Alexa, boil me an egg...

Echo Show €253, amazon.co.uk ★★★★ The students who live next door probably think of me as ‘that old guy who’s always shouting at the egg-timer’. When cooking, I now expend far more energy yelling at the smart speaker to set timers than I do preparing the food.

But smart speakers are no longer enough (or at least Silicon Valley hopes so). This year, tech companies are pinning hopes on ‘smart displays’, Echo-style devices with a screen on the front.

They’re pitched (in part) as kitchen helpers, and if you ask the new Echo Show, below, ‘Alexa, show me a recipe for spaghetti Bolognese,’ it launches an app with how-to videos. Say: ‘Alexa, what’s happening?’ and you see a video news bulletin. It’s easier to use than previous Echo devices (the 7in screen offers tips on what to say) and it sounds better. It’s a decent substitute for a kitchen radio. But like most Amazon devices, there’s a sense that you’ve forked out for a tiny shop window through which Jeff Bezos can sell you stuff: you can watch videos, but only Amazon ones. It also has a camera (for video calls). Call me paranoid but there is no way I could use this device in my bedroom, as I don’t want hackers seeing me in my pyjamas.