Which Amazon Echo should you buy?

When Amazon’s personal assistant first launched a couple years back, Alexa only came in a tube. But now there are multiple tubes to choose from – and other shapes, too. Now Alexa is found all over the place, from the familiar home speakers to smartphones, the Fire TV, and even smartwatches. And the core Echo family itself has grown to encompass some rather unexpected creations, including a couple with a screen and another with a camera that judges your fashion sense (yes, really). Still haven’t brought a spoken assistant into your home? Here’s a look at the six current Amazon Echo devices and why each might be the best fit for your needs.

BEST FOR: CHEAP AND EFFECTIVE

At just £50 (US$50), the Echo Dot is the most obvious pickup for anyone just dipping a toe into the virtual assistant pool. And it’s still our pick of the Echos. It’s impressively cheap for what it is, and is just as capable at answering queries and assisting you as the fuller-bodied models are. The Echo Dot trims the original cylinder design down to just a hockey puck full of tech. You’ll plug it in, set it up with your smartphone, and then Alexa will be there to answer your random queries, tell you the weather, play music, or tell a joke.

BEST FOR: ALL-AROUND PERFORMANCE

The second-generation Echo ditches the taller, sterile-looking design in favour of something smaller, fuzzier, and cheaper to boot at £89 (US$100). By and large, the new Echo acts the same as the old one. Alexa is in full form here and always listening, with seven improved microphones that can hear your commands from a fair distance, even over music or clatter from your kids or pets. The sound quality is still solid: it can fill a room pretty well, but it’s still just coming from a small tube, so the result can be a bit cluttered-sounding and weak – though you can still hook in speakers if you please.

BEST FOR: SURPRISINGLY FULL SOUND

What looks like the first-gen Echo and sounds like a dream? The new Amazon Echo Plus (£140/US$150) – and it’s certainly the best-sounding Echo of the bunch. Solid bass is the biggest enhancement over the lesser Echo, and it does a fine job of filling your space. The Echo Plus has another intriguing perk: the ability to act as a smart home hub for your connected gadgets. For example, you can pair Philips Hue bulbs directly with the Plus – though it only works with ZigBee kit.

BEST FOR: SEEING WHAT YOU’RE HEARING

Alexa is no longer just a spoken assistant: she’s gone visual. This home hub (£200/US$230) is meant to sit on a bookshelf or kitchen countertop, and you’ll still primarily interact with Alexa by asking for things – but the 7in touch display also means that you can see information that she brings for you, such as the weather or movie times. It has perks, but this first marriage of a spoken assistant and a touch device feels largely inessential, plus the sound-quality from the front-facing stereo speakers underwhelmed compared to the room-filling first-gen Echo.

BEST FOR: A BEDTIME COMPANION

This one’s essentially the bedside alarm clock version of the Echo Show (£120/US$130), with a smaller, circular 2.5in touchscreen. The compact package is a lot more appealing than the Echo Show, plus the circular interface has style. And it’s pretty perfect for setting alarms and waking up with music, or seeing a news briefing when you roll out of bed. It’ll also play music from Spotify and other services, give you the weather, and allow video chat goodnights, plus everything else Alexa is capable of.

BEST FOR: WHEN YOU CAN’T DRESS YOURSELF

The Echo Look (US$200) is essentially a style consultant, built to dress you down when you get dressed up for the day. It’s a hands-free, tripod-mounted camera flanked by four LED lights, and you can ask Alexa to snap your photo at any time to see your outfit. You can spin around and see the result in real time on your smartphone, save images to a look book, and even get blurred backdrops in the photos so that your look really stands out. And if you need a second opinion, you can ask Alexa: a combination of machine learning and input from style experts have concocted an algorithm that’ll decide which of two outfits looks best.