Amazon Reveals New Echo Spot Smart Clock Ahead of Prime Day

Amazon has put the wraps off a new Echo Spot smart clock today that Prime members can purchase with a 42% discount ahead of Prime Day. The new Alexa-powered smart alarm clock comes with a small 2.83” display on the front with customizable clock faces and colors, and it will let users check the weather, reminders, and song titles at a glance.

The original Echo Spot, which also had a camera in addition to a screen and microphones, and was released back in 2017 and has since been discontinued. It wouldn’t be surprising if most people interested in Amazon’s Echo devices forgot that this smart clock ever existed. The all-new Echo Spot, which has no built-in camera, looks a bit like the $39.99 Echo Pop Amazon released last year, though the Echo Spot has a smaller 1.73” front-firing speaker to give room for the display.

“The all-new Echo Spot builds on what our customers loved most about the original product—like the semi-spherical shape, access to Alexa, and the compact and vibrant display—and reimagines it with even better visuals and improved audio quality,” Amazon said today. The new Echo Spot is available in three colors (Black, Glacier White, and Ocean Blue), and its display can be customized with a combination of different clock faces and six colorways (orange, violet, magenta, lime, teal, and blue).

The Echo Spot’s display will offer touch controls for music playback, smart home devices, Alexa, routines, and phone calls when users don’t want to use Alexa voice commands. The smart clock shows what Amazon describes as 10 “response animations” designed to show Alexa’s personality when users interact with it. The Echo Spot will also offer three physical buttons for turning off the microphone and controlling volume.

The new Echo Spot is available for pre-order at $44.99 for Prime members through Prime Day on July 16-17. The regular price is $79.99, so that Prime discount is actually quite interesting.

The timing for this announcement is quite strange as Amazon usually announces new devices and services during an event in the fall. Anyway, the company resurrecting the Echo Spot is a nice surprise, and after Panos Panay became Amazon’s new Devices and Services leader last fall, the company may well have more interesting Echo products in the pipeline.