Get an Amazon Echo Dot for Christmas? Discover the 3 features that revolutionized my smart home setup
Make the most of your Alexa with these game-changing smart home features
· TechRadarFeatures By Cesci Angell published 27 December 2025
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If you found an Amazon Echo Dot under the tree this Christmas or you’ve treated yourself to one with a gift card, I’m delighted to say that you now own one of the most versatile smart speakers on the market.
Whether you have one smart device or twenty, an Amazon Echo Dot makes controlling them almost effortless, thanks to voice commands and its compatibility with the best smart home devices.
I use my Echo Dot every day to control my TV, air purifiers, lights, and more, and the impressive variety of routines and automations in the Alexa app has my home running like clockwork. What’s more, you can even pair it with accessories to smarten up standard gadgets, but I’ll share more on that later.
To make sure you’re getting the most out of your new Echo Dot, I’m gifting you a selection of the best smart home features I use in my home, which I highly recommend you try out for yourself.
Reliable Routines
The Routines feature is quite possibly the thing I love most about my Echo Dot, and I recommend experimenting with some of your own creations to see just how game-changing they can be.
As someone who thrives on structure and routine, and happens to own a lot of smart devices, I couldn’t help but get a little excited about the number of automations available to me.
Custom routines are satisfyingly simple to create. They can be set to run at scheduled times or in response to a specified event, such as your Echo Dot detecting the sound of an appliance beeping or an alarm being dismissed.
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