Amazon Echo 2020 review: the best-sounding smart speaker under £100

Amazon's fourth-generation Echo Alexa smart speaker is a complete redesign in form and audio, with the popular device transformed into a ball of sound. The Echo costs £89.99 and is Amazon's mid-range speaker, sitting above the £49.99 Echo Dot and below the £189.99 The first smart speaker on the market, the original Echo set the standard in 2014 with a tall cylinder shape and 360-degree audio – resembling a Pringles can with a speaker in it. Six years later and on its fourth generation, Amazon has now broken the mould with a new spherical shape and directional audio. The plastic and mesh fabric ball has one woofer and two tweeter speakers producing directional, stereo sound – and is designed to sit in the corner of a room rather than the centre of it.