I've owned an Amazon Echo for nearly a year now - here are my 19 favorite features

Dave SmithOct 5, 2016, 22:23 IST

Amazon's Echo, a digital assistant that can be set up in a home or office to listen for various requests, such as for a song, a sports score, the weather, or even a book to be read aloud, is shown, Wednesday, July 29, 2015 in New York. The $180 cylindrical device is the latest advance in voice-recognition technology that's enabling machines to record snippets of conversation that are analyzed and stored by companies promising to make their customers' lives better. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)Mark Lennihan/AP

Mark Lennihan/AP

I activated my Amazon Echo for the first time last December. It's quickly become one of my favorite tech gadgets ever.

Google unveiled a similar device on Tuesday, called Home, but Echo is the device it's trying to emulate. Amazon's speaker, which responds to either "Alexa" or "Amazon," is extremely quick to respond and understands commands much better than anything else I've used.

Thanks to its excellent audio system, with seven microphones for listening and a 360º omni-directional audio grille for speaking, Amazon Echo works exceedingly well wherever I am in my home. I can hear it - and it can hear me - perfectly.

Amazon Echo has completely transformed the way I live in my apartment. There's just so much you can do with Echo. Take a look.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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I've owned an Amazon Echo for nearly a year now - here are my 19 favorite features