The Amazon Echo Dot is a Miniature Speaker with a Cracking Good Price

This little device may look simple at first glance, but as we delve deeper, we find that it's actually quite fascinating. The design of this device is what makes it so appealing to some and frustrating for others. The clamshell design pops apart easily, making it a breeze to open and explore its inner workings.

One of the most interesting aspects of this device is its repairability. As with any electronic device, there are certain things that you can do to make it easier to take apart and put back together again. For instance, if someone wants to get inside this device without damaging it, they can simply remove the rubber feet first. These feet are easily replaceable, so if they get damaged during the process of disassembling the device, it's no big deal.

The price of the Amazon Echo Dot is quite reasonable at $50. However, as we discovered during our testing, there were some quirks with the wires and connectors. The device comes with a power cable, a micro USB port, and an audio jack, all of which need to be connected to your car's 12-volt outlet or a wall adapter.

Inside the Echo Dot, we found that it has a single circuit board with various components such as button contacts, mic holes, and an application processor. The device also uses Bluetooth technology to connect to other devices, and it relies on Amazon services in the cloud for processing. There is no GPS built into this device, nor is there any cellular connectivity.

One of the most interesting aspects of this device's design is the way that its components are mounted and secured. We found a white piece of plastic with a reflective surface that helps to dissipate heat, as well as a metal mounting bracket that provides a magnetic connection for the little vent mount. It's clear that the designers have put thought into the ergonomic design of this device.

The lack of components on this circuit board is quite surprising given how complex some smartphones can be. We didn't find any elaborate cooling systems or specialized audio chips, but rather a straightforward design that prioritizes ease of use and affordability.

In conclusion, the Amazon Echo Dot is an interesting device that offers a unique blend of compactness, simplicity, and functionality. Its repairability and build quality are notable features, making it an attractive option for those looking to enhance their smart home experience without breaking the bank.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey welcome to CNET's cracking open we're here with the Amazon echo Auto these things are pretty rare to come by but we got ahold of one cuz bill hit the jackpot and so what's the first thing we're gonna do with it we're gonna break it open of course and see what's inside see what we can learn from it we sort of have our doubts about this device we'll talk about that in a minute in terms of who it's for but it is an interesting little device there is some interesting technology in it and so we're gonna take a look inside see what we can learn like we always do so bill why don't you take a look and see what we can find out about this device yeah so unfortunately we think this is probably gonna be pretty easy cracking overlay oh it's a fourth no Dremel no Dremel today I don't have to cut this thing apart the audience loves it when you have to pull out the Dremel and buy this thing that's right so but I think we can just pop this apart there's a very small seam along the sides here and so I think the bottom is just gonna the top will just separate we'll be able to see the guts inside of it so I'll go ahead and see if we can't do that now without damaging this thing you know so the idea of this device is to take your Amazon Alexa your echo like you have in your home like many people have and to put it in your car so so bill why would you want Alexa in your car because obviously you're not cooking timers is like the most popular thing for this right most people aren't cooking their car I hope what what do you do never know you know maybe you can take your insta pot in the car sandwich or something you know I really I love my echos at home you know they're really handy whether it's kitchen timers gas or playing the my radio stations and that I listen to whether it's playing music through Pandora Spotify Apple you know our Amazon music whatever you want to do it's really handy for that also for doing you know math problems things like that if I share version from primarily when I'm cooking over very kitchen oriented very kitchen work or helping with homework help with homework so it'sit's very handy for things like that I do love my echoes again you know we were we were kind of chatting before this yeah that about you can already kind of do that with other digital assistants so are there devices like the - I actually have here well yeah break well take this apart on iPhone and samsung's new Galaxy Note 10 may already have Google Voice assisting Google assistant on it they ought to have series so you're already kind of talking to those devices so for me when I was testing this thing out I actually found it to be a little bit of a barrier between those services right okay so the challenge is if you already have an Android phone or an iPhone and you're plugging it in and you're already getting using apple carplay more you're using Android auto then really you have a lot of the features that you're already gonna get in Echo auto so it's a little redundant it does great with some of them it'll integrate with Pandora a little great with some of other music services acts I think 2019 when this was originally released they talked about integrating with Apple music as well so it integrates with a lot of those services so it's really handy Apple maps about that but you can already do that it's not adding anything to what your current capabilities are so that's a challenge so perhaps it's more aimed at users who don't already have that and maybe they don't connect their phone to their car but they already have an echo they understand how to talk to echo and they like to have some of that integration in their car where they can say use this to play to their playlist now the thing is is this will connect to your it'll it'll it has only a couple ports it has a a micro USB port and it has power for power and then it has the 3.5 millimeter headphone jack to plug into your car one of the things that it might be used for is for somebody that doesn't already use that doesn't have one of those more advanced system you can add this you're already familiar with that go now you can do Spotify or Pandora or another music service Amazon music service or in the future apparently Apple as well I mean if I could just get Alexa right in my car if it's already integrated you know we saw that with other voice voice systems in cars forward head sync yep and so if this seems like a gap device you got to get us from here to there right to a future state where they were able to has Google somebody directly in it however they have all have partnerships directly with the manufacturers to build this in now in the same way that Apple and Google do now with the carplay and android auto right so this is is almost like before that happened and there are a lot of cars out there to be fair on the road that don't have Android auto or apple carplay and so this is a device that you could add to one of those that could give you some of that basic functionality as well that said you can also still just hook up your phone using similarly usually the headphone jack and bluetooth you might have to use a dongle now because like neither of these two devices has a headphone jack any longer but also more of the phones again more of the phones that are out there still have headphone jacks you could connect your phone to any of these cars and really you already have some of that functionality without using Android auto to be fair to consumers out there you don't have to get this to be able to get some of those same features yeah now what's interesting is this is actually a lot more difficult to take part that I thought okay clamshell design just sort of pops apart yeah but there's something about right here there appears to be screws or something maybe they'll often get these devices apart and gets them back together that's our goal most of the time is to not only take these devices open and see what they look like inside but also to put them back together when we're done because we're also looking at things like repair ability and the quality of the build and and those kinds of things so this one may not obviously things where we have a dremel those are things where we're not necessarily yeah like the Apple pencil that we had to do at CES we had to bring the Dremel out also the bb-8 droid that was a dremel item we had to use the Dremel to get that thing open those items obviously don't go back together so there's a repair ability lesson if something isn't coming don't force it because that's a lot of times when it will crack but look for something like this if there are rubber feet I'll take those off because you can always replace those pretty easily once we can get that out then we can get underneath and take those screws out and then it's likely to pop off it's obviously you know when they when they build these things that they have to have a way to to get at them so bill we talked about if someone already has Android auto or apple carplay or are already connecting their phone to their car they may not need this device they're not gonna get a whole lot extra but if they are interested whatever what's the price that they're gonna pay for this thing what's this this one's gonna retail for $50 okay this for $50 is a decent bargain but the wires are a little funky in your testing it does come with this little air vent amount I really don't like air vent mouths but they are handy so you have to do that and then you have to connect to things you have to connect the power cable the micro USB you can connect this to your cigarette lighter yeah these are all in it and then you have to connect from the audio to the to the audio jack in your car the audio in that said it's a decent solution for 50 bucks so tell us what you found on the inside here yeah so if we take a look at the circuit board that's in here and it basically has in it what we expected which is the one circuit board here it's got a couple button contacts on this on the top part of it one for the mute button basically in the action button here it's my holes for the mic yeah if this thing has eight mics on it so it has holes for the mics on the front of it that'll be these one two three four five six seven and there's probably one underneath the metal shielding there the application processor and Bluetooth chip are underneath this as well as the DSP that it uses there's no GPS built into this there is no internet connection right there's no cellular chip nothing like that so it's basically using the bandwidth from your phone or to connect up to Amazon services in the cloud and then that's just like again your echo at home that's where the processing has happened in Amazon services and it's bringing the stuff down here it's really interesting to kind of see that within this you know package here there's just just one circuit board here is pretty cool you have the button contacts on the front side and you can see on the bottom this is kind of interesting again we have this white piece of plastic helps reflect those daily ds2 but you have this piece of metal here and the way this would be mounted is kind of like that so it serves to help there's a little bit of a heatsink not these things are gonna get super hot but it also helps provide the magnetic connection here for the little vent mount right so that's kind of neat we get to see that we also get to find out like you said while there's not a ton of chips to see inside this right there's we're not gonna find like said there's no six actress dye risco breathing like that um but it is really cool to see how the how its put together and the the chips that are in it and luckily we didn't manage to you know I didn't break it in in the process of doing that so there it is all right well thank you this has been the cracking open of the Amazon echo Otto you can tell us what other devices you would like us to crack open in the comments leave us a note down there and hit the subscribe button so that you don't miss the next episode of cracking open thanks for watching we'll see you next time\n"