Amazon's latest low-cost smart speaker from Amazon, the third-generation Echo Dot, looks better, sounds better, but still costs the same on a low budget.

When the second generation Echo Dot was launched in the UK, it had very little competition. Having everything that was good about Amazon's Alexa voice assistant included in a smaller package at half the price of the larger Echo, It was a no-brainer. .

But now the Echo Dot has some tough competition from Google, in the form of the Home Mini and its Assistant, and Amazon's second-generation Echo .

What is it?

The new echo dot on the right is slightly larger in all dimensions than the previous version on the left. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian

The Echo Dot is a small, puck smart speaker from Amazon with the firm's Alexa voice assistant built in. New for the third generation is a softer, rounded aesthetic with fabric sides. It's also slightly larger in all directions, measuring 99mm in diameter and 43mm in height.

On the back there is a circular power socket, which replaces the microUSB socket on the old Dot, and a standard 3.5mm analogue socket for connection to a stereo. At the top you have the volume buttons, the action button and the microphone mute button.

You can also use Bluetooth to stream from the Point to other speakers or from your phone or other device to the Point to use as a Bluetooth speaker.

Improved sound

The speaker now projects through the fabric sides of the new Punto, making it more capable of filling a room with music. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian

The updated design is joined by an improved speaker. Sound fires from the fabric sides of the new Punto, rather than the plastic top of the old model, projecting the sound into the room, making it much better for music.

The mids are punchy, the highs are relatively crisp, and while there's no real bass, the new Dot sounds relatively rounded for a small speaker.

Feed it guitars and vocals from something like the live version of Hotel California by the Eagles from Hell Freezes Over and you'll be greeted with a warm, welcoming tone. Classic tracks like Jupiter from Holst's the Planets also sound quite rounded. The Dot struggles with bass-driven electronics, but coped better than expected with Dr. Dre's Still DRE, despite its pump line.

The point can also be quite loud, although not as high as Google's Home Mini, and the audio starts to distort on high-energy tracks at maximum volume.

Alexa

Press the mute button on the top of the Punto and watch both the button and the light turn on and the light ring turn red so you know the microphones are disconnected. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian

With smart speakers, the hardware you buy is only half the story: They live or die by the voice assistant capability within them.

The Dot's performance on Alexa is top-notch, with its four-microphone array able to hear you through things like the range hood in the kitchen or when playing music at maximum volume, even if you have to shout a little. Alexa also sounds good through the Dot's speakers.

Smart home control, music playback, podcasts, news briefings, radio station playback, setting multiple alarms, timers, and several other such little details work perfectly.

Alexa has a lot of third-party "skills" (apps), games like Escape the Room, utilities, and silly things like Star Trek - Red Alert, so you can pretend you're on the starship Enterprise.

You can also change Alexa's wake word, which is the word it hears when idle before waking up. "Alexa" is the default option, but options include Echo, Computer, or amazon - Useful if you have someone named Alex in your house and want to avoid accidental activations of the Point or the human.

Google Assistant has the advantage of interpreting speech when you mess up your questions or when you issue multiple commands at once, like "turn off the Christmas tree and the lights in the living room." Google can also answer a wider variety of questions than Alexa.

Observations

The back of the new Dot has a new round power port for the included 15W charger, but still has the 3.5mm analog output. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian

• Alexa can finally recognize different voice profiles for different users in a UK home from November

• The blue light ring around the top is easy to see from across the room

• If you want, you can buy things on Amazon via voice, but it can be a laborious process unless you know the exact item name and variant. I turned it off.

Verdict

The new Echo Dot is a slight improvement over the previous one in every way. It's better looking, it sounds better, you hear it just as well, it still has a 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth audio in and out.

It's no patch on the larger Echo speakers, which are almost twice the price, but it almost beats its closest rival, the Google Home Mini, in sound and connectivity.

With £50, or often £30 in deals, you get a lot of smart speakers with the Echo Dot. But where the Original Echo Dot was a no-brainer, the decision now depends on whether you want Alexa or Google Assistant to be your smart little speaker, which is a much harder decision to make.

Advantages: can always hear you, small but loud enough, excellent device support, clear when muted, can see activity from across the room, Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack

Cons: the Music is distorted at maximum volume, with no real bass, overall knowledge is not as good as Google Assistant.