Reviewed in Canada on July 15, 2023
Interestingly, despite being a 101 user when it comes to Smart technology and Amazon's speakers in general, I was surprised to see several huge bits of misinformation in the self-proclaimed "Tech Guy's" review -- stuff that's in the very first page of the little starter pamphlet.
First, it does have touch controls. Touching the top acts as a snooze to an alarm, and the gesture is available in the Blueprints (like Extensions etc, except even easier, they let you easily chart out behaviour for your Pop using a single command or situation being met. It's a nice introduction to AI).
Second, it does have EERO wifi extension built-in. Like the Dot, it still requires an Eero router to make use of this, but if you already have that set up, it's a nice way to double up both another speaker/microphone and extend your home wifi coverage.
I'm new to Smart Homes and assistive devices, but not to tech or programming, so it was an easy transition for me. My place isn't very big, so a lot of Smart possibilities are nice but aren't yet things I feel I couldn't live without -- give me a few years and a handful of plugs, however, and we'll see what I can set up!
What I specifically wanted the Pop for was the fact that it works seamlessly with Audible (both US and Canada), and I was tired of retrieving my phone from the tub after my single-brain-cell orange potato kept knocking it in while attempting to supervise my daily attempts at drowning myself from 3 inches away. He is an excellent lifeguard, except for when he falls in himself, and then it's everyone for themselves.
I mistakenly read part of the information as "the Echo Pop is wireless" as meaning it had an internal battery that could be charged, and no, that is very much not the case. Since the brilliant electrician wired it so that the bathroom outlets are only turned on when the light is turned on, that's not so hot for the Pop as it needs to be continually plugged in. It's workable, and sounds a whole lot better than my phone's speakers, so I figure it will just have to deal with being hard restarted regularly. Since the boot-up time is fast, it's not really an issue unless you really wanted it as a portable speaker.
I spent some time playing with and customizing its various features, which was easy. I was a little disappointed to not see YouTube Music as compatible, but I'm not really surprised with Amazon offering their own service. I was able to find plenty of Canadian content, including CBC news and radio, as well as a surprising flexibility in both temperature AND distance measurements as I'm a Gen-Xer who still uses Celsius and inches/miles. Don't ask, it's a thing.
The little manual is also helpful for explaining what the different colours the light bar at the top of the unit mean -- it was yellow, which took me a bit to realize meant I had an Alexa-specific notification. I was able to listen to it and delete it without any problems, but this might explain why some people are having the light on all the time.
Most important was a HUGE surprise -- that the Echo line will do accessible text-to-speech reading of Kindle ebooks. This is something that disappeared from Kindle units themselves ages ago, and as I have been steadily losing my vision for the past 20 years, it's a feature I have sorely missed. I switched to audiobooks about 10 years ago, but not all books are released in audio, they're significantly more expensive, and my Kindle library is huge and full of books I'd like to enjoy again.
Having that accessibility feature returned has been incredible. I love my audiobooks, don't get me wrong -- I've found several performers I enjoy so much I follow them much like I follow favourite authors -- and text-to-speech is not even close to a replacement, but it's SOMETHING. I've been able to enjoy books I haven't read in years thanks to this, and I can do so without having to be controlling a screen-reader or setting up auto-scroll on my PC and the like.
Sound quality wise, I love it. I have headphones at work and a set of decent earbuds while commuting/outside/errands, but I like to give my ears a rest (and batteries a charge) at home. I didn't realize just how much I was settling, sound-wise, until I started using the Pop. I like ambient noise as much as background music or news, and the Pop handles all of these without issue, meaning I no longer count daily steps within my own apartment due to needing to carry my phone everywhere.
I also really like the fact that the Alexa app it works with lets you assign media streams to different bluetooth devices, fiddle with balance, and keeps multiple threads in memory so I can switch between ebook to audiobook to radio to music on one screen, or just via voice commands, and can resume any of the others where I left off with another command.
Overall I'm pretty thrilled! I looked at more expensive options but in the end the Pop was exactly what I was looking for. It's lightweight but rugged enough to survive being knocked to the floor easily (not that my furry potato would EVER do such a thing), robust when I expected something fairly tinny, and is a really easy jumping-off point to Smart Homes as there is tons of information and easy to set up things from plugs to lights to door locks. The AI Blueprints section for building your own routines is extremely straightforward but also very open-ended. There's no temperature sensor in the Pop, but you can set things so that when home temp is over 23°C, it switches on a fan or little standing AC unit. When your alarm goes off, it also turns the kettle on. If it hears your dog barking, it can turn on some music or radio to help distract them and keep them company.
So far no solutions for the potato, but hope springs eternal. He can no longer foil my plans entirely by laying completely on my phone or Kindle, however, especially not to muffle alarms, the jerk.
Was the Prime Day price worth it to out-smart and out-stubbourn my cat?
Oh, so very much so. Alexa forgives me for unplugging and replugging them in if I change rooms at this point, although they're likely exasperated I didn't just buy two -- which is probably what I should have done, and will likely do in the future. It'll still reset every time I turn the bathroom light off, but maybe I can put a smart light in there...