Smart Home (2018)

Google Home Hub (£139)

Google opted for modest with the Home Hub, building a smart home slate more compact and stylish than Amazon’s £220 Echo Show for a significantly lower price. If Google Assistant is your AI butler of choice, the tablet is absolutely unbeatable for controlling connected devices throughout the home. Whether it’s morning briefings in bed, reading recipes in the kitchen and switching on the heating somewhere in between, home is where the Hub is and its usefulness becomes increasingly apparent the more you invest in Google’s Ecosystem… almost as if they designed it that way, right? And don’t sniff at that £80 saving over an Echo Show, because it’s sort of round amount ripe for fuelling your smart home odyssey with other connected tech.

The runners-up

Amazon Echo Dot (2018) (£49.99)

Still the most accessible and affordable way to add Alexa to your home, the latest Echo Dot has received a makeover that means it blends in more effectively. We just wish the speaker was a bit less rubbish.

Nest Hello (£229)

The humble doorbell has come a long way in recent years – and with excellent image quality, extensive smart home integration and simple setup, Nest’s Hello is the best of the bunch.

Nest Thermostat E (£199)

Don’t fancy the hassle of installing one of Nest’s learning thermostats? The E is easier to hook up and it’s more flexible about where you position it, but you still get the good looks and user-friendly operation.

Lenovo Smart Display (£160)

The design might not suit everybody but Google’s interface is better suited to a screen than Amazon’s Echo Show. If you’re looking for a device to use for video calls, the Smart Display might just be your best bet.