Amazon Echo Dot (5th generation)
The cheapest mainstream smart speaker in the UK. Amazon's 5th-gen Dot adds a temperature sensor, eero mesh, and noticeably richer sound vs the 4th-gen.
4.3 / 5
★★★★★ ★★★★★ Highly recommended
Strengths
- Cheapest way into the Alexa ecosystem in the UK - lowest barrier of any smart speaker on the market
- Sound is genuinely noticeable better than the 4th-gen - clearer mids, less muddy bass, listenable for podcasts and casual music
- Built-in temperature sensor enables real Alexa routines (turn on a fan when bedroom hits 24°C) without buying a separate sensor
Watch outs
- Mono speaker - for stereo you need two Dots paired together (and the cheapest path to genuine stereo is still a single Echo or a Sonos)
- No 3.5mm audio output - earlier Dot generations had one, this one removed it, so you can't hook it to existing speakers
- Privacy footprint is meaningful - always-listening mics + Amazon account integration; the mute button is hardware but the trust ask is still real
£54.99
Typical price - check Amazon UK for live pricing.
- Speaker 1.73-inch front-firing speaker
- Audio output Mono (use two for stereo pairing)
- Microphones Far-field (4 mics) with mute toggle
- Wireless Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 5.0
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By Editorial team2 min read
- Speaker
- 1.73-inch front-firing speaker
- Audio output
- Mono (use two for stereo pairing)
- Microphones
- Far-field (4 mics) with mute toggle
- Wireless
- Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 5.0
- Smart home protocols
- Matter, Thread (planned), Sidewalk, eero built-in
- Voice assistant
- Alexa
- Sensors
- Temperature, motion (Tap to Alexa), accelerometer
- Display
- LED ring (Echo Dot 5) or LED clock display (Echo Dot 5 with Clock variant, +£10)
- Power
- 15W power adapter (mains, not battery)
- Dimensions
- 100 × 100 × 89 mm, 304g
- Typical UK price
- £54.99 RRP, regularly £29-39 in Prime Day / Black Friday