Amazon’s new Echo Spot is on sale for nearly half off on Prime Day

Like its predecessor, the new Spot is a combination of a smart speaker and an alarm clock, but ditches the camera that no one likes to keep in the bedroom. The design is now based on the Echo Pop, which, according to Amazon, should lead to better sound quality. As an Echo speaker, it naturally supports Alexa voice commands to set your morning alarm, check the weather forecast or read you the latest news. And if having a microphone in your bedroom still seems intimidating, there’s a dedicated button at the top of the spot to turn it off.

Apart from ease of use and functionality, keep in mind that a smart alarm clock will become unusable if the power goes out with no battery backup.

However, here’s a quick note (disclosure, if you will) from some inside baseball staff: We don’t typically cover trading products. edge We wouldn’t rate a product without personal experience with it. Since the Echo Spot just launched, I checked in with our smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, who has just begun testing the new Spot for her upcoming review. Jane’s first impressions have been mostly positive, and she thinks the new spot should be a great value at $45 — though perhaps less at full price of $80. Stay tuned for the full review with final ratings. If you’re a Prime subscriber and don’t mind being one of the first adopters, this deal might be worth it for now.