Amazon launches Echo Dot 5th Gen with built-in motion, temperature sensors

Amazon on Thursday refreshed its smart speaker line in India with the launch of Echo Dot 5th Gen. Priced at Rs 5,499, the speaker will be available at an introductory price of Rs 4,999 during Alexa’s anniversary celebration between March 2 – March 4 online on Amazon India and offline at Croma, Reliance Digital, Poorvika, and select other stores. It will be available in black, blue and white colour variants.

“The new Echo Dot advances our best-selling Echo line of products. We have now upgraded the audio experience and brought motion detection and temperature sensors to the smart speaker. Customers can leverage new capabilities for a truly ambient experience where tech simply fades in the background - like walking into a room and it lights up like magic”, said Parag Gupta, Director and Country Manager for Amazon Devices India.

The Echo Dot 5th Gen brings improved audio delivery besides other upgrades. It supports Alexa digital assistant for hands-free operations. Besides Amazon Prime Music, the device supports several other subscription-based music streaming services such as Hungama, Spotify, JioSaavan, Apple Music, and more. There is Bluetooth connectivity to stream music from smartphones.

Among notable upgrades, there is ultrasound motion detection and temperature sensor built-in to the speaker. Focused on smart connectivity, the ultrasound motion detection sensor would allow users to automate their day by creating smart home routines such as having Alexa turn on compatible-lights or play music when you enter the room. Likewise, the in-built temperature sensor would be helpful in smart routines such as automatically turning on compatible-AC when it gets too warm inside or turning it off when it gets too cold.

The Echo Dot 5th Gen has an accelerometer that enables tap gesture controls, which would allow the users to simply tap on top of the device to pause and resume music, dismiss timers, or end Alexa-to-Alexa calls. As for the privacy, Amazon said the Echo Dot 5th Gen has multiple layers of privacy controls, including a microphone on/off button and the ability to view and delete voice recordings.