I have had an Echo in the UK for a couple of years nearly, since the original US trial. I suspected that the UK switch on would have some teething issues, so have not migrated my Echo to the UK system yet, and instead let others work out all the kinks. I would say if you have just bought a UK Echo do bear with it, it is very very good, and all the things which are not yet released in the UK so far will come. Amazon has been adding new things to the Echo almost weekly for two years, and the same will happen for the UK version. IFTTT is getting worked on now. Amazon almost never give timescales but this doesn't necessarily mean it is a long way off. IFTTT is useful for a lot of things, as it means you can voice control all manner of devices which are not strictly compatible with the Echo. It means greater choice of automated devices, and all manner of uses. Means you can send your Echo shopping list to an email, or another service which make it easier to take to the shops on your phone, or maybe print it. I created one recipe which checks the weather forecast for snow and warns me on my smartwatch (nothing to do with Echo!). Still another of my recipes, checks an electronic thermometer in my house & switches on my heating overnight if the temperature really drops, if it is switched off. When on the echo you can trigger anything with a command. When it comes out soon, get it and have a play with it. The good news is anyone can create or publish their 'recipes' which make it work, so this also means there are hundreds of thousands of ready made ones available, so you don't need to create them yourself.
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