I know that many media folks have stated that the "Drop-in" feature of the Echos is "creepy" and can see their point. Here's a different perspective. Mom is now almost 95 and she has short term memory dementia, she's in great spirits but I really can't teach her anything technical, like dialing a phone or even pressing a memory dial button. She lives near my sister and is 2 hours away so visiting is always a bit of a project.
I thought I'd try setting a Show next to her rocking chair. I can now "Drop-in" on her every day and share some face time with her, visit with her grand daughter, see the dog whom she LOVES, and just make her smile. The beauty is that there is no interaction needed on her end, the Caregivers and my Mom love this setup. The fact that I can use my phone from anywhere and actually see and talk to Mom, and show her things is hugely entertaining and comforting for Mom, and everyone in the family.
So I say with extreme gratitude, Thank You Amazon for creating an amazingly personally helpful tool for the elderly.
Personally I am enjoying all of the other great features of an Alexa with a screen, using her with my Arlo Cameras, etc. It truly is quite an amazing platform! In my office I added a small Pioneer bookshelf stereo, I can be listening to Spotify, Pandora etc and say "Alexa, connect Bluetooth", the Pioneer stereo is Bluetooth enabled, it can be OFF and with that single voice command, the Show will wake up the Pioneer, and begin playing the sound over its speakers with no other intervention from me! This is magical stuff!
The only bug I have at the moment, "Alexa, turn off the screen", the screen turns off, then immediately turns back on. Tell her again and the screen stays off, pretty consistent bug. Edit- Seems fixed now!
1/06/2018 Still enjoying my Echo Shows very much, I don't expect this to replace a tablet, it does many things very well, besides being indispensable with visiting Mom. Currently there is one in the Kitchen and it is used by the family to play lots of music, having the screen is really nice to be able to see what's playing etc. We are trying Amazon Music and so far it's pretty sweet as well, "Alexa show me all albums from Keith Urban", up comes pictures of all of his 12 or so album covers, touch one and play the album. Alexa, "Connect Bluetooth" and the Show connects to a Bluetooth receiver I have on our whole house stereo. Alexa "Turn on the Stereo", Alexa controls the Logitech Harmony remote to power up the stereo and now we are hearing music everywhere, nice.
We've also added some Ring cameras and doorbell, "Alexa, show me the front door", now I'm looking out front.
Oh, and our doggie monitor/treat shooter, Furbo, "Alexa, ask Furbo to toss a treat" is our dog "Cookie" 's favorite skill!
Bottom line, this is a very powerful system, don't get me wrong we love our Apple products (Phones, iPads, and Macs) but I prefer this Amazon ecosystem for my home music, automation, and general questions etc. as it's a fairly open system that plays well with 3rd parties when compared to the likes of Apple.
I would never have imagined all that is possible with these units!
This was really worth the wait. I bought the Echo Show for my parents, who are elderly, and have a variety of ailments. Since they have arthritis, and a few other issues, I didn't want them to go and answer the doorbell, just to find it's someone soliciting them to buy random junk. So, last year, I bought and installed the Ring Doorbell Pro in their house, which works very well. The Ring Doorbell Pro is hardwired and not battery operated. After the skill was enabled, I could tell Alexa to show me the front doorbell and a video feed automatically pops up. You really need a good Wi-Fi router with the Echo show as the video will be jerky since the video is very high quality. If you have a good Wi-Fi router, the video comes up very quickly and runs very smooth. I thought the doorbell would launch the app on the Echo Show automatically, but it does not. You have to initiate the connection yourself. Hopefully this will be an option in the next iteration of this skill. I can think of a whole bunch of ideas for this skill to do, but for a very first implementation, it works great with the hardwired version of the Ring Doorbell Pro.
The battery powered Ring products do not work as great though. When trying to connect the Echo Show to a battery powered Ring device, I get a message saying something like, " The camera is asleep and needs to wake up and it could take 30 sec". This happens with my Ring Stickup Camera. So, if you want the best experience, you should buy the Ring Doorbell Pro instead of the battery powered versions.
One of my parents just came out of the hospital and sometimes just doesn't have the energy to even pick up a cell phone when we call. So, we have another Echo Show, just for her, in drop in mode. This has really worked very well for us since she does not have to fumble and look for her cell phone if we need to call and check up on her. Also, we use to call her cell phone, but then we would find that the phone was not changed enough, so the call would end prematurely, or the call would not go through. All of those issues have gone away with the Echo Show. If she needs to call a family member, that's just a voice call away as well.
Right now, she can use her voice to call up movie and TV shows on Amazon Prime. Hopefully, Netflix, and other services, will also be forth coming. But for now, the shows on Amazon Video will suffice. I've outfitted my parents house with Homekit products from Philips Hue, Lutron, and iDevices, and all of them work flawlessly with the Echo Show.
One feature that I found by accident, that I have not found documented anywhere, is that if you hold down the mute button for about 3 or 4 seconds, than a user interface comes up that allows you to shut down the device entirely. A user interface that's says "Power Off" come up. Then you can either hot OK to power the device off or hit Cancel to go back to the main screen. We use the timer function a lot for preparing medicine and cooking food. When I set a timer, the Echo Show actually shows the timer on the screen. Therefore, I don’t have to ask it how much time is left every so often. I can actually see how much time is left. This may sound like a small thing, but it's really very helpful. You can even dismiss a timer with a swipe instead of saying cancel timer, or stop timer, when the timer goes off.
The Echo Show definitely isn't perfect. Even though the camera works well, I wish it could swivel so that you can fine tune the position of it. But all in all, for the scenarios my parents use it for, it works great for a first release. The ability to check in on someone that's bed ridden, and can't move all that well, even to pick up a cell phone, makes this a great device to own.
UPDATED- (10/02/17)
Unfortunately YouTube is not supported anymore because of a disagreement between Google and Amazon. Hopefully, this feature will be added back after an agreement is reached.
However, Amazon added a new feature to the Echo Show, and all Echo devices, that allows the user to call cell phone and landline numbers in the U.S, Mexico, and Canada for free. You don't need to buy anything else to make this happen. Previously, you needed to use one of the Echo devices, or the Alexa app, to make calls. Now, you can use an Echo device to call someone's cellphone, or a landline. This is great for those cases where video calling is not the best option. When you initiate a call on your Echo device, the person you are calling will see your phone number show up on their caller ID. They won't know you are calling from an Echo device.
You can either call using a direct number or using a name from your address book. Therefore, you can say, "Alexa, call mom at home", "Alexa, call dad's cellphone", etc. Or you can say, " Alexa call/dial 1-123-456-7890". If there are multiple people with similar sounding names, Alexa will ask you to confirm which person you actually mean to call. If you press the mute button on your Echo, then it has the same effect as pressing mute on your phone. Meaning, you can hear the other person, but they cannot hear you. While on the phone call, you can also tell Alexa to raise/lower the volume as well. When you are finished with he call, you can just say, "Alexa, hang up" and the call will be terminated. A phone call can only be made from a physical Alexa device. I have found it does not work from the Alexa app itself. But still, this is a great new feature that makes the Echo Show, and all other Alexa devices, worthwhile. Knowing a person, confined to bed, can call you, at any number in their address book, really gives some peace of mind.
UPDATED- (10/11/17)
Alexa is the gift that keeps on giving. Today, when going through the account settings to enable notifications for shopping, I noticed another option called "Your Voice". When enabling this new feature, Amazon has enabled you to train Alexa to recognize specific voices. Alexa really has voice recognition now. After training Alexa to recognize your voice, she can distinguish who is speaking by just their voice. To enable the feature, go into settings and click the "Your Voice" setting. From there, choose the Alexa device that you want to train. Then the user interface will lead you into speaking 10 sentences for the training process. After the training session, it takes about 20 minutes for Alexa to process the voice print. After that time, you can ask Alexa, "Alexa, who am I", and she will come back and say your name.
When doing the voice training, it's a good idea to unplug, or mute, any other Alexa devices in ear shot as they may respond to what you are saying. Also, turn the volume of the TV, or any other device, to mute so that other voices will not interfere with the voice training. In my household, this new feature appears to work very well. When we ask Alexa to play music, she will play music from the specific person's Alexa account. We don't need to specifically switch account anymore. For voice calling, Alexa now looks up the person she was asked to call in the person who is speaking contact database, and makes the call to the correct person. This was a great unexpected feature to find today.
UPDATED- (11/21/17)
YouTube is back on the Echo Show! Also, Vimeo and Dailymotion are now supported as well. If you ask the Echo Show to show you specific videos, it brings up a list of videos that match your request from YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion. You can then tap the video to bring up a mobile webpage that plays the video. Telling the Echo to play video #1, #2, etc. also works.
I bought this for my dad who is 83 years old. Got one for me and my son too. My brother has the app. Daddy loves it! He lives about 3 hours from us and this enables him to "visit" us anytime he wants. He can talk face to face with his children, grandchildren and greatgradchildren without having to learn something new. He just tells Alexa what to do. He smiles all the time and actually is "dropping in" when he rarely picked the phone up to call before. Another bonus..hes hard of hearing but has no problem with the echo show. He can hear and see us clear as a bell!
I get something out of him having it too (besides the joy of seeing him enjoy something so much!)...piece of mind as I can check in on him to make sure he is okay.
He's making use of other aspects of Alexa as well due to the on screen prompts. He loves playing "his" music. All he has to do is ask.
When I am able, I plan on getting everyone in the family one so Daddy can "visit" all of us anytime he wants.
Thank you for such a wonderful life enhancing product!
The Amazon Echo Show is a voice-activated device. You can instruct it to play video content, play music, stream online audio, order products and services, and control home automation products. The Echo Show is the first device of its kind to feature its own screen, which in my opinion, greatly enhances the use and potential of this device.
I’ve been using this device for a few days so far. Below you will find some of my initial impressions:
### What I Like ######
Good build quality: The Show has a nice, bright screen that has good viewing angles.
Good sound: The speakers on the Show sound much better than the original echo.
Easy setup: Setup was extremely easy, mostly due to the Show’s touch screen. After making a few selections, the Show was up and running in no time.
Content suggestions: When you aren't interacting with the Show, it continuously displays content suggestions. I like that it will suggest videos to watch.
Video content: I like being able to view Amazon Video, video news briefings, movie trailers, and YouTube videos on the Show.
Video calling: Video calling works as advertised. I like being able to initiate a call with my voice.
Music with lyrics: When playing songs from Amazon Music, you can see album art and song lyrics on the screen.
Home automation: Like other Echos, the Show can control your smart home products. The show has the extra ability to display camera feeds.
On-screen apps: The echo can display my calendar, reminders, lists, timers, local weather, and more. Because of this, I find the Show infinitely more useful than the original Echo.
### What I Don't Like ######
The Show needs more functionality that leverages the touch screen. I trust that new skills will be added over time but I'm disappointed that more wasn't available at launch.
The Show should have an audio-out port.
I wish the Show could have a bigger screen option, a video-out port, and/or video casting capability.
The show should not be used as an alarm clock at this point. There's no backup battery solution at the moment. The display currently is too bright for a dark room.
The angle of display and the camera cannot be adjusted.
None of the Echos can answer all of the questions the Google Home can answer.
None of the Echos can cast video to a TV like the Google Home can.
The Echo Show is not cheap.
### How will I use the Echo Show ######
- Playing Music from Amazon Music
- Watching videos from YouTube
- Controlling home automation products and displaying camera feeds
# # # Bottom Line # # # # # #
The Echo Show is the best Echo available. It's also the best voice activated device available. The addition of the screen makes it infinitely better than any of the other options.
While display and touch specific functionality is limited at the moment, we can trust that both Amazon and 3rd party developers will add new functionality over time.
If you find the Show's price to be too high, the Echo Dot is still a great device. It's also not an expensive investment, should you decide to replace it with an Echo Show later.
# # # Echo Show vs Echo # # # # # #
If you are trying to decide between the Echo and the Echo Show, get the Show. You'll get better audio plus the potential for much greater functionality via the touch screen,
# # # Echo Show vs Google Home # # # # # #
If you want to cast video and audio, Google Home is the better choice since none of the Echos can do this. Other than that, I recommend the Echo Show over the Google Home because it has more skills and it has a screen.
Yes, the Google Home can answer more complex questions. I just think people will use these devices more for consuming content and controlling smart home products than they will use them to ask complex questions.
I own both devices so I have the best of both worlds.
# # # Suggested Improvements # # # # # #
Add a physical home button and back button on the device and on a compatible remote
Add a camera that can pan and zoom and track faces that are talking.
Add an audio-out port.
Add a separate alarm clock module that is resistant to downtime related to software patching, software crashes, network outages, etc.
Provide a option for displaying video on a bigger screen via a video-out port, video casting, or bigger Echo Shows.
Add the ability to customize the home page with custom apps, custom news feeds, social media feeds, etc.
Add the ability to do image searches and 3D images searches
Ability to display my commute route using google maps, with traffic
Add Skype support and allow voice initiated calls.
Add the ability to stream live TV from a cable box, TIVO, or the internet.
Add official apps for SiriusXM, Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. The YouTube app show allow you to log in and verbally access your playlists, history, subscribed channels, etc.
We love our Echo Shows. It sits on the kitchen counter and has become a cornerstone of our daily activities. Now that you can name timers and set multiple timers at once I no longer use our oven or microwave timer at all. At first I thought the "how many teaspoons" type questions would be a gimmick but I routinely wind up asking for Alexa to clarify some measurement.
I setup the app to know where my office is, and each morning wind up checking how long the commute is. On at least two occasions I've gotten a response that included a different route than normal and known to avoid the highway since there was an accident.
Most of our interactions with Alexa are asking to play some music. Our daughter loves this feature, and thankfully is still being very polite to Alexa, even ending her "Alexa, play Moana" with a "Please"! I'm so proud.
The game changer has been "Alexa, Play Frozen on the FireTV" and "Alexa, Pause the fireTV". This keeps me from searching for a remote and makes it much easier to occupy a little one while pulling something out of the oven. We use it for turning on and off some smart lights as well but the control of the TV is the smart home item I like the most.
Recipe skills could use some work. A few of them are okay, and All Recipes lets you save things so long as you setup an account with them.
Sad that youtube is not working on them anymore :(
Feature Product
- Echo Show brings you everything you love about Alexa, and now she can show you things. Watch video flash briefings, Amazon Video content, see music lyrics, security cameras, photos, weather forecasts, to-do and shopping lists, browse and listen to Audible audiobooks, and more. All hands-free-just ask.
- Call almost anyone hands-free, or make video calls to family and friends with an Echo Spot, Echo Show, or the Alexa App. Instantly connect to other Echo devices around your home.
- See lyrics on-screen with Amazon Music. Just ask to play a song, artist or genre, and stream over Wi-Fi. Also, stream music on Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and more.
- Powerful, room-filling speakers with Dolby processing for crisp vocals and extended bass response. Play your music simultaneously across Echo devices with multi-room music (Bluetooth not supported). Adjust the treble, mid, and bass levels with your voice.
- Ask Alexa to show you the front door or monitor the baby's room with compatible cameras from Amazon and others. Turn on lights or the TV, set thermostats, control Amazon Video on Fire TV, and more with WeMo, Philips Hue, Sony, ecobee, and other compatible smart home devices.
- With eight microphones, beamforming technology, and noise cancellation, Echo Show hears you from any direction-even while music is playing
- Always getting smarter and adding new features, plus thousands of skills like Uber, Allrecipes, CNN, and more
Description
Voice responses from Alexa are now enhanced with visuals and optimized for visibility across the room. Call or message your family and friends that also have an Echo or the Alexa App, get the news with a video flash briefing, see your Prime Photos, shop with your voice, see lyrics with Amazon Music, browse and listen to Audible audiobooks, and more. All you have to do is ask.Echo Show has eight microphones and beamforming technology so it can hear you from across the room-even while music is playing. Echo Show is also an expertly tuned speaker that can fill any room with immersive audio powered by Dolby. When you want to use Echo Show, just say the wake word 'Alexa' and Echo Show responds instantly.
My boyfriend is paralyzed and is able to now call and communicate with me for the first time via the Echo Show since accident by himself. I can drop in and speak with him anytime.
I,m a remodeling contractor and have watched the Alexa craze start in the kitchens of homes over the past couple years, at first thought nice little gadget but a little expensive for playing music or answering a few questions? (180.00 for a music tower) I shop Amazon weekly and noticed the new generation Echo Show on sale for (Prime week $129.00) and with my prime account free shipping, NEXT DAY! I read specs. on the unit and knew I could make use of this device. I made the purchase and am very happy with it. I check weather daily, check top stories in the news, I ask questions that come to mind when i'm bored, I ask for recepies, I play music alllll the time, I watch trailers for prime movies,this Echo Show does it all, i'm not a huge techy but I do all rite , it took me 10 minutes to set up and be running. I have had it 3 days and already purchased a 2nd one for the bed room and that took all of about 5 minutes to set up. I have read dozens of revues and it seams the I phone Apple folks seam to be the harshest critics, I am an PC. guy and an Android Phone user and I have to say this is probably the coolest addition to my home and i'm in a lot of homes
( Remodeling Contractor as said earlier) i'm now running 2 Echos and streaming prime and on tablet all at the same time and NOT an issue, some folks made coments about buffering or hesitation on there Echo,,, they mite have to step up there internet connection or upgrade from dial up HAHA!! anyway.. I plan on upgrading with lighting and a couple cameras and probable a thermostat to run off my Echo Show. Also like an other person who wrote a review I have a mother in a retirement home that is cell phone challenged an livs 1400 miles away and i'm planning on installing one in her room soo I can video call and check in with her, all she would have to do is Say (Alexa Answer Call). Soo for me a remodeling contractor who is in many homes and see a lot of trends come and go I think we could most all agree this technology is here to stay and all the little quirks will be worked out as Alexa gets smarter as time goes by.. She seams to be getting my traits in just a few days.. I would recommend this unit to any of my friends or clients.. Thanks Carpenter60.
This is a great product! Set up took me about 1.5 minutes. Just plug it in choose your wifi and input your pw thats it. A huge step up in the echo lineup. Folks at this price jump on it now, You won't be sorry. I use timers,reminders, wake up alarm, recipes, Wikipedia, music, smart bulbs and plugs and the list goes on and on and on etc. Great sounding speakers, great screen size too. I'd give it ten stars if I could.
Have a nice day:)
We have 3 Shows in our house. My husband can’t work a computer and can’t type, so he loves being able to talk to Alexa to get information. I ordered lots of AudioBooks for him which he listens to every night. I even bought him a Sling so he can have Alexa outside with him while he works.
We also use them as intercoms, as you’re able to connect through each one to talk to another. And I got one for my daughter so she can video call here from her house (I even get to see and talk to her dog LOL).
Complete voice control over volume. And we got the Hue light bulbs so we control all our lights with voice. We get weather and news whenever we want and plenty of music. I’ve even figured out how to put my own music on them (from various sources).
My nephew comes over and loves the available games. I’m thinking of getting him one so he can call me through video. I even set it up so it turns our tv on and off, when necessary. Being able to view my calendar events is nice too.
Setting an alarm by voice command is so easy. I had a problem once on it showing ALL our AudioBooks and the developers went to work on the problem and got it fixed, so I’m very happy with their response to issues.
There is some basic setup necessary through the app. I’m computer savvy so I have no problems setting up tech items. Perhaps those who gave bad reviews have not fully set up the Echo to do all it is capable of doing, as I don’t get how you can give this item a bad review.
All in all, we adore our Shows, Sling, Hue Lights, etc. They’re constantly updating them. Keep the advances coming!! I’ll keep buying! 😊😊😊
I haven't had this device that long and so far it appears to be a good product however, there is one slight problem. The display of "Alexa hints" on the home screen is extremely annoying. In settings there is a switch that indicates the hints can be turned off but it appears its not working the way you'd think it would. I spent about an hour with the Amazon tech folks and apparently there's no way to remove this unpleasant display of hints. It seems there's going to have to be an "update" to correct this aggravating banner. I think it'll come down to having enough customers telling Amazon this is unacceptable. For the price of this product we should not have to be confronted with displays saying "Try" Alexa tell me some bad poetry" plastered across the home screen photos I want to see. Because of this obvious shortcoming I'm posting 4 stars. If things change I'll reconsider.
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