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With the great success of Amazon Echo, Amazon has now expanded its smart home devices range through the addition of the Amazon Tap.
In essence, the Amazon Tap provides all the features you would get with the Amazon Echo but in a smaller form factor and a cheaper deal.
In this post, we will compare the Amazon Echo and Tap to figure out their strengths and weaknesses and determine which smart home device is best for you.
| Features | Amazon Echo | Amazon Tap |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions and weight | 5.7 inches x 5.7 inches x 5.2 inches, 2.13 pounds | 6.2 inches x 2.6 inches x 2.6 inches, 1.1 pounds |
| Color options | Available in three colors: Charcoal, Glacier White and Twilight Blue | Black but colored cases are available (sold separately) |
| Speakers and sound quality | 3.0-inch woofer and dual front-firing 0.8-inch tweeters, better sound quality | 2 x 1.5-inch drivers with 2 x passive radiators for bass, lower sound quality |
| Price | Comparatively higher | Comparatively lower |
Now that you have some idea of what each smart home device from Amazon has to offer, let’s delve deeper to see how they perform compared to each other.
Amazon Echo Review – Robust with Great Sound Quality
While the first generation of the Amazon Echo was fairly bulky, the latest (4th) generation has a fairly small form factor and its aesthetic allows it to easily blend in with your home’s surroundings.
In many cases, the Amazon Echo is mainly bought as a Bluetooth speaker and in that aspect, it certainly does deliver. The sound quality is crisp and the Echo can be extremely loud without the sound distorting in any way whatsoever.
Lastly, of course, you have the Alexa app which can help you with countless things around the house. It’s especially useful for individuals with mobility issues.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • 360-degree sound • Great build quality • Versatile • Compact • Affordable | • The microphone has a fairly small range; Does not work if you’re in another room |
Benefits of Amazon Echo
The Amazon Echo is mainly designed as a stay-at-home speaker and in that regard, it does its job extremely well.
When it’s in “always listening” mode, it’s constantly on standby waiting for voice commands from you. When in this mode, its battery can last up to eight hours.
When it comes to continuous music playback, it can last four hours on a full charge.
Apart from voice commands that can help you control different aspects of your smart home, you can ask Alexa pretty much anything.
It can also take notes and can even call anyone you want from your contacts; All through voice commands.
Amazon’s smart devices have been praised to help disabled individuals around the house with controlling smart home equipment as well as to get in touch with other individuals who can help them out.
The Amazon Echo has great speakers which provide 360-degree sound. It’s great for listening to music around the house as well as for when you’re at a party with friends.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Amazon Echo
Dimensions and Weight
When it comes to size and weight, the Amazon Echo is built to be a stay-at-home device.
It’s not meant to be carried around which is why it’s not built to be extremely portable.
As a smart home device, however, its form factor and weight are pretty much perfect. It’s small enough to not be a nuisance by taking up space and it fits in well with most home interiors.
Color Options
The Amazon Echo is available in three different color options:
- Charcoal
- Glacier White
- Twilight Blue
We’re personally partial to the dreamy aesthetic of the Twilight Blue version but of course, you’re free to choose whatever version fits best with your home’s surroundings.
Speakers and Sound Quality
The Amazon Echo boasts a 3.0-inch woofer and dual front-firing 0.8-inch tweeters, this ensures a full and deep sound signature which is great for all types of music.
Not only can it be extremely loud but the sound does not get distorted or warped at all even when you play it at 100% volume.
It’s the perfect Bluetooth speaker for playing music in your home.
Price
You can currently buy the Amazon Echo for $59.99 which is a fairly generous price for a smart home device.
You normally pay more than that for a Bluetooth speaker and remember that the Amazon Echo gives you the functionality of a Bluetooth speaker along with so much more.
What Do the Customers Think?
The Amazon Echo is an extremely popular device and it’s easy to see why when you read the reviews for it.
It has a 4.7 out of 5 stars rating on Amazon with over 82,000 total ratings.
People are extremely impressed by how well it’s able to pick up their voices even when they’re quite far away from it.
Not only that but it’s smart enough to know what you ask for even if your phrase is not the clearest.
Here are some reviews we found online:
Best Multi-Purpose Smart Home Device
The best multi-purpose smart home device is the Amazon Echo thanks to the Alexa app and its many capabilities. It’s not only great if you want to play music but can also do a ton of other tasks such as taking notes, calling friends, answering general questions, and much more.
Amazon Tap Review – Compact and Portable
You can think of the Amazon Tap as the more rugged and portable version of the Amazon Echo.
It features a much sturdier build but despite being sturdy, it’s also extremely lightweight.
This makes it great for outdoor use and highly suitable for individuals who are always on the go.
In accordance with the type of product it is, the Amazon Tap can do many things you would need when you’re outdoors (or when you’re coming back home).
For example, it can automatically open your garage door when you return home with it.
Furthermore, it has a great battery life of up to nine hours which ensures it does not die on you when you’re outside.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Long battery life • Easy to set up • Compact and lightweight • Extremely sturdy • Budget-friendly | • Lower-quality speakers |
Benefits of Amazon Tap
The Amazon Tap has been designed to be your companion when you’re in the great outdoors.
As opposed to the Amazon Echo which is a stay-at-home device, the Amazon Tap was built with portability in mind.
It’s extremely lightweight so you won’t even feel it in your bag. However, it doesn’t feel cheap in any way. In fact, it’s built from sturdy material which ensures it can handle the outdoors with ease.
We mentioned above how it is optimized to help you out when you’re outside (like how it can open your garage door).
Other than that, it also gives you updates about the weather of the destination where you are heading to in addition to many other helpful features.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Amazon Tap
Dimensions and Weight
As mentioned earlier, the Amazon Tap is built for portability. Hence, its form factor and weight are much lower than that of the Amazon Echo.
It is much lighter at 1.1 pounds compared to the 2.1 pounds of the Amazon Echo.
Furthermore, its small size ensures you can fit it in any bag you want.
Color Options
While the Amazon Tap itself only comes in Black, you can buy a carrying case for it for even more convenience.
These carrying cases come in a variety of different color options and designs that you can get either officially from Amazon or from third-party manufacturers.
Speakers and Sound Quality
Naturally, Amazon had to make some compromises in order to make the Amazon Tap so lightweight.
In this case, that compromise came in the form of its speakers.
The Amazon Tap’s speakers (while still fairly solid) are not comparable to the Amazon Echo’s speakers.
They’re still fairly loud and are serviceable for when you’re outside but the difference is night and day when you listen to the Amazon Echo’s sound and then listen to the Amazon Tap.
Price
The price was $129.99 when it was introduced but today, you can get a certified, refurbished Amazon Tap for as low as $50.
This price for the portable Amazon Tap is an incredible bargain, in our opinion.
What Do the Customers Think?
You can only get a refurbished version of Amazon Tap now since Amazon does not make new ones anymore.
This can be a turnoff for a lot of customers but the ones who bought it were extremely impressed by its quality and how they couldn’t even tell that it was refurbished. The unit looked absolutely new.
Here are some reviews we found on Amazon for the Amazon Tap:
Best Portable Smart Device
The best portable smart device is the Amazon Tap thanks to its lightweight, small form factor, and sturdy build quality. You can carry it with you anywhere you go and it also has a long battery life which can make it last for up to nine hours on a full charge.
Echo Devices – Buyers’ Guide
Dimensions and Weight
Before buying a smart home technology speaker for your home, it’s a good idea to consider how much space you have and what you’ll be using it for.
If you don’t have a ton of space, then opting for the Amazon Echo Dot might be a good idea since it’s extremely small and highly lightweight.
The Amazon Tap is also a good contender if you want something portable with good battery life.
However, if you want smart speakers solely to control smart home equipment and to do other tasks around the house, then the Amazon Echo is definitely your best bet.
Color Options
Amazon smart speakers don’t come with a ton of color options but they are versatile enough that you can choose a decent option to fit into your home’s surroundings.
The Amazon Echo is available in Charcoal, White, and Blue while the Echo Dot comes in Charcoal and White.
The Amazon Tap is Black but you can get carry cases for it that come in all sorts of different colors and designs.
Speakers and Sound Quality
If you’re looking for the best sound quality, then opting for the Amazon Echo is definitely your best choice.
However, if you don’t care too much about audio quality and want compactness and portability, then opting for the Echo Dot or the Amazon Tap might be the right move.
Price
The Echo Dot and the refurbished Amazon Tap are much cheaper than the Amazon Echo.
Hence, if you can’t spend too much, then opting for the former two options is definitely your best option.
However, if you can spend the money, then the Amazon Echo is definitely the most high-quality option there is out of all the Amazon smart speakers.
Final Verdict
This brings us to the end of our post for the differences between the Amazon Echo and Amazon Tap.
We hope you now have a better grip on what makes these two smart speakers so different from each other.
Which Amazon device do you prefer? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below.
