Amazon Echo features: Smart speaker | Voice control | Smart home hub | Privacy controls

The Amazon Echo is the best Alexa device overall, offering convenience with over 100,000 skills and efficiency in a compact package. 

As a built-in smart hub, this model is one of the best in the Echo line, allowing users to check the time, set alarms, turn on the lights, and control locks via sensors from Zigbee, Matter, or certain Ring smart lighting devices. 

“I can’t believe how smart the Echo is,” says developer Alex Contes, who uses the Echo in his home. “And I love how it incorporates subtle touches like asking me questions or making observations in response to my voice requests.” 

These “nice touches,” however, actually come hands-free, allowing for voice and even motion control. 

And if you like music, the fourth-gen Amazon Echo is a fantastic speaker equipped with dual tweeters and an upward-firing woofer. Additionally, it provides lossless HD audio and easily syncs to other Echo devices for a multi-room experience. Streaming is also easy as the Echo gives you options to stream music from Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, and SiriusXM. Initiate a dance party from wherever your Echo is. stationed all by saying that famous catchphrase, “Hey Alexa.”

Amazon Echo Show 15 features: Smart display | 15.6-inch 1080p smart display | Fire TV integrated | Alexa voice remote

The Amazon Echo Show 15 is not just one of the best Alexa devices, I’d say its one of the best smart home devices you can buy overall. 

“For someone who has a lot of smart home devices that are tied into Alexa for automation, routines, and the like, the Echo Show 15 makes a lot of sense,” says ZDNET writer Jason Cipriani, who tested the device. 

Along with Alexa’s automated smart features like customizable widgets and shared calendars, this display includes a built-in Fire TV encases in a  15.6-inch smart display in Full HD for quick entertainment and clear viewing. You can access over one million movies and TV shows with access to your subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video. Switch between portrait and landscape modes to best suit your content. As an added convenience, a remote is included.

“I definitely see the need and value of a large smart display like the Echo Show 15 for organizing a family, keeping tabs on your smart home gadgets, and even watching live video feeds of your cameras,” concludes Cipriani. 

Using the photo frame feature, the display can also function as an easy access digital picture frame to show off all your memories. 

Review: Amazon Echo Show 15

Amazon Echo Studio features: Smart speaker | Dolby Atmos | Spatial audio processing technology | Voice-controlled 

Amazon Echo Studio combines a smart speaker with a smart home hub, making life more manageable and fun. 

“I welcomed Alexa into my home with the sole purpose of pitting her against Siri to see how the voice assistants performed side by side,” explains ZDNET’s Maria Diaz, who has her own Echo Studio in her home. “In the end, the Echo Studio has become a staple at the heart of our TV room.”

Diaz and her family also benefit from its function as a speaker, appreciating the spatial audio processing technology that makes for a wider, more full-bodied sound in Dolby Atmos. A three-dimensional soundstage means audio comes from all directions, giving you a more immersive listening experience. You can also use your speaker as an intercom or tap into the smart hub for Zigbee or Matter-compatible devices.

“I found the audio quality to be leaps and bounds above that of other smart speakers,” says Diaz, calling it better than the HomePod Mini and Echo Dot.

Review: Echo Studio: Better than ever, but is that enough?

Philips Hue White LED Starter Kit features: Smart lighting | 4 bulbs included | 10 watts | Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant | Color option available 

The Philips Hue White LED Starter Kit is one of the best Philips Hue lights you can buy. These smart lights come in a pack of four white 60-watt bulbs with a smart home hub to control them. Compatibility is fantastic, giving you the option to choose between Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant. 

These LED lights offer energy-efficient lighting with built-in motion sensors. These bulbs are also voice-activated when you have another Alexa device, like the Amazon Echo. Additionally, they promise an easy set-up; simply screw in the bulbs and download the app to get started

“While the Philips Hue starter set above is white only, and not color, the quality of the lighting is still superior to standard bulbs,” says ZDNET’s Charlie Osborne. “I tend to set the lights up for a brighter white when I’m working or studying, and then I can dim them for a more relaxed setting when I’m relaxing.”

The lights are also easy to customize to your preferences and habits. 

“I’ve set up routines, [so] when I say a specific command like “Alexa, good morning,” it turns on my lights, plays my favorite music, and gives me a personalized briefing to start my day,”says Vitaliy Vinogradov, Project Manager at Modern.Place Lighting who uses these lights in his home office. “They have truly elevated my smart home setup.”

Ring Alarm Pro features: Home security system | 8-piece kit | eero Wi-Fi 6 router | Covers up to 1,500 square feet | Optional Ring Protect Pro Plan 

We can’t talk about ways Alexa can elevate your home without discussing home security. And with Ring Alarm Pro, you receive a base station and keypad to manage your security system, keeping your connected home running on a secure mesh Wi-Fi network. 

The eight-piece kit comes fully loaded with an eero Wi-Fi 6 router to keep everything working properly. Also included are four contact sensors for your windows and doors with a motion detector for your choice of room or hallway. An alarm range extender is also included. 

ZDNET covered the Ring Alarm’s release last September and was impressed with the premium upgrades, including online threat protection and its use of data to continuously record even in the case of an internet outage. 

As a bonus, a complimentary 30-day Ring Protect Pro subscription comes with your purchase so you can test out the service free of commitment before the $20 subscription kicks in.