Recently, Amazon launched a new range of smart home assistants ready for AI. Google quickly responded by saying it will have something next year. As a Google Home user, I felt a little disappointed.
Once you pick a smart home platform, you typically choose between Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit or Samsung SmartThings. In America, Alexa is the most popular smart home solution, while Google took an early lead in Australia.
After trying the new Amazon Echo Dot Max smart speaker, I think it might be the next big leap for smart assistants.
Table of contents
- Understanding the smart assistant
- Features
- Specifications and price
- Using the Echo Dot Max
- Who is the Echo Dot Max for?
Understanding the smart assistant
Not a lot has changed since I bought my first Google Home smart speaker in 2017. In fact, I still have it working in my kitchen. There was a lot of hype about what it would do, but this never really led to the homes of the future. It did allow us to use our voices to ask for a weather update, play some music and query the internet. The real power for these devices comes from the cloud, not the hardware sitting in your house. With that in mind, it still makes mistakes, and if you don’t ask a question the right way, you don’t get the answer you want.
Further to this, if you have assembled some smart devices in your home, like a smart light bulb, door lock, or window sensor, you have to make sure they work with your choice of smart home platform. Complicating this more, you might buy a smart home sensor that requires a hub to connect it to your smart assistant, then buy another sensor from a different brand that needs an additional hub. The result is that you need to be pretty confident in technology to make all this work.
Several new technologies and industry standards are about to impact Australian smart homes in a big way. First, thanks to AI, devices like smart speakers are capable of interpreting conversational commands. By asking a question or giving a direction in your own words, you will get an answer or an action. This will allow you to make your home actually smart. Whilst we know this technology will be backward-compatible with some older smart speakers, we don’t yet know whether every older model will support it.
The other clever bit of technology changing things is Matter, a growing smart home protocol. This allows products from different brands to work together. When I say products, I don’t mean smart assistants (speakers and screens), but rather devices like light bulbs, door locks, temperature sensors, door and window sensors, curtain openers, and robot vacuums. This technology will make it much simpler to set up a smart home and automate tasks, saving you time, conserving energy, and enhancing your environment.
Just like when the analogue mobile phone became digital, and smartphones replaced dumb phones, there is an opportunity for new brand leaders to be crowned. Amazon is positioning itself to be in the right place at the right time to become the Australian leader in smart home assistants.
Amazon Echo Dot Max features
The Amazon Echo Dot Max is a small Wi-Fi-connected two-way smart speaker that uses Alexa to facilitate voice-controlled interaction with technology.
In the box, you will find the speaker and a power supply with a 1.5m cable. Available in three colours: Graphite, Glacier White and Amethyst (purple), it is quite stylish. To set up the Dot, you will need to download the Alexa app.
Other than your voice to control the Dot, there is a microphone mute button (for privacy), a volume up and volume down button and an accelerometer which senses movement. This movement sensor detects you tapping the Dot, so, for example, whilst playing music, a tap anywhere on the Dot will pause it. A light ring on the front of the Dot illuminates when it detects you talking to it or while it is talking back.
Speaking of music, this Dot Max has gained a speaker from the standard Dot models. It features a tweeter for higher frequencies and a woofer for lower frequencies. You can stream Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music and Audible. The speaker supports both Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity.
In the smart home space, I feel that the latest Echo products, including this one, are ready for today and what comes next. They support Matter, Zigbee (a wireless communication standard), and Thread (another communication standard), which means they will connect to the latest sensors and devices you will run in your smart home.
The Dot also has its own temperature sensor, light sensor, accelerometer, ultrasound motion detector, Wi-Fi radar and Wi-Fi CSI. These built-in sensors mean it understands its environment and can detect movement in a room. With this, you could build automations like turning the lights on when it is dark, and someone walks into the room, or controlling an air conditioner based on temperature. Having these sensors built in means you don’t have to buy them separately.
The new Echo range is also built for Alexa+, an integration of AI allowing natural-language voice conversations coming soon to Australia. Amazon is also promoting better smart home integration with Alexa+ as well as tailored experiences based on your preferences.
Echo Dot Max specifications and price
| Processor | AZ3 with AI accelerator |
| Smart Home Hub | Zigbee + Matter + Thread Border Router |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Dimensions | 11 x 11 x 10 cm |
| Sensors | Ambient Temperature Sensor Ambient Light Sensor Accelerometer Ultrasound Motion Detection Wi-Fi Radar and Wi-Fi CSI (for Tap Gestures) |
| Price (RRP) | $199 |
| Website | Amazon Australia |
| Warranty | 1 year |
Using the Echo Dot Max
The setup of your Echo products is automatic once you have an Amazon account (same as the store or your Prime account) and have loaded the Alexa app. The app should automatically find the new device; if not, you can prompt it to look for it.
As far as smart speakers go, it does everything you would expect, and I look forward to testing Alexa+ when it’s available here. If you do want to press one of the physical buttons, the speaker tends to move unless you place your fingers on the dot and use your thumb. Whilst your fingers are touching the Dot, it does feel warm (when sitting idle overnight), which would indicate wasted energy. The total possible consumption when playing music at full power is up to 22W, so the electricity running cost will be less than 15 cents a day.
Audio quality is a relative thing. If you listen to the speaker without a reference, the speaker sounds great. If you compare the Amazon Echo Studio, the Dot Max’s big brother, you notice the quality is not as good, but you are paying half the price.
The base sound is definitely an improvement on standard Dot, and you would expect that with the addition of a second woofer speaker. Compared to a smartphone speaker, it is amazing, and I will use it for music in my office. The 2025 Echo range also automatically adjusts the sound based on the room it is in.
Working within the greater Amazon ecosystem also has some advantages. For example, if you have two or more selected speakers, you can use them to broadcast as a group or create stereo sound reproduction (left and right).
If you have an Eero Mesh router, the Dot can extend Wi-Fi coverage—100 square metres—with a max transfer speed of 100 Mbps for up to 10 extra devices. An Amazon Ring security camera can send verbal alerts to your Dot speaker, notifying you when a person is detected.
Who is the Echo Dot Max for?
It’s never been a better time to consider creating a smart home with voice assistants. If you already have a smart home and your expectations have never quite been met, then now might be the time to invest in new hardware.
The latest Amazon Echo devices, including the Echo Dot Max, are ready for future AI enhancements and smart home accessory communication, and, with the built-in sensors, are actually quite good value for money.
AI will continue to change our lives, not because we buy into it, but because it is delivered through technology that makes sense and is useful, and we don’t even know we are using AI.
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