
As a species weโre very particular about who, and what, we talk to.
Weโll happily talk to each other, animals and to ourselves.
We will even give an encouraging word of advice to our rusting Land Rover as it desperately tries to carry 8 people and their respective camping gear up a Welsh hill.
With a gentle pat on the dashboard we remove all the awkwardness of talking to a large diesel engine and transform it into a dear and trusted friend.
Gadgets however, we wonโt talk to. Theyโre lifeless objects, never surviving long enough to warrant the anthropomorphism that the Land Rover does and never failing miserably enough that they need a good shouting at.
It is the last, impenetrable barrier of entry that has stopped us from living out the โStar Trekโ fantasy.
Thatโs not to say that people havenโt tried. Cars tried it first, and failed because they didnโt work. Then phones tried it and they too failed because they also didnโt work.
The technology was a barrier for one thing - it simply wasnโt good enough. Then there was the crushing social awkwardness that had been drilled into us ever since we saw people wandering down the High Street bellowing into their invisible handsfree headsets.
Yet despite everything, the tech companies valiantly fought on. Siri was born and then Googleโs voice assistant and finally, Amazon unveiled Alexa.
This long introduction might seem quite over the top, but to understand why Amazon Echo is so good, you have to understand just how truly awful voice recognition software was in the past.

Amazon Echo is not awful, itโs initially terrifying, then surprising and finally deeply rewarding.
As a piece of hardware Echo is nothing more than an extremely complex walkie talkie. Itโs covered in sensitive omnidirectional mics, contains a powerful speaker and then a control dial which lets you change the volume.

The cheaper Echo Dot forgoes the room-filling speaker instead opting for just the essentials needed to let you talk to it. It comes with additional ports that then let you hook it up to a speaker or Bluetooth speaker of your choice.
What truly makes Amazon Echo powerful is Alexa, the AI-assistant that Amazon has squeezed inside.

Alexa is a cloud-based artificial intelligence that can answer questions, learn to control third-party applications and generally do your bidding.
What really sets Alexa apart from rival services is its sheer conversational ability. Alexa is one of the few systems where you can talk to it as though you would a normal human being.
Want to listen to Radio 1? Simply say at a normal volume: โAlexa play Radio 1โ
It will then immediately know you mean BBC Radio 1, will find a live stream of it from TuneIn and then play it automatically.
Want a roundup of the dayโs news? Simply ask: โAlexa whatโs the news?โ, it will then pull through a Sky News flash briefing followed by Alexa giving you the local weather or the rest of the day.
Many many services can do all this, what sets Alexa and Echo apart form the competition is the way in which you ask for it. You donโt need to pause after saying the words โAlexaโ, just say it in a flowing continuous sentence as you would a human being.
It is this spoken fluidity that gives Alexa the upper edge, you donโt need to think through how youโll ask a particular question. You might even ask it differently, it doesnโt matter Alexa knows youโre after the same result and provides it regardless.
What pushes Echo to the next level is turning it into a remote for your smart home.

We connected Alexa up to our British Gas Hive system and immediately it became the go-to remote control for everything from the lights to the heating.
Commands can be as simple as: โAlexa turn the bedside lamp onโ, or โAlexa itโs cold, turn the heating upโ
For those of you worried about privacy Echo wonโt be recording all your conversations, just the requests. A glowing ring of light indicates when itโs recording as well.
If thatโs still not enough comfort then thereโs a mute button on top which Amazon claims will physically sever the power to the mics, a drastic but necessary approach which means that even if Amazon isnโt listening, no-one else can either.
Who should buy Amazon Echo?
Echo works best when you have other gadgets that it can utilise such as Hive, Nest or Philips Hue. On its own its an incredibly smart speaker, paired with these other gadgets though and it becomes the fully fledged conduit to your home. Itโs also really good at doing homework. Alexa really is the first gadget we actually felt comfortable talking to.
Who shouldnโt buy Amazon Echo?
Echo isnโt a necessity. Itโs not like your lights wonโt turn on without it. Instead itโs a glue that can bind multiple smart home products together and create one unified system. Itโs important to consider if Echo and Alexa on its own is enough to justify having it, for some it wonโt be. For others Echo Dot might be the solution.
Amazon Echo is available now to buy for ยฃ149.99, Echo Dot is available for ยฃ49.99