The 10 Best Amazon Devices of 2020

The 2nd Gen Fire Cube is impressive for its improved speed over the first edition, thanks to its strong hexa-core processor and ability to stream 4K Ultra HD content with virtually no lag times. It’s also supported by Dolby Vision. The Fire Cube is Amazon’s streaming device, and, while it may not replace your TV remote completely, it’s a seriously impressive addition to your home entertainment system.

Ask Alexa to play from your Netflix or Prime Video accounts, or to switch over to football. Even if the TV is off, voice control via Alexa is still possible to turn off the lights, check the weather, or any other command. Setup is easy and the Fire Cube itself is nondescript enough to fit in with any home entertainment unit. While we’d love to see the option to remove ads from the home screen, it’s overall the best Amazon product for your TV.

The Kindle has long been a favorite with readers everywhere, but the newest Kindle Paperwhite is worth the upgrade. It’s now waterproof, not just water-resistant, and is the thinnest model yet. Combined with a 300 PPI glare-free screen, there’s now no excuse not to do some serious reading at the pool or beach.

The Paperwhite is offered in Black or Twilight Blue, along with the option of 8 GB or 32 GB storage. It can also pair with Audible to turn your Kindle into an audiobook, and Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity mean you’re always able to download your next read.

Kindle claims the battery will last six weeks, but that's based on a half-hour of reading per day without wireless connectivity. In practice, avid readers are likely to go through the battery in days, not weeks.   

Take a look at the best Kindles available.

Fans of the previous Echo Dot, an unobtrusive yet very useful home speaker, will love the Echo Dot with Clock for the addition of an LED clock face. It looks so natural, we wonder why the clock wasn’t always part of the design. This smart speaker is now the perfect bedside accessory or kitchen assistant—use voice control to set an alarm, control your smart home, set a timer, read the news, or check the weather.

The light display automatically adjusts to suit the brightness of the room and the range of subdued color choices mean it will blend in beautifully with any home decor. Since the addition of the LED clock is the biggest improvement to the 3rd generation, current users may not feel the need to replace their Echo Dot just for the addition of the clock. However, it’s a useful, fun, and easy-to-use smart speaker with many practicalities for any room of the home.

The Echo Show 8 is a great smart home hub, thanks to its large, 8-inch HD screen, intuitive controls, and built-in privacy safeguards. The latest edition from the Echo Show family of home hubs, the 8 is a perfect mix of the smaller Show 5 and the larger Show, with a 10” screen.

Link the Show 8 with your Amazon Photo account to turn your screen background into a personalized photo album, control your smart home devices verbally or via the screen, and create customized morning updates and news reports to start and end your day.

It can also double as an entertainment screen for playing Prime Video, music, or to guide you through recipes. It’s also very useful for calling and video calls, but the latter is currently limited to friends and family who also have Echo Shows—we’d love to see them become Skype or Zoom-enabled.

The Echo Studio delivers a premium surround sound experience, thanks to five speakers packed into an aesthetically-pleasing round design, aided by Dolby Atmos technology. Amazon’s first entry into the premium home speaker market offers sharp, clear sound, and adapt to suit the acoustics of the room.

Of course, Alexa is enabled in the Echo Studio, and you can also control your music using your voice. Luckily, this is not limited to Amazon Music—Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, and even Apple Music are all supported. With a subscription to Amazon Music HD, you also open the floodgates to over 50 million songs in the collection.

Although the Echo is certainly an impressive product, its larger size may be a bit overwhelming in smaller rooms. The surround sound market is also so saturated with quality products already, it'll be interesting to see how the Echo stacks up.

Check out our guide to the best Amazon Echo devices.

The Echo Smart Speaker, in its 3rd generation, is perfect for Alexa users who want their Echo to play music, but don’t need a premium speaker like the Echo Studio. Although that’s not to say the Echo 3rd Gen doesn’t deliver; with 360° surround sound powered by Dolby, the Echo offers top-notch performance, and can even be paired with a second unit, or an earlier generation Echo, for a stereo sound experience. 

As with all Echos, you can control your smart home features verbally, ask Alexa questions, check the weather, or use the system as an intercom to communicate with other rooms of your home. It’s available in a range of calming colors and will fit into any room of the home. If you already have an Echo 2nd Gen, you may not need an upgrade though, as the models are very similar.

Amazon’s Echo Buds are coming for Apple’s AirPods, and we definitely see some advantages with Amazon’s wireless earbuds. The sleek, black earbuds are comfortable to wear, thanks to a customizable fit, and the built-in Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology reduces unwanted background noise, making sound quality clear and dynamic. 

The Echo Buds are compatible with Alexa, via the Alexa app, allowing you to have full voice control, hands-free. Although the battery life is decent, offering up to five hours of music playback per full charge, this isn’t quite as long as some of the other wireless earbuds on the market.

If you’re looking to gently introduce your children to smart home technology and Alexa, consider the Echo Glow. It’s a simple, yet smart, nightlight, which can change colors. Although it pairs with Alexa via the app, the Glow doesn't have Echo built-in, and we're glad to see Amazon putting privacy first.

Morning alarms can be set via the Glow, and the Rainbow Timer feature, which counts down the time by changing color, is useful for helping develop routines. The fun color changing settings are popular with kids, such as campfire mode and color flow, and we can certainly see how the Glow could inspire creativity during playtimes.

Bring Amazon into your kitchen with the Smart Oven, an Alexa-controlled cooking device. The name itself is slightly misleading, as this device serves as a convection oven, microwave, food warmer, and an air fryer. The Amazon Smart Oven aims to make cooking a breeze with over 30 presets, ensuring your food is cooked, or fried as it should be. It’s spacious, at 1.5 cu ft, and easy to use.

The Smart Oven works via the Echo Dot, which is included in each package. Unfortunately, the Echo isn’t built into the device. We like the Smart Oven because it can take the guesswork out of cooking, thanks to the cooking presets, an included temperature gauge, and the scan-to-cook feature, allowing you to scan packaged foods via the Alexa app and the oven will then cook them automatically for the correct time.