The latest Echo Dot smart speaker from Amazon is on its biggest sale

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

It's time to kick off another week of deals, and what better way than with a smart speaker hitting its lowest price yet and a new TV getting a nice discount? One of the cheapest ways to smarten up your home is by using Amazon's orb-like Echo Dot. You can get the fourth-gen Echo Dot for just $27.99) at Amazon or Best Buy. The price is $22 off its regular price and beats the discounts we saw during the holidays.

The little speaker supports all the same voice commands as its pricier counterparts, like setting timers and controlling other devices in Amazon's smart home devices. If you buy two for a stereo arrangement, it sounds good for listening to music or podcasts. Read the review.

The 2020 Echo Dot has a more spherical design than an actual dot, but can still do all the things that an actual dot can.

• $28 at Amazon
• $28 at Best Buy

Home smart speakers may sound good, but if you want a bigger sound that is portable, you should check out the Bose SoundLink Flex, which is currently $129 at Amazon and Best Buy. The Bose model that was named the best under $200 speaker in our buying guide is even better value now that it has a discount.

The Bose SoundLink Flex is a portable speaker that doesn't make many compromises in sound quality. It produces a clear sound. You can make a portable party that can last the day if you add about 12 hours of battery life and weather resistance. Check out our guide to buying a speaker.

Bose's newest speaker, the SoundLink Flex, offers pristine, detailed sound quality with a surprising amount of bass for its size, all in a rugged design that you can take anywhere.

• $129 at Amazon
• $130 at Best Buy

There are a lot of good options to choose from if you need a controller. The 8BitDo Pro 2 for Xbox may be the gamepad you should buy for those partial to the symmetrical layout of the traditional PlayStation layout. You can get this cute controller for $38.20 at Amazon, which is $7 off its regular price.

It's a bit weird at first, like a cross between a SNES controller and a dualShock with an Xbox logo in the middle. It is comfortable to use and has an excellent D-pad. This wired controller can be used on Windows PCs. It has two user-mappable buttons on the rear and more customization options through the 8BitDo app.

The 8BitDo Pro 2 wired controller has two mappable rear buttons.

Are you behind on your spring cleaning? The iRobot Roomba J7 robot vacuum can help you catch up. It is better than most options at this price since it features obstacle avoidance. It can also prevent your pets from leaving poop on the floor. The vacuum was fooled by some fake poop in our testing, but iRobot promises to replace it for free in the first year if that happens to you.

The self-emptying station is not included in this configuration, but it is the same unit as before. If you want to automate your smart home tech, it can be done with it.

Obstacle avoidance is one of the features of this robovac that allows it to navigate around hazardous objects. The j7 can jump to work via voice commands or the Roomba app, besides cleaning on a set schedule.

The Frame TV, which is art-inspired, is $200 off at Amazon. The price of the Frame has been slashed to $1,297.99. We recently saw a similar discount on the smaller 43-inch model, but now you can save on one with larger screen real estate.

The appeal of the Frame TV is that it can offer a great TV experience while you are watching and then transition to an art piece. It is possible to display some artwork while it is in standby mode, elevating your space to feel more like a gallery than a typical living room. The new model introduces a display that reduces glare and makes artwork look more convincing. The smaller 43-inch model does not support 4K resolution at a fast 120Hz refresh rate, so you can even game.

The new model of the TV has the same vivid QLED display as the previous model, but it uses a new anti-glare, low-reflection coating called "Matte Display" which provides images with qualities that resemble actual.

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