Best Amazon Echo 2022: Find your perfect smart speaker

For the latest iteration of its smart speaker, Amazon went back to the drawing board. Rather than being a tall cylinder, the Amazon Echo (4th Generation) is a large ball. It’s a good choice on Amazon’s part, as this smart speaker doesn’t look as techy as its predecessors, and it is built to fit into your home. There’s now a wider choice of colours, too, with charcoal, glacier white and twilight blue to choose from.

On top, Amazon has provided the same set of physical controls that most Echo speakers have: a mute button to stop Alexa listening, an activation button (for when you don’t want to say the wake word), and volume controls.

The status light has been moved from the top of the speaker to the bottom, which is a good choice. When the Echo (4th Generation) responds or shows a notification, the light shines down onto a table and doesn’t light up the room in the same way that previous generations did.

A new power-saving mode is designed to cut energy use while the device isn’t in use, but it’s restrictive as it doesn’t work if you have Spotify linked or if there are notifications waiting.

This model has a Zigbee hub built-in, something that had been restricted to the Echo Plus speakers before. With this, you can add smart devices, such as smart lights, directly to Alexa without the need for an extra hub. It’s not that useful: not all Zigbee devices are compatible, such as Hue light switches, and you usually get more control by using the native app. For example, Philips Hue gives more control in the app than Alexa does if you connect the bulbs directly to the Echo speaker.

Two 0.8-inch tweeters and a 3-inch woofer make the Echo (4th Generation) sound pretty good. In fact, the sound quality is such a step up that we no longer hankered for a better audio system. Sure, there are better-sounding smart speakers, such as the Sonos One, but these cost a lot more. What you get here is balance and poise at a great price.

Given the price, the Amazon Echo (4th Generation) is the best overall Alexa-powered smart speaker.

Full review: Amazon Echo (4th Generation)

Reviewer: David Ludlow

If it’s a value you’re after then the Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Generation) is the best overall smart display.

With many of the features of its bigger and more expensive stablemates, but at a fraction of the price, this model strikes the perfect balance between size, features, quality and price.

This newer model looks very similar to the previous edition, with just a couple of very minor tweaks: the camera hole is square, not round, and there’s no 3.5mm audio output (not a huge loss). Again, the speaker is available in charcoal or glacier white, but there’s no funky blue version as with the new standard Echo.

On top, there’s the standard button layout for an Echo Show: volume controls, a mute button that turns off Alexa and a camera privacy slider.

Amazon has upgraded the camera to the 13-megapixel version that’s used on the Echo Show 10. There’s no moving base here, but the camera can zoom, pan and track you automatically while on a video call. It’s a feature that works brilliantly, keeping you (or a family group) constantly in frame without you having to do anything.

You can also use the camera to keep tabs on your home, viewing the live feed. Of course, this does assume that you’ve left the Echo Show 8 pointing somewhere useful. There’s no recording option for the camera feed, so don’t treat it as a security camera replacement, particularly as you can’t see anything when it’s dark due to the lack of IR.

Over the generations, Amazon has tweaked the Echo Show interface. It displays a clock by default, but also shows upcoming appointments, news headlines and recently played music. Use the touch interface and you can dive into smart home control and communication bypassing having to speak at all.

The main benefit of the screen remains: it delivers more information than a voice-only reply. Ask Alexa about the weather today, and the screen also shows the info on the screen, with the option to swipe to view more information throughout the day. Control a smart device, such as turning on a light, and you get on-screen controls to tweak your action, such as adjusting brightness. And, you can view live feeds from compatible video cameras. In many ways, the Echo Show devices provide the ultimate version of Alexa.

Sound quality here is also brilliant. There are two 2-inch drivers and a passive radiator for bass. They combine to make the Echo Show 8 sound great: it’s loud and clear, and perfect for watching videos or listening to music. There’s a touch of tinniness at the high end, but overall this is an energetic and fun smart display.

Small enough to fit almost anywhere, yet with an 8-inch screen that’s big enough to make the interface clear and easy enough to read, the Echo Show 8 (2nd Generation) is excellent value and the best overall smart display.

Full review: Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Generation)

Reviewer: David Ludlow

If you’ve got a music speaker that you’re happy with or don’t particularly need a smart speaker that delivers the best audio experience, then the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) is for you.

This is a smaller, more compact smart speaker that’s built simply to give an interface to Alexa. We think it’s a great tool for smart home control, as the speaker is cheap enough and small enough that you can buy multiple ones to spread out throughout your home.

Externally, the Echo Dot looks like the bigger Echo, although here the spherical speaker is more baseball-sized. It comes in a choice of three colours: charcoal, twilight blue and glacier white. Plus, pay an extra £10 and you can get the Echo Dot with Clock (4th Generation), which is physically the same but it has an integrated LCD screen that shows the time. That makes the Dot with Clock a great choice for a bedside table.

This model also has its light ring relocated to the bottom of the speaker. Shining down, we found it less intrusive than the upwards firing lights of the previous model.

On top, the Echo Dot has the same button layout as the other Echo smart speakers: volume controls, mute button and activation button. Of course, it can do the same things as all of the other smart speakers, as it’s connected to Alexa in the cloud.

As with the big Echo, there’s the new power-saving mode, which cuts energy use while the speaker’s not being used. Well, provided you don’t have Spotify as your default music service and there aren’t any notifications waiting.

Sound quality used to be a big weakness of the Echo Dot range, but here things are better. While there’s the same 1.6-inch speaker as on previous models, here it faces forwards, rather than downwards. That makes audio, clearer and more defined. We wouldn’t listen to a lot of music on this model, but the audio quality is great for voice responses and talk radio or podcasts.

It’s hard to beat the Echo Dot (4th Generation) for price, and it’s a great budget smart speaker provided you don’t want to listen to a lot of music on it.

Full review: Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation)

Full review: Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (4th Generation)

Reviewer: David Ludlow

Effectively an Echo Dot with a makeover, the Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) Kids is available as a cute tiger or panda. Forget about the kids, there are plenty of adults that would like this smart speaker. While looks alone may be enough to convince some people to buy this speaker over the regular one, you’re also getting a bit more for your £10.

First, the speaker comes configured ready for parental controls. Note that you can also turn on parental controls on any existing Echo Dot, Echo and Echo Plus smart speakers.

Parental controls give you a safe space for your kids to use Alexa with. With these controls, you assign a child’s profile to the speaker, which lets you limit when a device can and can’t be used, with an option to manually pause, plus you can turn on explicit lyric filtering for music.

It’s possible to turn off smart home control, too, although we’d like to see this on a more granular level: why shouldn’t a child be able to turn on the bedroom light using voice, for example? Parents will be pleased to know that voice purchasing is disabled by default and you can turn off communication to stop your kids from broadcasting messages around the house.

The extra £10 that this speaker costs, over the standard model, gets you two things. First, there’s the worry-free two-year guarantee, where Amazon will replace the speaker if it gets broken in the first two years. Secondly, there’s a year’s subscription to Kids+, which gets you some additional games, audiobooks and educational quizzes. Kids+ works across all Amazon devices, so you’ll notice additional content available on Fire tablets, for example.

Otherwise, it’s business as usual, as this Kids edition acts and sounds exactly the same as the standard Echo Dot. If you’ve got kids in the house, particularly younger ones, this is a great way to let them play with Alexa without worrying about what they’re doing.

Full review: Amazon Echo Dot (4th Generation) Kids

Reviewer: David Ludlow

Rather than just rehashing the old design, the Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd Generation) is a very different product from its predecessor. The main change is the new design, with the 10-inch screen floating on a large round base.

This is the motorised base, which lets the Echo move a full 360-degrees, which it does automatically. Once the Echo Show 10 has been configured for its home position, activating Alexa does two things: first, the microphones work out roughly where you are and start to move the screen, then the camera locks onto you and tracks you, keeping the screen facing you.

It sounds like a silly upgrade, but it’s really useful, particularly in spaces where you’re likely to be more mobile, such as a kitchen. As you walk around cooking, anything you ask Alexa can always clearly be seen on screen, whether that’s a weather report or a video for a recipe that you’re following.

This fancy movement mode is also useful for video calls. Combined with the 13MP camera, the Echo Show 10 can automatically track and follow you, zooming in to keep you (or a group of you) perfectly in frame. It’s a very clever trick.

It’s not a perfect system, though. The screen can take a long time to return to its home position, and it can sometimes keep moving when it really doesn’t need to. For the most part, Amazon does get things right.

The 10-inch screen is big enough to watch videos on, with support for Netflix and Amazon Prime video, although we suggest watching films and programmes that don’t particularly benefit from a big screen.

Sound quality is also excellent, with dual 1-inch tweeters and a 3-inch woofer. There’s attack and presence here, with the Echo Show 10 delivering great audio, whether you’re listening to music or watching a film

This model has the standard set of controls: volume, mute and a camera privacy slider. It also gives you the same interface as the other Show displays: Alexa shows you additional information on-screen, such as the current weather or controls to tweak a smart home command.

An incredible bit of engineering, the Echo Show 10 (3rd Generation) has a moving screen that’s genuinely useful. It delivers, quite possibly, the best overall Alexa experience, although that comes at a price, and the cheaper Echo Show 8 is far better value.

Full review: Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd Generation)

Reviewer: David Ludlow