Amazon's Echo smart speakers just became even better buys

Amazon's best smart speakers just got even smarter. The retail giant is one of the supporters of Matter, the new smart home interoperability standard, and it's just made a whopping 17 Amazon devices Matter-compatible. There is a catch, but it's a small one: for now it's only over Wi-Fi and only for Android app users. 

All the details are on the Amazon developer portal, but here's the short version: Matter support is now available on the Echo Dot (5th Gen), Echo Dot (5th Gen) with clock, Echo (4th Gen), Echo Dot (3rd Gen, 2018 release), Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen, 2021 release), Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen, 2021 release), Echo Show 15, Echo Dot (Gen 3 with Clock), Echo Dot (Gen 4 with Clock), Echo Show 5, Echo (v3), Echo Dot Gen 4, Echo Input, Echo Flex and Echo Show 8.

Matter support is good news for every smart home

Matter helps solve the single biggest irritation about smart home tech: rival, incompatible smart home platforms. WIth Matter, it shouldn't matter whether you have Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Alexa, Samsung SmartThings or any other platform. If it works with Matter, it'll work.

Matter looks set to become an important standard because it has widespread support from pretty much everyone you can think of: not just the platform owners already mentioned but also stacks of consumer electronics firms too. If you're thinking of buying any new smart home kit in the coming months, make sure it's either got Matter compatibility or will be getting it soon. It'll help make your smart home work so much better.