The new Echo Plus adopts the softer look of Amazon's more current Echo devices with a new fabric cover on the outside. It comes in three colors: charcoal, heather gray, and sandstone.
The 2017 Echo Plus had the hard plastic casing of Amazon's older Echo devices and came in slightly different colors: black and white, as well as gray, which is no longer available to buy through Amazon.
Amazon redesigned the new Echo Plus to make it look more similar to the standard-sized Echo. Here are the dimensions:
2017 Echo Plus — 9.3 inches tall, 3.3 inches wide
2018 Echo Plus — 5.8 inches tall, 3.9 inches wide
Last year's Echo Plus didn't have physical volume control buttons on top — instead, it used a volume ring that you could twist left or right to turn the volume up or down.
With the new Echo Plus, Amazon moved the volume buttons to the top of the device, much like the standard Echo and Echo Dot.
Local voice control lets the device keep functioning when the internet goes down. That's a major addition, because it means you won't lose control of your connected light switches and appliances in the event of an internet outage.
The new Echo Plus has a built-in temperature sensor, which will allow you to take indoor temperature readings.
This year, the Echo Plus got an upgrade sound-wise, too.
The new speaker has a 3-inch subwoofer and a 0.8-inch tweeter — last year's model had a 2.5-inch woofer, and the same 0.8-inch tweeter. The larger woofer means this year's speaker should supply stronger bass, and will also have lower distortion than last year's model.
Another nice feature: You can use your voice to adjust the device's equalizer settings so that you can fine-tune the bass and treble to your hearing and your surroundings.
The new device has a lot of identical features to last year's Echo Plus:
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