wall plug can be more

useful than it looks

SMARTSPEAKER

awaythe pointofitsconvenientform factor.

Indeed, at that point, youmight as welljust

buy an Echo Input.

TheFlex also supportsaudio over

Bluetooth,although we couldonlyget this

working via the Alexa app.Trying to setitup

via theusual methodsofsaying‘Alexa,

connect Bluetooth’resulted in it instantly

replying there wasnothing available to

connect, clearly without checking.

NEWTOYS

At the bottom of the plug is aUSB2 port,

meaning theEchoFlexcan double up as a

charger foryour phoneortablet, which is

smart. Butwhat’seven smarteristhat

Amazon hasits ownadd-onsthat can

transform the Echo Flexintosomething

much more useful.Both the multicolour

night light and the motion sensor attach

neatly to the bottom of theplug, offering

extra functionalityaspart of asmart home.

We weren’t senteitherofthesefor review,

but it’sanideathat makesthe Echo Flex

considerably moreappealing.

Thekey question is,however, whether the

EchoFlexisworth the money. It’snot hugely

expensive,costing £25while the night light

and motion sensor add-onscost £15 each.

As perusual with Echoproducts, the Flex’s

maincompetition is other Echo devices. The

mostobvious oneisthe Echo Input, which

sells for£35 and can add Alexa support to a

non-smartspeaker youalready own. The Echo

Dot with Clock, which is based on the 3rd-gen

Echo Dot, is afar bettercompact standalone

speaker that normally sells for£50 butis

frequently discounted.

Google’s rivaltothe Echo Dot, theGoogle

Nest Mini,also costs £50 butgets the same

level of frequentdiscounts. Sound quality is

weakerand there’snoaudio-out jack to

improveit, but Google Assistant is usually

better at parsing andresponding to voice

commands andqueries.

SOCKET SCIENTIST

The Echo Flex is astrangeproduct with weak

audioquality but, given it outputssound to

otherdevicesvia an audio jack or Bluetooth,

you could consider thisanalternativetothe

Echo Dot–morespecifically,for those who

are more interested in smartfunctionality

than playingmusic. It hasamorecompact

form factor and it’s gotsomeniftyparty tricks

if youalsoget themotion sensor add-on.You

couldplug it in by thefront door andget it to

welcome you homebyhitting thelights and

playingyourfavouritemusic, forexample.

That won’t appeal to everyone,but if you’re

the kindofpersonwhose mind just litupwith

possibilities,thenmaybe Amazon hasn’tbeen

as over-ambitious as we first thought.

AlanMartin

DRIVERS (^1) • RMSPOWER OUTPUTNotstated•WIRELESS
802.11acWi-Fi,Bluetooth•DIMENSIONS72x67x52mm•
DISPLAYNone•WEIGHT150g•WARRANTYOneyearRTB

• DETAILSwww.amazon.co.uk•PART CODEEchoFlex

SPECIFICATIONS

It does everything anyother Echo speaker can do,but

with significantly weaker sound quality