What Is Alexa and What Does It Do? Amazon Alexa Features

This is a fruitful and exciting time for anyone interested in home automation. Besides the many devices that make up a smart home, such as lighting, air conditioning, locks, and smart plugs, there are also virtual assistants, which help manage all the other devices. Among them, one of the most important is certainly Amazon's Alexa.

If you want to find out what Amazon Alexa does, so you can keep looking for good products to automate your home and ensure comfort and security, read the following topics carefully.

What is Amazon Alexa?

Alexa is the virtual assistant from Amazon, the e-commerce giant: software that talks with the user by voice and carries out everyday tasks automatically, with the goal of making people's lives easier. It works on Echo speakers, on Fire TV, and in the Alexa app on your phone.

Alexa competes with other assistants, such as Apple's Siri and Google Assistant, which, according to an announcement Google made in 2025, will give way to Gemini for Home on the brand's speakers and displays. Microsoft's Cortana, which also competed in this space, was removed from Windows in 2023.

Alexa has spoken Portuguese since October 2019, when Amazon launched Echo speakers in Brazil. The system can understand the different accents across Brazil and the specific vocabulary of each region, as well as words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently.

What does Amazon Alexa do?

Alexa's main functions are shopping on Amazon, making calls, playing music, running routines, and controlling the smart devices in your home, all by voice command. To get the most out of this system, it's essential to understand what each of these five features really does.

1. Online shopping

One of the advantages, and also a differentiator, of Amazon's assistant is the ability to shop in the simplest way possible. With a few commands, you order products from Amazon, and Alexa uses your account's default address and payment method. Voice purchasing is turned on in the Alexa app, where you can also require a voice code to confirm each order and avoid accidental purchases.

2. Calls

Another interesting option is making hands-free calls. Using only voice commands, you call contacts who also use Alexa, on an Echo device or in the Alexa app. Alexa calls don't work for regular phone numbers or for emergency services.

3. Working with Amazon Music

Amazon Music is the company's music streaming service, and it works directly with the virtual assistant. So you can listen to music at any time with a simple voice command. This is very useful when you're already busy with another task and want music playing in the room. Alexa also works with other services, such as Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music.

4. Routines

Another interesting feature is setting up routines. They work like this: you set up a series of actions that will run in sequence from a single command. In other words, you can make the most of the convenience of voice and do several tasks at once.

So you can, for example, ask for the weather forecast and the news when you wake up, or the traffic conditions and some music when you leave for work. This can be combined with the other features we've already seen to further improve your daily life and productivity.

5. Controlling smart devices

It's also worth mentioning the ability to integrate with smart devices, which opens up a set of useful features. You can connect Alexa to Fire TV, to start shows or movies, or to smart bulbs, locks, sensors, and plugs. That way, Alexa controls every corner of the house and brings comfort and convenience, with voice control.

What is Amazon Echo?

Echo is Amazon's line of smart speakers with Alexa built in, on sale in Brazil since 2019. The generation launched that year had a 3-inch woofer and Dolby sound for good-quality lows, mids, and highs, as well as a Bluetooth connection to play music directly from your phone or tablet. Today, the lineup sold in Brazil includes models such as the Echo Dot, the Echo Dot Max, the Echo Studio, and the Echo Show devices, which have a screen. The newest Echo devices, such as the Echo Dot Max, come with a built-in smart home hub compatible with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread.

Alexa is one of the most popular assistants today, with a number of truly appealing features for anyone who wants comfort and security in a smart home. With a vast number of skills (Alexa's apps), it's a great technology for managing other devices and keeping the user in control.

What changes with Alexa+

In February 2025, Amazon introduced Alexa+, the new generation of the assistant, with generative artificial intelligence. It arrived in Brazil in June 2026, in early access and in Portuguese. Alexa+ understands requests made in your own words, keeps the context of the conversation without you having to repeat "Alexa" in every sentence, and learns your preferences. In the smart home, just say "it's dark in here" and it turns on the lights in the room.

According to Amazon, Alexa+ is free during early access; after that, it's included in a Prime membership or costs R$ 99.90 per month for non-members.

Alexa or Google Home: which one should you choose?

Echo Dot or Google Nest Mini? The assistants on both do almost the same things: they control the home, play music, create routines, and answer questions in Portuguese. The choice depends more on the services you already use than on the device:

• Artificial intelligence: Alexa+ is already in early access in Brazil, in Portuguese. Gemini for Home, which replaces Google Assistant on Nest speakers, had not yet arrived in Brazil or in Portuguese as of October 2026.

• Services: people who shop on Amazon and subscribe to Prime get more out of Alexa; people who use Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube, and an Android phone get more out of Google.

• Smart home: both work with Matter, and the same Matter device can be shared between them, as long as each one has its own hub. With Amazon, the hub comes in the newest Echo devices; with Google, the Thread hub is in devices such as the Nest Hub (2nd generation), the Nest Hub Max, and the Google TV Streamer.

• TV: Alexa controls Fire TV; Google controls the Google TV Streamer and TVs with Google Cast.

To compare at your own pace, also see what Google Home is for. And nothing stops you from using both in the same house.

As with the other assistants, it's essential to stay up to date to discover what's new in the system.

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