Just like its predecessors, the Echo Dot Max is a smart speaker that you interact with using your voice. Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant is who you chat to, asking it to perform various tasks. You can play music after linking up your favourite streaming service in the Alexa app, or ask it to play a radio station. Amazon says the Echo Dot Max has three times more bass than the 2022 Echo Dot

It can also tap in your calendar, read you a joke, search the web, or even act as a booming speaker for your Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick device.

Better yet, it can even act as the hub to your smart home. Invest in some smart bulbs, for example, and then you’ll be able to control them by talking to the Echo Dot Max.

View the Amazon Echo Dot Max at Argos

And should you have an Eero Wi-Fi router (a brand owned by Amazon, of course) then the Echo Dot Max can also work as a Wi-Fi extender to bring better Wi-Fi signal to the room it is in. Just remember this is a mains powered device, so you have to keep it plugged in.

It has a new design with front-facing buttons to control the volume, and there’s also a prominent button that enables or disables the device’s microphones – handy for when you don’t want the Echo Dot Max constantly listening for the “Alexa” wake word.

If you can make it fit in your life, a smart speaker is certainly a handy gadget to have, and if you get more than one you can link them for stereo sound, or place them in different rooms to have a voice assistant at your beck and call wherever you may roam.