Amazon’s range of Echo smart speakers is one of the most popular devices in its category. Offered across different price categories, Amazon Echo speakers have become a household name. Latest in the lineup is the Amazon Echo Pop. Featuring a new semi-hemispherical design, it takes the minimum of your living room’s space. The price tag of ₹4,999 is an attractive deal, which is likely to attract many first time buyers of Echo smart speakers.
Amazon Echo Pop design
Amazon Echo Pop is probably the smallest Echo speaker in the market right now. The semi-hemispherical design is light, ergonomic and compact. It has front firing speakers covered in the fabric mesh. Rest of the speaker’s body is plastic. There are three buttons at the top – two to adjust to control volume levels and the other one is a mute button. Then there is also an LED strip that lights up when interacting with the speaker.
Amazon Echo Pop is offered in Charcoal, Glacier White, Lavender Bloom and Midnight Teal colour variants. The unit we received for review was the Charcoal that looked good.
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Overall, the design is new, but not an eye catcher. It is ideal for small rooms.
Amazon Echo Pop setup
The startup process is simple like other Alexa devices. Download the Alexa app and login to your Amazon account. In the app, tap on Add devices and wait for it to search Amazon Echo Pop. Once you see the device in the list, tap on it to pair and after a few minutes, your Amazon Echo Pop is ready to use.
Amazon Echo Pop performance and sound
Before delving into the performance part, let’s reinstate here that it comes with an affordable price tag. It is further advisable to not keep your expectations high in terms of audio quality. Amazon Echo Pop justifies its role as a smart speaker. It was quick to pick up commands. The device is functional in the sense that you can easily control your smart home devices like a smart bulb or a smart plug with Echo Pop.
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Putting its skills to test, we created routines for the Echo Pop to turn off lights at 10pm in the night and then turn them on in the morning at 8. The smart speaker performed the duty well, without any hiccups. Then we also set up a daily alarm for 7 in the morning. It fulfilled this with precision.
Talking about playing music on Amazon Echo Pop, the device supports multiple music streaming apps from Jio Saavn to Hungama to Apple Music. The speaker works well at volume levels between 5 to 7. The audio begins to get distorted at volume levels beyond this.
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Where we found the device to be a not-so-success is the announcements. Amazon Echo Pop allows users to record messages in their own voice and play it in their original voice. However, the recorded messages played by it sound were weak and one has to listen carefully to fully understand the message. Similar issues we faced while answering calls with the Echo Pop. Our audio was clear and loud to the caller. But the caller had issues hearing our voice.
Amazon Echo Pop comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as connectivity options and both support 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. As with other Echo speakers, Amazon Echo Pop has language support for both English and Hindi.
Amazon Echo Pop verdict
Amazon Echo Pop is the latest offering by Amazon in its Echo range of smart speakers. It is also one of the most affordable devices in its category. At ₹4,999, the smart speaker is a good choice for first time buyers. Along with enabling a smart home setup, it brings Alexa skills to your home while offering access to multiple music streaming platforms.
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Updated: 13 Jul 2023, 11:36 AM IST
