Speaking of snoozing alarms, the new Dot comes with a new “tap to snooze” gesture, which actually first appeared on the first-gen Echo Dot with clock. Ben Patterson/IDGīorrowing a feature from the first-gen Echo Dot with clock, you can tap the top of the fourth-gen Echo Dot to snooze alarms. But since you can wake Alexa with your voice or ask her to snooze an alarm, most Dot users (myself included) never bother with the action button. Pressing the “action” button wakes Alexa, or it can silence an alarm or reset the speaker if you press and hold it for 25 seconds.

Pressing the mic mute button makes the Alexa ring glow red, indicating that Alexa isn’t listening to your conversation. When you tap the volume buttons, a white ring appears, and it either grows or shrinks in length depending on whether you’re adjusting the volume up or down. Buttons and interfacesĪs with previous Echo Dots, the new Dot is outfitted with volume up/down, mic mute, and action buttons that peek out from the fabric at the top of the speaker, although the buttons are now more tightly grouped together than they were on previous Dots.

Besides its new shell, the fourth-gen Echo Dot moves Alexa’s light rings from the top of the speaker down to its base, casting a nifty-looking glow on the surface upon which it’s sitting.

Alexa dot