Talk to the hands (and they talk back!)

Amazon Echo Spot £119 ★ ★ ★ ★★

TELLING an alarm clock to ‘Shut up’ and have it actually go quiet is one of those little triumphs that makes the 21st Century seem almost worthwhile.

The fact that the Amazon Echo Spot can also read you a bedtime story makes you think the future really is bright. That’s until you hear the droning robot voice sucking the life out of your ebooks and think: ‘You know what, I’ll just grab a paperback.’

Nevertheless, the Echo Spot is the world’s most high-tech bedside clock. It’s the latest take on Amazon’s Echo smart speakers, now armed with a colour screen that shows you the time, the weather and suggestions of what to say to Alexa. Which is actually quite helpful, as you quite quickly run dry of ideas for Alexa small talk.

‘Alexa, tell me a joke about coffee,’ it suggests. I ask. The joke is terrible. In between times, news headlines scroll up on the 2.5in screen, as well as message and calendar alerts.

The Echo Spot is far more fun to use than the screenless Echo. You can even use it to video-call friends – there’s a camera at the top of the device and connection is made via the Amazon app. It’s all about as awkward as you’d imagine – but it works.

Unlike Google’s rival Mini, the Echo Spot also has Bluetooth so you can connect it to a decent hi-fi. Personally, I found it came into its own on my office desk – partly because, in my office, my wife isn’t there to tell me off for talking to the alarm clock.