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Amazon is working really hard to eventually become the only place where you can buy most of your day to day goods. And they are doing so by streamlining the buying process. With the Amazon echo you can yell at Alexa to order you almost anything you want. And now Amazon has released the Echo Show to world, a wonky looking Smart Speaker with a touch screen on the front. So is it worth the money? Lets find out! Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe!
When it comes to smart speakers and smart home control solutions Amazon is gong all in. The Echo Show joins a diverse family of smart speakers made by amazon to keep their users using amazon. It comes in two color ways, white or black and retails for $229.99. Having an Amazon echo with a touch screen on the front carries a $50 premium. The normal Amazon Echo can be had for $179.99. Theres also the smaller and portable Amazon Echo tap for $129.99 and theres the Amazon Echo Dot for $49.99. If you want to pick either one of these smart speakers up I’ll have links in the description below. And I’ll have a separate link so you can try Amazon Prime for free for 30 days! Unlimited FREE two-day shipping for everyone!
Regarding what comes inside the box, you really only get the Amazon Echo Show and a power cord. Thats it. First impression is it’s heavy and its very well put together. theres a huge rubber pad on the bottom so its not going to be moving around if you're playing music with a lot of bass. design wise, I would have preferred if they just made it a rectangle. But i’ll give them the benefit of the doubt cause it looks like they used all that extra space on the bottom to cram in some good sounding speakers. More on those in a minute.
Apparently Amazon didn't get the memo that this was the year of no bezels cause this thing has some huge bezels. especially the top one, it gives it a big forehead but it does house a 5 mega pixel camera. There are 3 buttons on the top… a volume up button, volume down button, and an on off button that also serves as a do not disturb button ( it shuts off the mic and camera). The touch screen on the front is 7 inches and its very responsive, and it does a great job of repelling figure prints. Theres an 8 microphone array built in which honestly blew me away. There are dual 2 inch dolby speakers behind the grill and on the back there are no ports besides the AC in. and running everything under the hood is an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 processor.
Ok, Echo Show, its a smart speaker with a touch screen on the front that looks like a tv from the early 2000’s what can it do? We’re going to skip the basic stuff that all of the other reviews have covered. Yeah you can ask it goofy questions, ask for the weather, ask for your commute time, set timers, and theres that new drop in feature that everyone is worried about. But whats it like actually living with this thing? To get the most out of the Amazon Echo Show I think it should live in your kitchen. I think the Amazon Echo Show will put an end to the atrocity that are "Smart Refrigerators” that just have touch screens on the front.
You can ask the Echo Show to give you flash briefings from sources and on certain topics you yourself pick. So you can walk in to the kitchen in the morning for breakfast and your Echo Show can get you up to speed in a few minutes. You can also tell it to show you recipes, and since theres a screen on the front following the instructions is just that much easier. You can even tell Alexa to scan a barcode for you and you can do your grocery shopping right then and there. Running low on ketchup, syrup, and creatine? just hold it up to the echo show and it’ll order it for you. Sure you can tell the normal Echo verbally what you want to order, but being able to see what you're buying before hand just gives you peace of mind knowing you ordered the right thing. You can even scroll through different options.
But smart speakers are only worth using if they can hear you and understand you accurately. Thanks to the 8 microphone array built into the Echo Show, Alexa had no issue hearing and understanding me even when i was 15 feet away talking in my normal voice. Very rarely did i have to speak up or annunciate. Alexa could also hear me just fine even when i had the Echo Show playing music at full volume. A feature that Apple spoke very highly of when they announced their HomePod.
I also found the Echo Show is good for listening to music. You can pair it to your phone using bluetooth. The bass is deep and the highs are clear and theres good depth to the music as well. And since its sitting on a thick rubber pad it dosnt move around when the bass really gets going like some of my other wireless speakers. You can also watch youtube videos on the Echo Show.
But the Echo Show isn't just for shopping and for listening to music. Thanks to all of the skills the Echo Show has its also a great solution for controlling your smart home. The Echo Show can show you what the your nest camera or Ring doorbell sees and you can set the lighting if you have smart light bulbs. As the Echo eco systems ages developers will be able to improve upon the Echo Show, especially with that touch screen.
But there are some gripes i do want to point out about the Echo Show. For starters its the OS. There are so little instances where you can actually use the touch screen it baffles my mind. Theres no App store so you cant just add more skills by using the Echo Show you have to do that on your phone. Theres also this sense that the Echo Show is always trying to up sell you to use more and more amazon products and download more amazon apps on your phone. I also don't like how you cant actually log into your youtube account and play videos from your subscription feed. I would really like to be able to play certain videos on the echo show while i do the dishes or cook.
So where does this leave the Echo Show? I would put the Echo Show in the same category as the Apple Watch, its not a must have product. But its nice to have and once you get used to it, its hard to go without it. It sounds good for a $230 wireless speaker and theres a touch screen on the front. Its great for consuming news and keeping you up to date on everything that matters to you. You can also do most of your grocery shopping from it, which honestly is my favorite feature. If you're building out your smart home the echo show can really come in handy especially with that touch screen. Although I feel the OS is a little premature I know that once developers start releasing new skills specifically made for the Echo Show, its going to transform into a whole other beast. Just give it a little time.