Alexa can now call phone numbers from Amazon Echo speakers in the UK

You can now ask your Alexa smart speaker to call your mobile contacts in the UK, giving you a hands-free way of staying in touch.

By assigning your mobile number to your Amazon account, and giving it access to your contacts book, you'll be able to ask "Alexa, call mum" and have your smart speaker patch you through to her smartphone.

It's a service which has been available in the US, Canada and Mexico for a while, but now Amazon is rolling it out to UK customers.

Currently, UK customers with Alexa-enabled speakers have only been able to call other Alexa speakers, limiting the appeal a little.

However, with the ability to now call external phone numbers, we can see more people calling upon Alexa to dial friends and family without having to lift a finger.

Alexa speakers: Echo | Echo Dot | Echo Plus | Echo Show | Echo Spot

Vodafone Red customers get more

If you happen to be a Vodafone Red pay monthly customer, you'll also be able to receive calls via your Alexa speaker thanks to the network's OneNumber service, with the smart assistant announcing who is calling while it rings.

For those who have multiple Alexa speakers around the home, you can set a specific one to act as hub for inbound calls - so they don't all ring - and you can easily enable and disable inbound calls.

Alexa calling with Vodafone OneNumber will also continue to work even when your phone has run out of battery, or if you lose it.