Gabe Turner: Hey folks. This is Gabe at Security Baron. We all know Amazon powers a lot of
the smart devices in our homes. Well today, we're going to check out its visual physical
incarnation, the Amazon Echo Show.
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Gabe: In today's review of the Amazon Echo Show. I'm going to go over some pros and cons,
its feature set, the installation process, its design, before walking you through the
user experience so you have all the information you need to make the right decision.
If you'd like to see a full written review of the Amazon Echo Show, check it out securitybaron.com.
Let's kick off today's review of the Amazon Echo Show talking about the pros and cons,
beginning with the pros. Now it is powered by Amazon's virtual assistant so it has over
50,000 skills, more than five times its nearest competitor. When it comes to watching and
listening, it has pretty impressive video and amazing speakers.
It definitely feels I'm getting an immersive experience with just the Amazon Echo Show.
Finally, I just love the ability to connect with my dad and my mom just by calling them
on their Amazon Echo Show or the Amazon Echo Spot, and just having that conversation.
Even the fact that you can now use it with Skype, so I can just call my friends anywhere
in the world to see their face right on the Amazon Echo Show. I love that.
Now when it comes to cons, it is a highly reflective screen. If you're in a bright room
or the sun is beaming directly onto the screen, you may have some issues as there can be significant
glare.
When it comes to navigating through the menus and apps or programs, you might find that
it's a little bit more laggy than you would expect.
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Gabe: Now that we have gone over the pros and cons for the Amazon Echo Show, let's check
out its feature set. Amazon Echo Show is powered by Amazon's virtual assistant which gives
you access to over 50,000 skills. These are capabilities ranging from helping you to cook,
to help you meditate, to help you order things that you need to cook.
When it comes to specific display skills, those are also available on the Amazon Echo
Show. Let's check some of them out.
Let's begin with music. You can speak directly to your Amazon Echo Show. Ask it to play whatever
music suits your fancy at the moment. If you're using Amazon Music, the lyrics will even come
onto the screen. If you're not an Amazon Music user, you can also use Pandora, Spotify, even
Apple Music.
Some us would prefer to listen to books at times and then you can use Audible's audio
books right through the Amazon Echo Show.
Of course, with this massive 10-inch screen, you expect to be able to watch some pretty
serious videos using your Amazon Echo Show. Fortunately, it does not disappoint. You have
access to, of course, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, even Vivo, among other options. It definitely
comes through in the clutch when you're trying to watch a movie.
When it comes to actually connecting with other people, I really enjoyed my experience
with the Amazon Echo Show. Using the call or message function, I can actually get in
touch with other people on their Echo Spots, their Echo Shows, or even call their phones.
When it comes to connecting with my boy Masa in Japan, for example, I really enjoyed the
experience of using Skype to phone in.
When you think Amazon, you think shopping. They expanded upon that when they bought Whole
Foods. When you're using your Amazon Echo Show, you can just use your voice to add things
to your cart or your grocery cart. I, for example, wanted to get some green beans. I
can add it to my Whole Foods cart, pick it up on my way home to my apartment.
If I know I have a bike trip coming up in a couple weeks, I can ask for a bike pump
to be added to my shopping cart. With that Amazon Prime shipping, I can expect it in
a couple of days. When it comes to shopping with the Amazon Echo Show, things couldn't
be easier.
Maybe you're the culinary type and you just love throwing down in the kitchen. Well, the
Amazon Echo Show can help you. You can ask it to find you a new recipe and then it'll
actually recite the instructions to you. Maybe you decide, "You know what? I don't feel like
cooking this evening. Let's go ahead and order something in." You can order Seamless directly
through the Amazon Echo Show.
Or maybe you decide, "Hey. You know what? Let's have a special night out on the town,
just you and me." If that's the case, you can use the OpenTable app and make yourself
a reservation. No matter how you want to get food in your belly, the Amazon Echo Show can
help you out.
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Gabe: Hold on. I hope you're enjoying today's review of the Amazon Echo Show. If you want
to be kept up to date on the newest in smart home hubs, smart home security, cyber security
and the like, subscribe to our channel, Security Baron. We're dropping new content weekly.
All right. Let's get back to the video.
Let's discuss the installation process with your Amazon Echo Show. It is a quick discussion
because it is incredibly easy. You simply plug it in to your power source, connect it
to your WiFi, sync your Amazon account, let it do its firmware/software updates, and you're
ready to go. Overall, the entire process takes less than 10 minutes and is a breeze.
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Gabe: Let's talk about the design of the Amazon Echo Show. Right off the bat, you know that
it has that fat 10.1-inch display.
You may also note that it has some pretty significant glares. It's highly reflective.
Of course, that comes with the territory. It is a screen after all. We would have liked
to see it be reduced a little bit, but with this display, you're getting 720 definition
video. We'd love to see 10 ADP but hey, you can't have everything in life.
When it comes to listening, there are a host of things that are helping you out. You can
see on the front that there are four microphones, and on the top, there are four microphones,
so you have eight microphones to help you with that two-way audio.
Why would you want two-way audio? You can call people, you can talk to people, and people
can even see you because you have a camera right here.
Say you're trying to be a little bit private all of a sudden, and you don't want people
to be hearing you or seeing you, that's where these buttons at the top come in handy. You
have this button here, which will turn off your microphone and your video.
If you'd like to turn your volume up or down, you can also do so right here. Of course,
with the Amazon Echo Show, you can also do that simply with your voice.
When it comes to checking out the back, you have this nice fabric overlay covering everything
in the back, and you just have one power adapter. No need to have a bunch of cords plugged in
at once.
When you want to be hearing other people, this is where the Amazon Echo Show really
excels, in my opinion. It has really nice Dolby audio processing and passive base radiators.
What does that mean? It means that you're going to hear those beats the way they were
meant to be heard. Especially if you listen to stuff like hip hop or watching horror movies,
you're going to get the full immersive experience.
Beyond that, they seem to have thought of everything. The bottom is this nice rubber
mat. Once you place it down, you don't have to worry about it sliding around or moving.
It's going to stay where it needs to be. Overall, I really am a big fan of the design on Amazon
Echo Show.
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Gabe: Now that we've gone over the design of the Amazon Echo Show, let's go over the
actual user experience. Honestly, it's pretty intuitive. It shows that you can really seamlessly
connect those things you have to do with those things you do for entertainment, serving as
your hub and helping you to connect your other smart devices.
Here I am checking out the Amazon Echo Show. The Amazon Echo Show is a really fun device.
I want to go through some of its features. It's really hard for me to choose which one
of my favorites to present to you today. Right off the bat, you see these cool illustrations
on the display with the time and the temperature.
Let's go ahead and check out that menu. You've got Communicate, Music, Routine, Smart Home
Video, and Alarms. I want to give you a primer on each of these.
To begin with, let's set the mood. We can play music, and of course with the Amazon
Echo Show, you can do everything with your voice or just putting your finger directly
on the display. I just want to say, Alexa, play "Oceans" by Vallis Alps.
Alexa: Here's "Oceans" by Vallis Alps on Amazon Music.
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Gabe: Alexa, turn volume up 10 percent.
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Gabe: Alexa, turn volume down 40 percent.
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Gabe: Alexa, pause music.
What's great about using the Amazon Echo Show for your music is, as you can tell, these
speakers are impressive. You can hear things really clearly. You can play whatever music
you like, and it's just really fun experience.
With some of these videos, you actually even get the ability to look at the lyrics as they're
going down. You can basically have karaoke right in front of your Amazon Echo Show, which
is something I'm going to not front about, I really love doing.
If I wanted to do another activity, say just watch some television, I can do it in a similar
fashion. I can just say, Alexa play the TV show "This is Football."
Alexa: Here's This is Football season one, episode one.
[TV show]
Gabe: As you can see, there's a lot happening on the television. It's not even a television.
It's just my Amazon Echo Show. Alexa, pause show.
This is super fun. You're able to access anything in the Amazon Prime library, assuming, of
course, you have Amazon Prime. It looks great. It sounds great. I really get the feeling
that I'm almost at one of these soccer matches. Overall, a really great experience. Just catching
up with your favorite shows using your Amazon Echo Show.
If I wanted to continue engaging with television, I could do so, but maybe I want to do something
a little more active, like cook dinner. That's when you go into one of my favorite elements
of the Amazon Echo Show, the recipes. I can say Alexa, show me shrimp taco recipes.
Alexa: OK. For shrimp taco, here's a few recipes and lots more.
Gabe: Now looky here. We have tons available to us. Take a look at all these different
shrimp tacos. You get reviews. You get the time it takes you to make them. Grilled shrimp
tacos, 67 reviews, four and a half stars, 25 minutes. Let's check that out. If I wanted
to start the recipe from all recipes, I can just click here.
Here we are. Now I have everything that I need to begin making this dinner. If I want
to get a full ingredient list, I could tap here, and here we are. Now I realize, "Oh,
no. I've actually run out of olive oil. I need two tablespoons of it."
Well, this is where you note that Amazon is initially and originally known for shopping,
and they've included that, let's say comparative advantage in the Amazon Echo Show. I can say
Alexa, add olive oil to my Whole Foods cart.
Alexa: One moment. OK. I've added a choice for olive oil to Gabriel's Whole Foods cart.
What else would you like from Whole Foods?
Gabe: That's it.
Alexa: Review the items in quantities I've added to your cart in the Prime Now app.
Gabe: That's a really fun element. Amazon bought Whole Foods, and they immediately incorporated
it into your cooking experience with your Amazon Echo Show.
Let's say I actually realized, "Oh, you know what? I don't have any skewers." I can actually
order that from Amazon directly also using that shopping function. I can say Alexa, add
wooden skewers to my Amazon cart.
Alexa: One moment. Sure. I've added a choice for wooden skewers. Review and check out your
Amazon cart in the Amazon app.
Gabe: I'm ready to go. I can decide, "You know what? I can pick these up later." If
I wanted to go beyond, for example, let's say I've already cooked a different dinner,
or this one's ready, I can go to the communicate tab. From here, I could announce to everyone
in my home, or everyone who has a connected Echo Spot or Amazon Echo Show, that we're
ready to eat.
I just go to announce. I could type it in here or I could simply say it, and it would
make that announcement to everyone. That's even the example that they give you that dinner
is ready.
If I wanted to invite someone over, say I want to give them a call so they can come
and eat dinner as well. I can do so. I can do it with my voice or I can tap here and
add various devices. You have your contacts and you can even dial it here. If I wanted
to call someone back home, start with that 615, or give someone a call in LA, go to 310,
and just finish typing in the phone number as I know it.
Going out of here, there are other things you can do with your Amazon Echo Show, like
setup a routine. Maybe after dinner, it's time to go to bed. I tap on routine.
In here, you have different options. For me, I have the particular routine set up called
turn the lights down low. In that case, I would tell this particular virtual assistant
to turn the lights down low, and it would turn those lights down, it would dim things,
really getting me and my family ready to go to bed. The routines is a really fun element
and useful element to use with your smart devices.
Speaking of smart devices, you have a smart home. That's what Security Baron is, smart
home security, and you know we have a huge number of devices connected to our Amazon
Echo Show. We use the Amazon virtual assistant for a lot. If I don't feel like scrolling
through all of these, it's pretty straightforward for me to say Alexa, show me SB room.
Alexa: OK.
Gabe: Now, I get a vision of what's going on in the SB room to make sure that everything
is still going all right. Everything is secure. That just a view of my Ring Spotlight Cam
battery that I've set up directly with my Amazon Echo Show using Amazon Alexa.
Final element, of course, are these alarms, which one can set to help remind you of something
you needed to do, or somebody [indecipherable 16:01] it go. I can say Alexa, set a Saturday
morning alarm for 7:00 AM.
Alexa: Alarm set for 7:00 AM on Saturday. When the alarm reads, you can say something
like, "Snooze for 10 minutes."
Gabe: That's really useful for me because I have to make sure to wake up in time to
watch the Premier League every weekend.
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Gabe: There you have it. A brief look at the robust feature set on the Amazon Echo Show.
Ultimately, I had a lot of fun using this device, and can't wait for them to keep implementing
new skills.
All right. We've gone over a lot of the elements that make up what is the Amazon Echo Show,
but you want to know, Gabe, is this the right smart device for me? I'll say this.
If you're trying to round out your Amazon ecosystem with a fun device that has impressive
visual and audio elements, then the Amazon Echo Show might be for you. However, it is
$229 when it's not on sale. That's pretty spendy.
If you don't think you need this particular element in your life, I could see why you
would just opt out of it completely, or check out its more affordable cousin, the Amazon
Echo Show 5.
Overall, had an enjoyable experience with the Amazon Echo Show. I feel like it's intuitive
and brings a lot to the table and something I actually appreciate having in my life.
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Gabe: That concludes our review of the Amazon Echo Show. If you appreciated today's video,
give us a like and hit that subscribe button. As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.