Amazon Echo

From the jury's assessment

Alexa is one of the digital assistants of the connected world, and with the slim black column that is the Amazon Echo it can be activated by voice, addressed and put to a wide variety of uses. Able out of the box only to control Amazon Prime services, the functionality of this wireless active speaker with seven built-in microphones can be extended considerably by way of what are now more than 500 so-called skills. On command it can then play not only music from Amazon but also from other streaming providers, control smart home functions or even carry out banking transactions – and much more besides. The spoken commands of the user are analysed via Amazon cloud storage and are intended to be used to improve speech recognition.

• voice control for internet services and connected hardware and functions
• integrated speaker
• 7 microphones