When you’re entertaining guests, you can engage the multi-room music feature to turn your pad into a dance floor (adjusting bass settings accordingly). The huge selection of how-to videos is super handy though if you can plug it in close by, especially in the kitchen.

It’s not a boundary-pushing artistic tour de force, but it hardly ever looks out of place whether positioned in your swanky modern kitchen or happily perched on your expensive mahogany bookshelf. When she's not writing something or other, Stacia can be spotted crying over poetry, making a home-cooked meal, or walking on an NYC pier. The only thing that bothers me personally often, my son's name is similar so the often reacts at Aless.

Echo Dot discounts and voucher codes that you can use at reputable UK retailers await you without ever having to leave your home.

inch (44 mm) full-range front-firing speaker delivers clearer voices and deeper bass, making it ideal for not only playing music, but also podcasts, radio shows, and audiobooks.It’s the mid-range speaker with a screen in the company’s Echo catalogue, featuring a bright 8in LCD ambient-sensing display that adjusted the brightness to our environment. It’s the same powerful little speaker with a digital clock on the front, which also displays key information like the volume and ambient temperature on demand. Best-suited for bedside tables or offices, the corners of the display have been rounded out and the fabric on the rear now goes right up to the bezels. Alexa has a lot of third-party “skills” (apps), including those from news publishers such as the Guardian, games such as Escape the Room, utilities such as National Rail app and silly things such Star Trek – Red Alert, so you can pretend you’re on the starship Enterprise. The Echo Pop features a stylish semisphere design and is available in new fun colors, including Lavendar and Midnight Teal.

If you want something that displays all your family photos, can act as a bulletin board for messages, and play films and TV shows in the kitchen (if you’d rather this instead of a TV), it’s a great nifty device. There’s no word on if and when the UK will get this, but given it’s also coming to fourth-generation Echos as a software update, it’s not in itself a reason to upgrade either way. When I think of the time before smart speakers, I wonder how I ever got out of bed to turn off a light. View image in fullscreen Press the volume button on the top and see the current level on the light ring. Four rubber buttons (action, mic mute, and volume up and down) protrude from the fabric along the top of the sphere.

Need a cheap and small Alexa device that can be placed anywhere in your home and still deliver weather reports, set timers, play music, podcasts and the news? I have all appointments in view, can listen to them at any time, I can play the children in the morning while brushing their teeth a toothbrushing song, which is very very positively accepted by my three kids. Certain products that use the Alexa voice assistant, such as the Ring video doorbell, have a separate monthly fee. I’ve been PCMag’s home entertainment expert for over 10 years, covering both TVs and everything you might want to connect to them.

View image in fullscreen Press the mute button on the top of the Dot and see both the button light up and the light ring turn red so you know the microphones are disconnected. The last upgrade, according to the company, is to the sonics, with "clearer vocals, deeper bass and vibrant sound. I tested the beep detection in the kitchen and got Alexa notifications on my phone when my toast popped up, when my microwave lunch was ready, and again when my dishwasher was done.In other words, it’s a little impractical unless you happen to like the songs of the alternative 90s band ‘A’. You can set up routines to control multiple devices with a single voice command or when certain circumstances are met, such as the time of day. You can also use Bluetooth to stream from the Dot to other speakers or from your phone or other device to the Dot to use it as Bluetooth speaker. Also, with its upgraded temperature and movement sensors, the Dot seems to be leading the smart home game.