So you got an Alexa Echo Dot for Christmas - check out the 3 features that levelled up my smart home

Get an Amazon Echo Dot for Christmas? Discover the 3 features that revolutionized my smart home setup Features (Image credit: Amazon / Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) Cesci Angell published Make the most of your Alexa with these game-changing smart home features 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. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. The latter is particularly useful for stopping your robot hoover starting its scheduled cleaning spree on your day off and ruining your lie-in. A custom voice command can be assigned to each of your routines, too, so you can set the automations running without waiting for the trigger or picking up your phone to adjust your smart device settings manually. If setting up routines from scratch doesn’t sound appealing, you can still enjoy some automation magic by selecting one of the many editable presets available on the Alexa app. There’s a wide range of options, from the practical - having your Echo Dot recite the weather and guiding you through some morning yoga - to niche and novelty options, including getting an alert when your dog wants a treat and having Alexa look after your houseplants. Smart Sensors I must confess, I was oblivious to this particularly clever asset when I first had my Echo Dot 5th Gen : it has built-in motion detection and temperature sensors that can be used for...

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