Which Amazon Echo should you buy?

CHOICES GALORE

When Amazon first launched Alexa she only came in a tube, but these days the AI-powered voice assistant is available in all shapes and sizes. Not only can you now find Alexa in third-party speakers, she also lives in smartphones, soundbars, ceiling fans and even toilets, while the core Echo family has grown to include some rather unexpected creations, including a camera that judges your fashion sense. Still haven’t invited Amazon’s voice assistant into your home? Here’s a look at the current Amazon Echo range and why each might be the best fit for your needs.

BEST FOR: ALEXA N00BS

Amazon Echo Dot (£50)

At just £50, the Echo Dot is the most obvious starting point for anyone just dipping a toe into the virtual assistant pool. It’s just as capable at answering queries and assisting you as the fuller-bodied models are though. Alexa can answer your random queries, tell you the weather, set timers, or tell a joke, but she can also help manage your various smart home devices via spoken commands. Given it’s a tad on the short side, there’s not much space inside for the speaker, so it’s not much use if you want to listen to music, although you can pair it with a seperate Bluetooth speaker or wire one in using a 3.5mm cable.

BEST FOR: ALL-AROUND PERFORMANCE

Amazon Echo (£90)

The original Echo is now smaller, fuzzier and, most importantly, quite a lot cheaper. It still does all the same stuff but for £90 rather than £150. The seven microphones have been improved, so it can hear you over almost any cacophony the kids are making or the music that it’s playing. That’s the main difference between this and the Dot: it’s got a speaker that can fill a room pretty well. It lacks punch and can sound a bit cluttered, so it’s not really suited for anything more than soundtracking the washing up, but it does the job. You can hook up a separate pair of speakers if you wish but if you’re planning to do that you might as well save yourself £40 and get a Dot.

BEST FOR: SMART HOME SKILLS

Amazon Echo Plus (£140)

At a glance the Plus just looks like a slightly tubbier Echo but its wider waistband accommodates some extra talents that the standard speaker doesn’t have. It has a smart home hub built in, which means it can talk directly to things like Philips’ Hue bulbs and Hive devices, so you no longer need an extra box plugged into your router in order for them to communicate. All you need to do is say: “Alexa, discover my devices” and it’ll scan your home for compatible Zigbee kit. It’d be nice if it supported other standards such as Z-Wave, but it’s a step in the right direction. That slightly bulkier build also means there’s more space for bass and the Echo Plus has noticeably improved low-end performance when playing music.

BEST FOR: SEEING WHAT YOU’RE HEARING

Amazon Echo Show (2nd Gen) (£219)

Ever wished Alexa could show you stuff as well as tell you about it? Then you might be tempted by an Echo Show. While you’ll still primarily interact with it using your voice, the new Show has a 10in touchscreen that displays information to go with your requests, so you get more detailed weather reports, for example, or step-by-step recipe instructions when you’re cooking. It’s got a pair of speakers round the back that give it the best audio performance of any Echo, plus there’s support for Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, so you don’t have to stop watching Parks and Rec while you do the washing up. A built-in camera also means you can make video calls but only to other Echo Show and Spot owners at the moment.

BEST FOR: A BEDTIME COMPANION

Amazon Echo Spot (£120) While the Echo Show might not make the most of its screen, the Spot is a much more appealing proposition, even if you might want to stick a bit of Blu Tack over the camera. Essentially an alarm clock with Alexa built in, the Spot’s 2.5in circular touchscreen makes it easy to set your alarms each night, plus it’s perfect for delivering a news briefing or seeing what’s on your agenda for the day before you’ve even rolled out of bed. It does all the usual Echo stuff too, so you can switch on the heating if you have a compatible thermostat, or find out whether your outfit needs to take rain into account without having to get up. If you like the sound of a screen and don’t mind letting a camera into your bedroom, it’s also £100 cheaper than the Show. Bargain.

BEST FOR: WHEN YOU CAN’T DRESS YOURSELF

Amazon Echo Look (US$200) Of all the forms the Echo has taken, this is the least expected. The Echo Look is essentially a style consultant, built to dress you down when you get dressed up for the day. Really? Yes, really. 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 lookbook, 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 a team style experts have concocted an algorithm that’ll decide which of two outfits looks best. You trust the cloud, right? Otherwise, it’s an Echo, albeit probably not the best-sounding one for music.