Amazon Echo

The ultimate smart home companion? Amazon’s Alexa assistant controls just about anything with your voice

The most famous smart home controller, Amazon’s Echo microphone and speaker has earned its status. Not only can the built-in assistant, Alexa, answer queries about the weather, play music, and even read audiobooks when asked, it can control a huge, huge range of smart home products. Compatibility with Alexa is the hot trend for new tech, so everything from thermostats, to lights. to locks, to power sockets, to garden automation works with it.

You expand the Echo’s capabilities by adding ‘skills’ via the Alexa app on iOS or Android for new gear, though it’s not just about hardware – there are skills for things like ordering takeaway from Just Eat, finding out what you’re spending on energy, or hearing the headlines from major newspapers.

There’s a bunch of Echo devices (see the guide to the right), and Alexa is also being built into other devices such as speakers, though many so far are a bit on the cheap side. You can also access Alexa through Kindle Fire tablets.

Alexa and its skills are configured through the Alexa app, but you don’t get smart home control through that app – all the setup required needs to be done in the app of whatever product you’re using. This is purely about control, not configuration. But once you’ve told your lightbulbs that they’re in the living room, say, you can start telling Alexa “Turn off the living room lights” and you’ll get the result you want.