Amazon Echo Show 15 review: These walls can talk

Amazon’s line of Echo Show sensible shows dates again to 2017, when it was a sharp-edged display atop a boxy speaker. Today, we have now practically a dozen iterations of the Echo Show, starting from 5-inch fashions to the most important sensible show but: the brand new Echo Show 15. 

This $250, 15.6-inch sensible show is large. It’s additionally smarter than earlier Echo Shows and designed to dwell someplace no earlier Echo Shows may — your wall. Amazon took a calculated danger right here, however because of an inexpensive worth, new AZ2 chip and welcome options like widgets, that danger largely pays off. If you have ever wished Alexa off of your countertop, the Echo Show 15 is a good selection. Still, there are extra succesful Echo Shows on the market, and for that cause it is not the most effective wager for everybody. 

Design

Pulling the Echo Show 15 out of its field, the machine seems to be thick. It’s additionally fairly hefty at 4.9 kilos. Something in regards to the Echo Show 15 profile jogs my memory of my first “flat screen” TV circa 2008. The concept of mounting a tool with this a lot weight on my wall felt a bit intimidating. I’d think about one drop from six or eight toes would harm not solely the machine, but additionally my dwelling’s 75-year-old hardwood ground. 

Thankfully, if you need to wall-mount the Echo Show 15, the included mounting bracket and {hardware} really feel as much as the duty. When selecting the best spot on the wall, you may want to contemplate the peak and eye stage of everybody in your house who will use this show. I additionally tried out a specifically made stand for the Show 15, which is offered individually or in a bundle for $30 extra. If you go that route, it makes this Echo Show a $280 sensible show, the costliest of any Amazon sells. 

We used the included template to mount the Echo Show 15 on the CNET Smart Home, and it was fast and straightforward. You will want a drill, a 5/16-inch or 8mm bit and a stage. You’ll be placing 4 holes into your wall, so it is a “measure twice, cut once” state of affairs. As invasive because it feels, Amazon did make the set up easy to know and straightforward to do. 

The 1080p display measures 15.6 inches diagonally and has the most effective decision of any Echo Show but. The Echo Show 15 comes with adaptive brightness and is surrounded by a white mat and black body, very similar to a digital image body or Samsung’s The Frame TV. On the highest (or aspect, relying on orientation), you may discover quantity and mute buttons in addition to a change to slip the bodily cowl over the Echo Show 15’s 5 MP digital camera. 

I actually just like the aesthetic of the Echo Show 15. It feels extra refined and fewer gadgety than any Echo Show earlier than it, with a well-recognized display and interface introduced in a way more interesting and delicate means. I’m at all times inspired by sensible dwelling tech that takes a delicate strategy to becoming into the design scheme of a house. The Echo Show 15 does that fairly effectively. It’s only a disgrace there aren’t extra shade choices for the body. 

Sound high quality

The Echo Show 15 is provided with two 1.6-inch audio system, one on both finish of the machine. They’re behind the display, within the white plastic housing of the Echo Show 15’s again half. On a desk in opposition to the wall in my front room, it appeared that the sound was popping out of the again of the machine and into the wall. The audio system do have room to fireside out the aspect of the show. It simply would not sound nice.

Volume ranges are ample, however the Echo Show 15 actually did not come close to to filling the room with wealthy sound the best way an ordinary Echo or HomePod can. Admittedly, this isn’t an audio-first machine. You’re right here for the display. However, I’m no audiophile, and I nonetheless discovered myself barely disenchanted and wishing for some form of front-firing speaker array. 

Notable options

In some ways, the Echo Show 15 is strictly that — considered one of many iterations on a well-recognized Alexa host. Setup feels similar to all of the Echo Shows that got here earlier than it, full with free trial gives and the acquainted steps of naming and putting the machine in your house. The ambient display shows artwork, household pictures or inventory photographs like all Echo Show. Navigation by way of the machine has the acquainted Echo theme. 

There is a few redesign in that theme, although. Two rows of management bars swipe down from the highest of the machine in panorama mode. Widgets, which we’ll get to in a minute, are a simple swipe from the aspect. Most of this expertise is enhanced by the massive display. More actual property means greater buttons, easier-to-read textual content and loads of room to view pictures and video. 

Visual ID

This facial recognition characteristic is on the market on Echo Show 15 in addition to the most recent Echo Show 10 and Echo Show 8. Amazon calls it Visual ID. You’ll must allow it because it’s an opt-in characteristic, and you will want to finish a setup course of to show Amazon your face, too. From there, the Echo Show 15 will acknowledge your face when it sees you and convey up customized content material, just like how the Nest Hub Max or the iPhone do. 

Setting up Visual ID is straightforward. You’ll take 4 photo-booth-style photographs of your face with the show’s digital camera. Next time you stroll as much as the show or faucet it awake, you may see a greeting within the top-right nook. A “Hi, Molly” bubble greeted me as soon as my Visual ID was added to my profile. 

Visual ID allows customized outcomes like particular person calendars, to-do lists and commutes, all tailor-made to you. You can additionally use it to assign reminders and sticky notes to different members of the family, which Amazon will ship once they seem in entrance of the display. For instance (and under no circumstances impressed by my very own life), you may ask Alexa to “remind Ben to take out the trash tomorrow.” Processing of all that facial recognition information for Visual ID is completed regionally on the machine, so nothing travels to the cloud. Amazon’s Visual ID info web page expands on how Visual ID works. 

Widgets

One of the standout options for the Echo Show 15 is the widget gallery. There, you’ll choose from 14 widgets so as to add to your Echo Show 15 dwelling display. Right now, the choices are slim. There are fundamentals for calendars, to-do lists, sticky notes, music, sensible dwelling and some others. I’d anticipate that extra companies and options will get a widget sooner or later, however I want there have been extra choices immediately. 

Widgets are a pleasant option to maintain from swiping and scrolling to get to what you need. Once you have chosen your widgets, they’re going to seem on the house display beside your common dwelling display content material. I selected 4 widgets, which, in panorama mode, resulted in a form of cut up display. You can “resize” a choose few widgets, however actually, that simply means selecting between a daily and a bigger dimension within the gallery. If you go for a big widget, you can solely have separately. 

All in all, the thought is stable. Aesthetically, I do not want it, but it surely does add sensible worth. There is not fairly sufficient customization for it to really feel pleasant, however I believe future updates will get there. Third-party widgets are probably however not but accessible. That may tremendously enhance the expertise. 

What could possibly be higher

Today, there are some things scheduled however not but delivered for the Echo Show 15. Zoom is not an choice, however assist is promised for 2022. The identical goes for Custom Sound Detection, a characteristic that may help you practice Alexa to hear for particular sounds after which ship you an alert. In idea, this is able to permit Alexa to provide you with a warning when your dryer dings or the doorbell chimes. 

The Echo Show comes with a 5-megapixel entrance digital camera. That pales compared to the 13MP entrance cameras of the Echo Show 8 and Show 10. I’m stunned Amazon selected to chop corners on the digital camera, but cost the identical worth because the Echo Show 10. The audio system within the Show 15 are additionally a downgrade in comparison with the bigger audio system of the Show 8 and 10. 

There are the odd bugs right here and there. The AI filters on my Drop In video calls typically froze or turned from shade to black-and-white. A prompt “Alexa, play TikTok” command meant to drag up movies from the favored app had various outcomes, together with the 2009 Ke$ha hit by the identical title (how did she know?) and a 42-minute investigative documentary on the hazards of the social media platform. 

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Buy or skip?

The oddest thing about this Echo Show 15 is that it feels incredibly non-Echo Show-y. It’s a completely different look. From a design perspective, it feels like Amazon aimed for a more refined, subdued and subtle Echo experience, and if so, the company has nailed it. I have my qualms with smart displays and Alexa in general, but this version just looks nice. Not to mention that it has the best resolution of any Echo Show screen. 

Of course, looks aren’t everything. Its cameras and speakers are inferior to previous models. If you’re planning to use the display for video calling or streaming shows, you won’t get the moving and tracking capabilities of the Echo Show 10, which costs the same.

If you placed the Echo Show 10 and 15 side by side and asked me to guess their respective price tags, I would certainly peg the Show 15 as a higher priced item based solely on design. After spending time with it, I can’t think of one specific task it’s better suited for than any other Echo Show, save for looking pretty on your wall and viewing video on a larger screen. If design and screen size are your top priorities, you’ll love this Echo Show. If not, there’s surely another model that offers better specs for the money.