Amazon Echo (2020) review: Small in stature, mighty in sound

It's been over five years since the first Amazon Echo arrived, showing people how useful a virtual assistant in your home could be. Amazon has added tons of new features to Alexa, its virtual assistant, over those years -- and as such, new Echo hardware isn't quite as exciting. Of course, that hasn't stopped Amazon from updating its devices on a more-or-less annual basis, as well as launching tons of Echo variants. Last year's Echo was one of the best smart speakers we'd used, adding the improved speakers first found in 2018's $150 Echo Plus at a lower $100 price point. This year, however, Amazon has made some of the most significant hardware updates to the Echo yet, including a fresh design and some high-end features brought over from the more expensive Echo Plus. Even so, Amazon's pedigree in the category might give it the advantage here.