Amazon announced the newest product to join its Echo lineup today, the Echo Show 5. As the name entails, it sports a 5.5-inch display. Making it a much smaller Echo Show, and likely an answer to the Lenovo Smart Clock that the company made with Google.
The Amazon Echo Show 5 does have a built-in camera, which the company says is “HD”. There is a built-in camera shutter too, which is going to physically cover the camera on the Echo Show 5. Similar to how the Lenovo Smart Displays do it. This is so that users will feel more comfortable putting it in other areas of their home. Though their bedroom is likely still off limits.
Amazon didn’t forget about sound quality on the Echo Show 5. It still has some pretty impressive sound quality, especially for something that’s so small. This is why the Echo Show 5 is still pretty thick. Amazon is also touting that it has a number of music streaming services available for Alexa, including Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and many others.
With there still being a display here, you can easily watch your favorite shows on Prime Video, as well as getting short news clips from some of your favorite news sources, right on your Echo Show 5. Google services don’t yet work, that might change in the future though. As Amazon and Google have made up, sort of. And Google is bringing its apps to the Fire TV, but the Echo Show is still a wild card.
Senior Vice President of Amazon Alexa, Tom Taylor stated that “since we launched the first Echo Show device, customers have told us they love asking Alexa to show them things – whether it’s a recipe for banana bread, their shopping list of music lyrics. With Echo Show 5, we’ve made it even easier and affordable for customers to add a smart display to every room of their house.” Taylor goes on to tout the compact form factor, and saying that it’s “perfect for a bedside table or desk”.
Like the other Echo Shows that Amazon has produced, the Echo Show 5 is great for controlling your smart home. Ask Alexa to turn off the lights in your home, and you can see it being done on the display. If you have security cameras in (and out of) your home, you can also bring up the live feed from that camera right onto the Echo Show, which makes it much easier than opening the app on your phone.
The possibilities with Alexa on a display are endless, and with many more Alexa Skills being added every single day, more and more functionality is coming to the Echo Show 5.
Amazon is going to be selling the Echo Show 5 for just $89.99, making it the cheapest smart display it has. In fact, it’s cheaper than some of its smart speakers at this price, and less than half the price of the regular Echo Show. It’ll be available in sandstone and charcoal. Pre-orders are opening today, you can pre-order yours from Amazon using the link below.
Amazon Echo Show 5 - Amazon - $89.99
