This $24 Echo Dot deal is a Black Friday no-brainer

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Amazon's Alexa Black Friday 2018 promotions are upon us, and if you've been looking for an excuse to add a new Echo Dot 3rd Gen to your home, now's the perfect opportunity. Launched only last month, the latest version of the Echo Dot promises not only softer styling but improved audio quality over its predecessor.

It's now clad in fabric, and is available in three colors: charcoal, heather gray, and sandstone. As before there's a quartet of buttons on top for volume, microphone mute, and triggering Alexa manually, surrounded by a blue indicator ring. Just like the 2nd Gen Echo Dot, a microphone array allow Alexa to hear you from across the room, even if there's music playing.

Usually, the Echo Dot 3rd Gen is priced at $49.99. For Black Friday, however, Amazon is offering it at $24. That's a saving of more than 50-percent.

If you're looking for stereo sound, meanwhile, Amazon also allows you to wirelessly pair two Echo Dot speakers together. That way you can have a stereo pair for improved music playback. There's also Bluetooth streaming support to external speakers, and a 3.5mm audio output.

What makes this Echo Dot deal particularly promising is that Amazon offers the chance to switch it up into a home automation bundle. Usually, Amazon's Smart Plug would be $24.99. It allows you to plug in a lamp, fan, or other appliance and remotely control it from afar, using Alexa.

With Amazon's Black Friday Echo Dot bundle, however, you can add the Alexa Smart Plug to the smart speaker for $5 more. That means you're paying $29 in total for both the Echo Dot 3rd Gen and the Smart Plug.

Finally, for those who are really on a budget, there's an even cheaper Alexa deal. Amazon is still offering the Echo Dot 2nd Gen, usually priced at $39.99 but, for Black Friday, it's down to $19.99. That's half price.

It may not sound quite as good as the 3rd Gen that followed it, and nor does it look quite as slick, but it's one of the cheapest ways to add Alexa to your home. Best of all, you can also combine it with the $5 Amazon Smart Plug promotion.

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