Echo Pop Compact Smart Speaker with Alexa (Latest Model) – Charcoal, Early Access, Room-Fitting Design

The Amazon Echo Pop was my first experience with an Alexa device, and I could kick myself for not buying 2 of these at the sale price of just under $23. At that price, these little smart speakers are well worth it. However, at the list price, you might do better to spend another $10 and go for the Echo Dot. Better still, if you can pick up an Echo Gen4 as certified refurbished, then that is quite a good deal at around $50.Prior to purchasing the Echo Pop, I installed the Alexa App on my iPhone, and during order time, I did the pre-configuration. Upon arrival, the setup was a breeze, and in a matter of just a few minutes I was greeted by a pleasant sounding female voice. The audio quality of this little speaker was amazing. I asked it a few questions, then said “Alexa, play Peaceful Current Radio.” It was a truly Hi-Fidelity experience, even though it was monophonic. On that station, a great deal of the music is solo acoustic, so stereo , 3D, or surround sound isn’t necessary to hear the clear and faithful reproduction of a piano, guitar, or cello. The bass from this speaker isn’t going to rattle the walls, but the little speaker was able to fill my master bedroom with beautiful music, that sounded like the instruments were in the same room.That should cover the good points about this smart device. I rarely give any product 5 stars, but if I could give it a rating of 4.5 I would, primarily because of what it can do at such a low sell price. There are some issues that you might want to consider if you are looking for a good Echo Device. It is far from perfect. Its smarts are at the low end, and a good Wi-Fi connection is needed if you want a fast response. It can’t function as a hub, so if you want to control various smart devices in your home, you will likely need an Echo Gen4 or better. It doesn’t have a 3.5 mm audio jack, so if you want to connect to headphones or external speakers, you will need to use Bluetooth. The Bluetooth connection can be tricky, but once you pair with speakers, it quickly disconnects and reconnects by just turning off the speakers and turning them back on. I also found out that after doing this several times, it began to experience streaming problems, and I had to unplug it and plug it back in to fix the problem.Bluetooth streaming seems to suffer a bit in fidelity. I paired it with some Logitech Bluetooth computer speakers, and even though it produced stereo sound, the frequency response was not as good, and the stereo separation was weak. Some of this was likely due to the Logitech speakers. They aren’t exactly the best computer speakers and I am not too fond of the passive radiator design that gives the base an unnatural sound.I tried a separate GT Bluetooth to 3.5 mm adaptor, which I connected to my retro audio system, and the sound quality was a little better, but I had to crank the volume knob up pretty high. When I connected the Bluetooth adaptor to wired headphones it sounded pretty good, so using Bluetooth headphones seems a good alternative listening method.One other issue is with the alarm level. I can’t seem to set it to a level that will override the music, and alert me that it’s time to take medications or walk the dog. It usually takes me awhile to realize that it is sounding a wake-up. It is loud enough when not playing music, but too low of a level when music is playing.Overall, it is a very good device, and its small size makes it easy to place in an out of the way location, such as in the kitchen or bathroom. It has great sounding audio that can fill a small room, but not quite good enough to fill a large family or living room. It really shines at playing relaxing music such as from an Internet radio station such as “Peaceful Current Radio,” or other similar music stations. However, for Rock- and Roll or party music, you will likely want something with a little more punch.Update:I just had to do a follow up to my previous review. I caught a sell and picked up another Echo Pop for just under $20. That means I acquired 2 of these for around $45 with tax. They make a great stereo pair. Two speakers are better than one. You get double the sound. This means a great improvement in the base response. With 2 drivers pushing the air, they do a better job. I just tweak the bass response 2 notches, and the treble 1 notch, and these rival the audio quality of my much larger and more expensive JBL studio monitor bookshelf speakers with a 100 watt per channel amplifier pushing them. Of course they can’t match the power, but 2 of these in a stereo pair can do a pretty good job in my 13 by 13 master bedroom with vaulted ceiling. I’m considering adding an Echo Sub hidden away under my bed.Alexa does a much better job at finding my favorite Internet radio stations as well. Siri keeps telling me she can’t find that in my Apple music library.I have a database of URLs to over 9000 radio stations. Alexa easily finds most of my favorites such as:Peaceful current RadioNew Standard WN...

I bought the Echo Pop with the Amazon Basics Smart Color Bulb, and I’m so glad I did! The setup was quick and easy — Alexa guided me through everything in minutes. The sound quality on the Echo Pop is great for its size, perfect for music, podcasts, or even white noise at night.The smart bulb is super fun — I love changing the colors and brightness just by asking Alexa or through the app. My daughter and I use it to set “mood lighting” while studying or relaxing, and it works flawlessly every time.Stylish, compact, and surprisingly powerful — this bundle is such a great deal for anyone starting or expanding their smart home setup! 💬💡🎵

The Echo Pop fits perfectly into our smart home setup — compact, great sound, and incredibly handy for everyday tasks and whole-home communication.Pros:Crisp sound for its size and great color optionsAnnouncement feature is perfect for getting everyone’s attentionAdding grocery items or reminders by voice makes life easierCons:Limited activation names can cause multiple devices to respond if spoken too loudlyWe already have several Alexa speakers throughout the house, and the new Echo Pop was a great addition for the kids’ rooms. The design is compact but stylish — the lavender and charcoal colors both look great. Setup was simple, and the integration with our existing devices was seamless.The announcement feature is one of our favorites; it makes calling the kids for dinner a breeze without yelling up the stairs. We also use Alexa to play music in each room or sync the entire house for a full-home sound experience, which works flawlessly. The ability to add items to our grocery list just by saying it out loud has practically replaced our old notepad.The only minor frustration is that there are only a few wake word options, and sometimes multiple devices activate if you speak too loudly. Still, for sound quality, convenience, and price, the Echo Pop is a fantastic addition to any smart home.Keywords: home automation, Alexa, speaker, Echo Pop, smart home

I love my Amazon Echo Pop! For such a small device, the sound quality is surprisingly clear and loud. It responds quickly to voice commands, and setup was super easy. It fits perfectly in smaller spaces and looks really cute on my shelf. Great for music, reminders, and controlling smart home devices. Definitely worth the buy!

The device itself is fantastic. Great sound, volume, the mic picks up commands from around the room without multiple devices answering at once. Response time is good, sometimes it will cut you off mid sentence because it thinks it knows what you want. Pretty sure it doesn't have a battery.Aside from that I would like to take a second to talk about Alexa itself. It isn't a great application. It seems to be a bunch of containerized apps jammed together with little to no active connectivity. It is almost like there is no backbone to the system and it is just a bunch of apps individually communicating with each other one by one. Even the echo devices have trouble interacting. I have this one and a normal Echo, the Echo pop is in my bedroom and is responsible for my morning alarm among other things. I was having issues with the music being too serine and it putting me back to sleep instead of waking up. I attempted to change the settings through the other Echo device only to be told no Alarm existed. I tried to get this Echo to realize the other Echo did have an alarm set for 6, it kept telling me no such alarm existed. As to not waste anymore time I instructed Alexa to create an alarm set for 6am and it responded that an alarm already existed... "Do you want to replace it?" Yes, replace the alarm with a new one. "Something went wrong" "Do you want me to replace it?" Yes. "Something went wrong" "Do you want me to replace it?" No. It was stuck in a loop. I decided to order the steps myself, Alexa, delete my alarm a 6am. "Alarm deleted" Alexa, create an alarm at 6am. "An alarm has been created for 6am". The functionality is there, it just cannot complete certain actions without individual direct commands. It's ability to perform multiple steps in a single command are lacking, this leads me to believe it's recognition and comprehension skills are non-existent. A similar thing happened when I tried to connect Alexa with my Spotify account. My phones OS is too old to connect via mobile app so I had to get the PC app (not easy to find) and after a lengthy conversation with Alexa it came out that the PC app did not have the functionality of the Mobile app. It doesn't make sense to have two separate apps for the same product. Regardless, I asked for a workaround and Alexa got stuck in another loop of giving me instructions to connect through the PC app only for me to have to correct her about the PC version not having the capabilities. I tried to change the wording but we kept going through the same dance. IT'S LIKE TALKING TO A GOLDFISH. There is limited memory. You could have the same conversation 10 times and every time is a new experience with Alexa. It blows my mind that with all the amazing AI around today Alexa is so bad. Amazon, the huge megacorp cannot figure it out with their flagship product in the space.