Ya -- one that permanently has a place in your home so you don't have to worry where your phone is, one that integrates with popular 3rd party home-based IoT, is always listening/on, works better than Siri, and comes with better and free music integration (but is better if you're a prime member). The dot is just echo junior, there is no difference in utility of it.

The result is a very meaningful improvement and a change to how you interact with technology in your home.

The Echo is terrific and (unlike Siri) I wouldn't be without it. Sadly, Amazon's management app for the Echo is an unstable, slow, buggy piece of unusable garbage that someone should be fired over.

But luckily you don't really need to use the app much after initial setup.

Not so. It is how you access the to-do list and shopping lists. So I use it, or try to, almost everyday.