The all-new Amazon Echo is a potentially revolutionary voice-assistant device disguised as a boring, tube-shaped speaker. Always on, and always connected to the internet through wi-fi, the speaker springs into action as soon as it hears the wake word: “Alexa.” And once it’s woken up, users can ask the Echo for almost any kind of information – music, weather, news, or even just a shopping list addition.

“It’s like having the internet on your kitchen table, cracking jokes and settling bets,” writes Gizmodo’s Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan. “It’s the most innovative device Amazon’s made in years.”

Amazon’s innovation lies in providing a voice-activated assistant that is not tied to or bundled with any device. Unlike Siri, which lives on the iPhone, or Google’s voice recognition software, which needs either a phone or a computer, Echo is right there sitting on a counter top or kitchen table.

Users will not even have to be right up close to Echo to use it. Amazon boasts that an array of seven microphones on the speaker use “beam-forming technology to hear you from any direction. With enhanced noise cancellation, Echo can hear you ask a question even while it’s playing music.”

Of course, just because a device is “potentially” revolutionary does not mean the revolution is guaranteed to occur. Major questions remain as to whether the artificial intelligence inside the Echo can match Siri or Google.

“The key to Siri is its AI, and if Amazon’s Echo doesn’t perform as well (or surprisingly does better), I bet that will be the reason why,” tweeted Tech observer Tim Carmody.

The Echo is currently selling by invitation only for $199. Prime members can snag one for $99, with an invite.