Nothing says it's the holiday season like a brand-new Amazon device. Amazon has been expanding its product lineups left and right this year, from its speaker options with the revived Echo Spot to a relaunch of the entire Kindle line (with some hiccups). Now the Echo Show family is getting a big update. Literally--it's getting a massive, 21-inch device added to the roster. The Echo Show 21 ( 400) is the newest member of Amazon's vast list of Echo-powered devices, with a 21-inch display.

There are a ton of tricks that smart displays can do. But not all of them are created equal or are worth doing on this style of advice. The basics are easy--just about anyone knows how handy it is to ask any smart speaker or smart display to tell you the weather or play music. It's their best use case, especially since smart displays like the Echo Show can give you more weather details onscreen. But that's not all these handy devices do, and for the price you should get the most out of any smart display you buy.

Amazon is ringing in Presidents' Day with big sales on its Echo devices, including its fourth-generation Amazon Echo. The smart speaker is currently down to 55 from 100 -- a 45 percent discount. Though released in 2020, Amazon's 4th-gen Echo is still its latest iteration and has held its weight over the years. We even named it 2024's best smart speaker under 100. So, what makes the 4th-gen Amazon Echo so great?

It's no secret that Amazon Prime Day is one of the best times of the year to pick up an Echo speaker. That was true for the main sales event in July, and it's true again for October. Most of Amazon's smart speakers and smart displays are down to record-low prices, or close to them, so Prime members can pick them up for some of the best prices we've seen all year. If you've wanted to add to your smart home setup, or build one from scratch, now's a great time to get an Alexa-enabled device. Here are all of the best Prime Day deals on Echo Dots, Echo Show displays and more.

Amazon's Echo Show 15 is now useful as a tiny TV. The company has released a promised free update that brings the Fire TV interface to the smart display. As on other devices, you can stream from a range of apps (including Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube) with an on-screen carousel that helps you find content and resume shows. This will be familiar to anyone who's used even a basic Fire TV Stick, but the Echo Show's design offers a few interface twists. You can use Alexa to open apps or stream specific content, and use either a paired Alexa Voice Remote or the controls in the mobile Fire TV app to navigate without smudging the screen.

If you are looking for a smart home hub and security camera, consider the Aqara Camera Hub G3. It uses artificial intelligence and video to monitor a room, and its powerful sensor can capture razor-sharp video. It even has a night vision mode for night-time surveillance. The Amazon Echo Show 15 offers a bulletin-board style display with the familiar Alexa host. The screen can be used for organizing your household by adding appointments to your calendar, items to your shopping list, or a homework reminder. You can control your home devices with it and make voice chats with your family.

Amazon has kicked off another sale on its Echo Show smart devices ahead of Black Friday. Among the discounts are the Echo Show 5 down to $35, the Echo Show 8 down to $70, and both the Echo Show 10 and Echo Show 15 each down to $170. The Kids edition of the Echo Show 5 is also on sale for $40. We've seen all of these deals at various points in the past, but each match the lowest prices we've tracked to date, including the discounts we saw during the company's Prime Early Access Sale in October. There's a chance things drop lower on Black Friday proper, but since Amazon is advertising these offers as "early Black Friday deals," we'd expect them to carry over.

If you've been in the market for a large smart display, it might be worth taking a look at Amazon's Echo Show 15, which is currently on sale. You can snap one up for $190, which is $60 off the regular price of $250. Amazon released the device last year and we gave it a score of 78 in our review. We admired the large, bright screen and the picture frame design. We found the widgets (which include ones for headlines, weather, calendar, sticky notes, recipe suggestions and package delivery tracking) to be handy.

Aside from Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day is the best time of year to pick up an Echo device since most of them are deeply discounted. Amazon didn't disappoint this year -- all of its Echo Show smart displays are on sale for Prime Day, key among them being the Echo Show 8 for $75. Also on sale are the Echo Show 5 for only $35, the swiveling Echo Show 10 for $180 and the Echo Show 15 for $180 as well. It's the second-generation Show 8 that you can get for $75, and we gave it a score of 87 when it came out last year. We like its 8-inch, 1,280 x 800-resolution touchscreen, minimalist design and solid sound quality.

The Echo Show 15 is Amazon's biggest Alexa smart display and is designed to be a command centre or digital noticeboard for all the family. It is considerable larger than the rest of Amazon's Echo Show devices, which were recently given a motorised screen and small desk-ready displays. That illusion is furthered by its wall-mountable form – it is designed to be hung in a central place like the digital equivalent of the pinboards common to kitchens of homes of the 1980s, and can be mounted in landscape or portrait orientation. It can be bought with a stand for £30 more if you would rather not screw 2.2kg of technology into your wall. The 1080p touchscreen is bright and crisp when viewed at arm's reach.