Fans of pressing buttons, rejoice! Amazon's Echo Buttons (which until now have been exclusive to the US) are finally making their way to the UK, just in time for Christmas.
The buttons connect via Bluetooth to an Amazon Echo device (sold separately), allowing you to play interactive games with your Echo device without having to rely solely on your voice.
The most common games at this point are quizzes, with different players using their buttons to buzz in when they know the correct answer.
Expanding the gaming possibilities
At launch there will be three games available: Trivial Escape Tap, Party Foul and Button Monte, with three more on the way soon.
This isn't the first time games have appeared on the Echo, but previously the limitations of the device have meant that they've been entirely voice controlled, which isn't ideal for anything that relies on lightening-fast response times.
It's great to see the UK finally get access to the buttons (which will be available in packs of two for £19.99 from Amazon) but we're interested to see if they'll ever be used for anything other than games.
With Amazon's increasing focus on the smart home, it would be great to be able to program the buttons to control Echo routines, to avoid having to always ask Alexa to control your smart home out loud.
For now though they can only be used for gaming, which we're sure will keep them busy enough over the Christmas period.
