With non-essential shops opening back up in the UK this week, Amazon has decided it’s no longer crass to put its tech products on sale… which is oddly comforting.
Amazon has discounted 15 products across its Echo, Fire TV and Blink lines. So if you’ve been looking around your home in despair at all its ugly unconnectedness the past few months, read on for our top picks, as per our fully tested WIRED Recommends guide to the best Alexa compatible tech. All the deals below run until June 24 with the Fire TV discounts ending on June 26.
What is it? We’ve tried out all the Echo smart speakers and we reckon the Dot with Clock is the best bet for most people. Not only is it a super affordable gateway to Alexa voice controls for your lights etc, it’s the best-sounding Dot, the mic is sensitive enough for you to talk quietly to the smart assistant and the design is both compact and unobtrusive while thanks to the LED clock still useful.
What’s the real saving? Amazon lists this one as £25 off the RRP. While strictly true, the Dot with Clock’s been going for £40 recently. Still £5 off an already ludicrously cheap Alexa controller is worth it. Get a few.
Get the Echo Dot with Clock for £35 on Amazon
What is it? Our top Amazon pick for kids tablets is the Fire 8 HD Kids Edition (£130) but the now much cheaper seven-inch tab is also well worth a look. You get a seven hour battery life, decent enough seven-inch screen and 16GB of storage as well as the all-important parental controls, drop-proof case with a kickstand and a year’s access to the books, apps and games on Kids Unlimited.
What’s the real saving? Prices on all the Fire tablets bob up and down but it’s £30 off the already very reasonable retail price. The regular Fire 7 is also on sale, down to £50.
Get the Fire 7 Kids Edition for £70 on Amazon
What is it? The best all round Alexa A/V device, the Fire TV Cube gives you hands-free voice control of your TV as well as any Sky boxes, soundbars and AV receivers. The 4K HDR picture quality is superb, the interface is easy to get on with, performance is lickety-split and if you have the right kit, there’s Dolby Atmos support too.
What’s the real saving? The Cube is £20 off this week, on a regular price of £110. That’s still at least double the sub-£50 Fire TV sticks, which sell by the Amazon warehouse-load, but we think it’s worth considering.
Get the Fire TV Cube for £90 on Amazon
More Amazon device deals
£10 off Fire TV Stick 4K, down to £40: You’re getting terrific 4K picture quality out of this budget streaming stick that does Netflix and Disney+ and comes with an Alexa Voice Remote.
Echo Dot is £20 off, down to £30: Don’t need the clock? Go for the basic, third gen Dot.
Echo Show 5 is £20 off, now £60: This is a good price for Amazon’s nifty, compact smart display, a nice addition to bedside tables or kitchen worktops that does video calls.
Blink XT2 is down to £75, £25 off this week: This is Amazon’s 1080p smart security camera that can be used indoors or outdoors. The best bit? No extra monthly fees for cloud storage.
£5 off Echo Input, down to £20: Don’t need the speaker but want the smarts? This is a plug-in Alexa controller with a USB port for charging phones and 3.5mm and Bluetooth to connect to your existing speaker setup.
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