The New Echo Show: A Second Generation Upgrade

We recently received the new second-generation Echo Show, which costs $230. As we opened up the box to inspect it, we were immediately struck by its larger display. The first generation had a 7-inch screen, while this one boasts a 10.1-inch diagonal display, providing more screen real estate and a sleeker design. Gone is the awkward speaker grille on the front of the device, replaced by a more streamlined look that evokes the design of mini projection TVs.

One of the first things we noticed when handling the new Echo Show was its fabric-covered back panel, which gives it a premium feel. This design element is reminiscent of Google Home speakers and Apple HomePods, adding to our overall impression of an improved product. In terms of controls, the top of the device still features volume and power buttons, as well as ports for connectivity in the back. The microphone setup has also been tweaked, with slightly different arrangements than before.

We decided to take the new Echo Show into our Cenote smart home environment to put it through its paces right away. One feature we were eager to try was the way it handles smart-home commands. On the original Echo Show, simply saying something like "turn off the bedroom lamp" would result in an "okay" response without any indication that anything had happened. However, with the second-generation device, if you say "turn on the bedroom lamp," you'll get a display showing the name of the device and a power button that can be used to toggle it on or off. This level of responsiveness is a significant improvement over its predecessor.

We also appreciated the new lights and more icon in the drop-down menu, which allows for better management of connected devices. By swiping down, you'll see a list of lamps, plugs, and switches that are linked to your platform, providing a clear overview of your smart home setup. This feature was not present on the first-generation Echo Show, making it a welcome addition.

Now that we had the new Echo Show set up in our Cenote environment, we compared it side-by-side with its predecessor. The differences were immediately apparent: the screen is significantly larger, with a 10.1-inch diagonal display versus the 7 inches of the first generation. Additionally, the sound quality has been improved, thanks to dual 2-inch neodymium side-firing drivers and better bass performance.

Another notable feature of the second-generation Echo Show is its integration with YouTube videos. While there isn't native integration as we would have liked, Amazon has added the Firefox browser and Amazon Silk browser to the device. By saying "open Firefox," you'll get a browser that can be used to view mobile versions of YouTube sites. This workaround may not be perfect, but it's an improvement over the lack of YouTube integration on the first-generation Echo Show.

However, our experience with the new Echo Show wasn't without its disappointments. One area where we felt underwhelmed was in map visualizations and directions. When asking Alexa for directions to a location, we were only given a distance estimate rather than actual directions or any indication of how to get there. Furthermore, Alexa couldn't send these directions to our phones, which seemed like a missed opportunity.

Despite some areas where the new Echo Show fell short, such as map visualizations and directions, it's clear that Amazon has made significant strides in improving its smart display device. The screen is bigger, the sound quality has been enhanced, and smart home controls have been added. Additionally, the integration with YouTube through browser access provides a welcome feature for video enthusiasts.

For those considering purchasing an Echo Show for monitoring cameras, answering doorbells, or even cooking in their kitchen, it's a capable smart device at its $230 price tag. However, if you're looking for a more conversational assistant experience, native YouTube integration, and more informative visuals, we would still recommend exploring other options, such as Google Assistant-enabled devices like the Lenovo Smart Display.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new echo show it's the second generation and it costs two hundred and thirty dollars we just got it in so we're gonna open up the box and see what we think all right so as you can see it's quite a bit bigger the display is larger I think the first generation had like a seven-inch screen this is a 10-inch screen diagonally so it's quite a bit more screen real estate and that's awesome because it also means there's no ugly speaker on the front the first generation had kind of that boxy speaker grille and the design almost looks like a mini projection TV ad so this is an improvement I like the screen better you can also see on the back it's covered with a fabric so it's still kind of deep it's not really a flat display but the stuff is covered with a fabric that looks pretty good it looks a lot like what we saw in the Google home speakers and an Apple home pod so I like that as far as controls go you've still got your volume and your power buttons on the top there and you've still got ports and power in the back so this one also has an 8 or a microphone set up just like the first one they're a bit different than they were so you can see they're arranged a little differently and the front camera is still a 5 megapixel front-facing camera so now that we've got it out of the box we're gonna take it into the cenote smart home and test it out right off the bat one of the things I really like about the second geneco show as opposed to the first is the way it handles smart-home commands so on the original echo show if you say something like turn off the bedroom lamp okay you just get an okay and nothing shows up on the screen you don't really get any indication that something has happened but in the second generation mute this one turn on the bedroom lamp you get a display that shows you the name of the device and then you have this little power button and I can even turn it off and on with the touch screen if I do something like a set of lights that have an adjustable brightness turn on the living room lights you get a toggle bar where you can select a brightness level so that's something we didn't see in the original echo show and so far I really like it there's also a new lights and more icon in the drop-down menu so if I swipe down here I'll see this vipole then if I touch that I get a list of lamps plugs and switches that are connected to my platform and that's not something we saw in the first generation echo show and so far I think it's a good addition so here we've got the second gin and the first gents side-by-side and you can already tell there are some pretty significant differences the screen for example is a whole lot bigger it's 10.1 inches diagonally versus the 7 inches of the first generation and it's 720p so you're getting a better resolution sound quality also got an upgrade the new echo show features dual 2-inch neodymium side firing drivers and better bass if you listen to the sound comparisons we did you can definitely tell the difference something else that's different about the second-generation echo show is the way you can see youtube videos and the first generation there wasn't really any native integration and there's not this time either but there is a workaround amazon's added the firefox browser and amazon silk browser to the echo show if you say something like open firefox here's firefox you'll get a browser and you can tap to view a mobile version of youtube site if you ask her from video results in general you'll get clips provided by thing and this workaround isn't perfect but it's better than what we had before which was no YouTube integration at all for all the improvements on the new echo show there are still a few things that are disappointing and maps is one of them for instance if I ask where's the closest Starbucks I found a Starbucks it's six point five miles away on Taylorsville Road in Louisville business hours for this location are not available how do I get there at the moment traffic to Starbucks at 1 to 6:05 Taylorsville Road looks good the fastest route takes about 11 minutes via KY 15 31 and KY 1:55 so there's no map displayed here and there really aren't any directions either and Alexa can't send those directions to your phone so while she tells you how long it'll take to get somewhere you really won't have a got anything else and given that it's a smart display that's something I really wish that it had after spending some time with the second gin Amazon echo show it feels much improved from the first version the screen is bigger the sound is better and Amazon even added some smart home controls when it comes to YouTube Amazon added browser so you can access the site in a sort of mobile version and for all the ways that Amazon improved the echo show there are still parts of it the feel underwhelming visualizations for things like maps and directions still aren't there and it leaves me feeling like there's still a lot of untapped potential if you'll use your echo show for monitoring cameras answering the doorbell or even cooking in your kitchen it's a capable smart device at the same $230 price tag as the original but if you're looking for a more conversational assistant native YouTube integration and more informative visuals I'd still recommend a google assistant enabled device like the Lenovo's marcus play\n"