Amazon’s Echo Show line smart displays adds a touchscreen to Alexa voice control, and this visual approach to smart home assistance makes for a much better experience when you’re asking for the weather forecast or a recipe to follow, or when you want to place a quick video call to a loved one or colleague. If you’ve been looking to add one to your smart home, then your timing couldn’t be better.
Among them is the first generation Echo Show 8 of 2019. As the name suggests, the tent’s highlight is the 8-inch HD touchscreen, but we also appreciated the decent audio and camera quality, as well as the inclusion of a physical privacy shutter that covers the camera lens when you’re not using it. Originally priced at $130, the first-generation Echo Show 8 is now available for just $55, which is half of what Amazon would normally ask for it these days. It’s an outstanding value for an Editors’ Choice winner smart display.
So what did you miss out on by choosing the first-gen Echo Show 8 over the upcoming second-gen? Not much, to be honest. Along with a faster processor, the primary upgrade from last year’s second-generation Echo Show 8 it’s a much higher megapixel camera that Amazon uses to artificially pan and zoom to follow you in frame as you move during a video call. This is neat, but not necessary. The same goes for the display’s built-in second-generation Zigbee radio for connecting lights and locks to your network, and its human detection feature, which uses an intelligent motion-sensing system to trigger Alexa routines when someone enters the room. They’re neat and nice to have, but you’re also not losing too much by skipping them, especially for this value.
Your other Alexa-enabled alternatives will be pint-sized Echo show 5which is probably better suited for a bedroom nightstand due to its smaller stature and snoozeable sunrise alarm, or motorized Echo show 10which can automatically rotate the entire touchscreen to follow you around the room during calls, or a wall-mounted Echo show 15, which is more like a smart king size photo frame. Even at full price, we like the Echo Show 8 as a good choice in this lineup. At $55, it’s a steal.