Difference Between Echo and Echo Plus

Echo, Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant, has created quite a stir since its debut in 2014. Amazon’s smart speaker has completely changed voice-based IoT device interaction. The gadget is powered by Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated personal assistant. It can entertain you with music, set the alarm, play the news, and answer a wide range of queries.

Echo vs Echo Plus

The main difference between Echo and Echo Plus is that Echo is a 9.25-inch tall cylinder equipped with a seven-piece microphone array, while the Echo Plus resembles a bigger version of the original Echo. Amazon discontinued the original Echo in 2017 and replaced it with a redesigned and much smaller Echo measuring 5.9 inches tall. Additionally, you may choose from a variety of body styles. The Echo Plus has a stylish cylindrical shape with a detachable cloth outer casing. It is the same height as the 2nd Generation Echo but weighs 29 ounces less.

Amazon Echo is a voice-activated smart speaker that responds to a variety of questions via natural language processing. A 9.25-inch cylinder-shaped speaker and a seven-piece microphone array integrated into it provide better speech response. In addition to music playing, it can stream podcasts and provide real-time information, create to-do lists, get news updates and weather reports.

With a redesigned look and enhanced audio quality, Amazon’s Echo Plus replaces the original Echo. You may remove the fabric’s outer shell to reveal a sleek cylindrical shape. The new Echo Plus has a bigger 3-inch neodymium woofer, making it even better for listening to bass-heavy music. With the Zigbee smart-home hub built into the Echo Plus, it can communicate with other smart-home devices on a network without needing a separate hub.

Comparison Table Between Echo and Echo Plus

What is Echo?

Amazon’s fourth-generation Echo Alexa smart speaker radically reimagines the popular gadget in terms of appearance and acoustics. To put it another way: The $84.99 Echo Dot is Amazon’s lower-priced speaker; the $889.99 Echo is Amazon’s higher-priced speaker.

With a cylindrical form and 360-degree audio, the original Echo established the benchmark in 2014 as the first smart speaker on the market. It looked like a Pringles could be fitted with a speaker. Amazon has recently broken the mold with a new spherical form and directional audio, six years after it was first introduced on the market.
Instead of a ball, the new Echo has a flat bottom to keep it from rolling. the Samuel Gibbs took photographs for the Guardian newspaper

A single woofer and two tweeter speakers provide directional stereo sound, and the plastic and mesh fabric ball is intended to sit in a room’s corner rather than its center. It has an odd appearance and is much larger than you expect. On the rear of the Echo, there’s a power port and a 3.5mm audio jack for analog audio. The bottom of the speaker has a light ring that indicates when it is listening to you, the volume level, and notifications.

What is Echo Plus?

Echo Plus 2 was launched a year after the original Echo Plus Amazon introduced a smart speaker/smart-home hub in 2017. What gives it the “Plus” label is as simple as this: A Zigbee radio that’s already built-in. As a result, you won’t require a Samsung SmartThings or a Hubitat Elevation to manage other Zigbee-enabled smart home devices.

In addition to receiving a weather report that includes the current outside temperature, you can ask Alexa what the temperature is in the room. Even if you use an Echo device to control the thermostat, the thermostat will report the temperature where it is situated, and that may be somewhat different from where the Echo is located if you are using an Echo device to control the thermostat.

With a redesigned look and enhanced audio quality, Amazon’s Echo Plus replaces the original Echo. You may remove the fabric’s outer shell to reveal a sleek cylindrical shape. The new Echo Plus has a bigger 3-inch neodymium woofer, making it even better for listening to bass-heavy music. With the Zigbee smart-home hub built into the Echo Plus, it can communicate with other smart-home devices on a network without needing a separate hub.

Main Differences Between Echo and Echo Plus

1. The Echo is priced at $99, while the Echo Plus is priced at $149.
2. While all Echo smart speakers have Alexa and can play high-quality music thanks to Dolby speaker technology, the Echo Plus offers much higher sound quality than the Echo.
3. The original Echo is a cylinder measuring 9.25 inches tall and equipped with a seven-piece microphone array. On the other hand, the Echo Plus resembles a bigger version of the original Echo.
4. The woofer in Echo is 2.5 inches in diameter, while the tweeter measures 0.6 inches. On the other hand, in Echo Plus the woofer is 3 inches in diameter, while the tweeter measures 0.8 inches.
5. The Echo weighs 1.8 pounds whereas, the Echo Plus weighs 1.7 pounds.

Conclusion

Despite their identical cylindrical shapes, the Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Plus smart speakers have somewhat different features and capabilities. The Echo Plus, for example, has a built-in Zigbee smart-home hub, which lets you pair it with other smart-home devices. While the Echo has all the fundamental smart speaker characteristics, you’d expect, like improved sound quality, more smart capabilities, and better connection, the Echo Plus is a significant upgrade over its predecessor. The additional $50 is well spent, and having a temperature sensor built-in is icing on the cake. Unless you have a large number of smart gadgets to keep track of, the Echo does everything.

The $149 Echo Plus is a decent bargain if you’re seeking basic smart-home capabilities; buying an Echo and a smart hub separately will cost you at least $50 more. If you want to build a more complicated smart home, you’re better off buying the $99 Echo and an external hub.

Any Echo you select will work with Wi-Fi-enabled smart devices like smart plugs that don’t need to be initially connected to a hub, such as smart lights.

References

1. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9414462/
2. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/752052/