5 things I love about Amazon’s new Echo Show — and 3 things I don’t

Amazon’s latest Echo Show smart display will launch this week. They’re designed specifically for the new AI-powered Alexa Plus, which comes pre-loaded in the US. I’ve had a few days to play with them, and I have some early thoughts to share.

Overall, the hardware is a big upgrade from Latest generation display 8 and Aging display 10. It’s sleeker, with more modern hardware, a more responsive touchscreen, and packed with radios and sensors. It’s also powered by the new AZ3 Pro processor, making it faster. New offers look ready to receive Center stage in your smart home.

But Amazon tells me the devices will still be on sale Full screen ads The company recently introduced its devices. This greatly reduces my enthusiasm for new devices.

the Echo Display 8 ($179.99) and Echo Show 11 ($219.99)) are mostly identical to each other, except for the larger 10.95-inch HD touchscreen on the 11. The 8 features a smaller 8.7-inch HD display. If you want more space to see your Ring cameras, watch Prime Video, or use your calendar frequently, choose the 11. If you just want to use the screen to control music, smart home devices, and quick information like the weather and shopping lists, the 8 is fine.

Both offerings share the same rectangular speaker base wrapped in 3D fabric that houses a 2.8-inch woofer and two full-range drivers, so they have the same sound. They both run Amazon’s new Vega OS, and feature a 13-megapixel camera along with support for Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, and the Thread, Matter, and Zigbee smart home protocols. They also have Wi-Fi sensor presence detection in addition to existing ultrasonic sensors and temperature sensors built-in, which can be used to trigger Alexa Routines.

The most striking thing about the new offerings is the hardware. The fabric-covered speaker and thin floating screen are a significant step forward from the chunky design of the bezel-heavy Echo Show 8 (3rd generation) or Echo Show 15. Amazon has combined a good touch interface with an improved speaker on these devices, allowing them to serve as excellent voice controllers and intuitive touchscreens.

The touchscreen is more responsive than previous iterations — it’s not as responsive as a tablet or smartphone, but it’s much closer. This makes using it to access content, like music or smart home controls, smoother and less frustrating.

I’m also a big fan of color-matched, fabric-wrapped cables, which lie flat and add a touch of sophistication to devices that were previously lacking (white cables with black smart speakers are a crime against design).

I’ve had difficulties handling voice commands on the Echo Show devices, especially the Show 15 and 21. I’ll talk to the one in my kitchen, and the Echo Spot in my bedroom will answer—not helpful when setting a timer for my waffles. The new displays responded to my voice every time, even with other devices nearby, which is a huge improvement.

Alexa Plus on the Shows is optional during setup (in the US) and brings… More conversational voice assistant He has More capabilities. However, my favorite feature of Alexa Plus so far is not having to say the wake word repeatedly. Especially in the kitchen, where I put the 11th View, being able to add multiple items to my shopping list on the go and ask questions about my calendar, the weather, etc., without constantly saying Alexa, is really nice. I wish he could still listen longer between commands; It seems to cut off in about 15 seconds.

Traditionally, Echo Shows have been voice-first, so they’re easier to control and use using voice than touch. The new interface in these displays (which will also be coming to existing displays) finally allows for more intuitive touch control, making interacting with the display more like using a tablet.

The biggest improvement is that instead of swiping down from the top of the screen, there’s now a small menu button at the top left. Having a target makes accessing additional controls much easier.

The menu opens to menus for brightness, camera, Do Not Disturb toggle, and other settings, along with buttons that take you to other screens, including audio, video, smart home, photo slideshows, and more.

I really like the Audio Music page, which now gives you five tabs to scroll and browse, allowing you to choose music, ambient sounds, podcasts, and audiobooks. The audio playback screen is now easier to access and allows you to control content on multiple speakers with just a few taps.

I like the improved calendar layout. They’re larger, easier to read, and offer multiple views of the day, week, and month. I’ve enjoyed using the new Alexa Plus Calendar Import feature, which allows me to email events to Alexa or upload a post or photo via the app, and it will import the events.

It’s similar to the feature I tested and loved Skylight calendar It’s a great productivity upgrade. (Although it only works on personal Google accounts, which is annoying.)

4. Smarter smart home control panel

The new smart home dashboard in Views is easy to access with two taps, or by saying “Alexa, open your smart home dashboard.” It moves seamlessly between rooms, cameras, and sets, like lights, locks, and shadows. I would love to have the option to keep this full screen, but I think that’s the reason Echo axis is intended for. The home screen can display a somewhat limited smart home widget.

I’m still not a huge fan of the gadgets, and I haven’t seen much improvement with the new ones. They still feel big and clunky. Not very useful.

Amazon says a new customizable smart home widget is coming to the offerings that will offer a snapshot of your Ring camera feeds, the status of your smart home devices, along with contextual updates from the cameras. I’m excited to try it.

5. Better video integration

Speaking of Ring, the new projectors offer a lot for Ring users. You can view multiple video streams at once, access the live feed from any camera, and see the stream from all your cameras in your Smart Home dashboard. Video is also sharper on the Show 11 thanks to its higher resolution.

If you have Ring Premium, you can take advantage of Ring’s AI-powered video search and ask Alexa to show you specific moments, like “Show me every time my cat was on the back porch today.” Amazon says it’s rolling out personalized alerts soon, so you can ask Alexa to notify you when you see a cat on your porch.

The company also says the Home Highlights feature is in development. This looks similar to Google Home SummaryWhere Alexa will provide a summary of things that happened around your house. This will lead to another new feature, “Missed Habits,” where Alexa will look for patterns in your home and alert you when you’ve forgotten to do something, like take out the trash. This all sounds very useful, if it works. But none of this is alive yet.

Three things I don’t like

There’s no physical camera shutter in either new offering. Alternatively, you can press the mute button above the two volume controls on the right side of the screen to deactivate the camera and microphone. I realize that the thin bezel – one of my favorite features – limits the ability to add a physical shutter, but I wouldn’t like that feature to go away.

The new TV and video monitor looks great, but is very limited. The only native apps are Prime Video and Fire TV channels; All other tools for YouTube, TikTok, HBO, etc., run a web browser. Amazon just needs to go further and make the Show 8 and Show 11 full Fire TV devices, like the Show 15 and Show 21.

Although I haven’t seen any ads on my test units yet, Amazon has assured me that the Display 8 and Display 11 will display full-screen ads between your content. Which would really ruin the overall more polished look that this new upgraded device brings to the Alexa experience.

I’ll have a full review soon, but so far these new offerings look like their most capable—and most rambunctious—Echo devices yet.