
And, while I could play some jazz from Amazon Music on the Echo Flex, it was barely loud enough to hear compared with the voice responses, and was completely drowned out when I used the microwave. If you want to plug it into a foot-level wall outlet behind a couch, don't expect to hear much of anything from it. In a relatively quiet apartment, I could hear Alexa's responses clearly in and near the kitchen where the Flex was installed, and I could even discern what Alexa was saying when the TV was on while I was in the same room, but just barely. The Echo Flex's tiny speaker is its biggest weakness. The microphones never failed to pick up my commands, even half-shouted around a corner through the doors of my kitchen. I asked Alexa for the weather and got a quick response, and I even successfully used the Echo Flex to call my cell phone. It let me control my TP-Link Kasa smart lights and AmazonBasics Microwave with my voice, including light-dimming and light-brightening routines that were already set up on my account.

It worked exactly as intended after I set it up, providing access to all of Alexa's voice command features. I plugged the Echo Flex into a counter-height power outlet in my kitchen for testing. Instead, the front panel holds Alexa and Mic Mute buttons, a small indicator light, two pinhole microphones, and two small grilles for the internal speaker. Plugged in, the Flex looks almost like a smart outlet, except a bit bulkier and lacking holes in the front. It's a simple, white plastic box measuring 2.9 by 2.7 by 1.4 inches (HWD), with rounded corners on the sides and a two-prong power plug on the back. The Echo Flex looks very different than the rest of the Echo line in its bland boxiness.

It's wonderfully affordable and functional-just don't expect much in the way of audio power.

The Flex is a $24.99 smart speaker that plugs directly into a power outlet and lets you access Alexa pretty much anywhere, like a bathroom, laundry room, or garage. The Amazon Echo Dot offers all of Alexa's voice control features and surprisingly good sound in a tiny, $50 package, but even that can get a little pricey if you want to spread Alexa to every room of the house. Read our original review from Novembelow.

