Everything you need to know about Amazon's new smart button

It could change your shopping habits in a big way

Everything you need to know about Amazon's new smart button

Amazon wants to make it really, really easy for you to buy stuff. Like, scarily easy. 'Press a button' easy.

First it let you buy books with the input of a few banking details, then it introduced the 'Buy it now' button (cause of many drunken purchases at 4am on a Saturday morning) - and now Amazon has launched its Dash Button in the UK.

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Announced back in 2014 and launched in the US last year, Dash Buttons let you order specific products from Amazon by pressing a button.

It's proper 'connected home' stuff: each button is connected to your Wi-Fi, linking it to your Amazon account. On buying your button, you can set it up to be 'paired' with a product of your choice; you can either buy a pre-set one directly from Amazon, or buy an unpaired button and link it to your preferred product via the Amazon App on a smartphone.

Once it's set up, you can then stick or hang the button in a convenient space near the product in question - something you're set to get through on a regular basis, like toilet paper or razor blades. Tap the button when you're running low and a pre-set unit of the product will be ordered from your account.

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Dash Buttons cost £4.99, but it pays for itself as you get a £4.99 discount on your first order. It's a technology that Amazon is eager to see spread throughout homes; this sort of gadget is designed to make it as easy as possible for you to part with your cash as soon as you recognise a need. DON'T go to the supermarket where it could be cheaper - press the Dash Button! NEVER LEAVE YOUR HOME - press the Dash Button. Okay, so it's not quite that sinister, but you get the point.

The service is also only available to Prime customers for the moment; you can find out more here. We look forward to hearing the first stories of teenagers repairing the buttons to have their mum unwittingly buy them a PlayStation 4...