Amazon Echo Show 8

amazon Amazon Echo Show 8 reviews

Amazon’s Echo Show 8 smart display offers a near-perfect balance of price, performance, and size.

Amazon has impressed us with its line of smart displays. The $229.99 second-generation Echo Show has surprisingly powerful sound in a reasonably sized package with a 10-inch display, while Echo Show 5 is less than $89.99. The new Echo Show 8 falls between these models in terms of price, power, and size, and for many, it will be just right. The Show 8 has an 8-inch display and stereo speakers that easily eclipse the Show 5 and come close to the full-size Echo Show. At $129.99, it’s a good deal.

Same performance style

The Echo Show 8 looks like a slightly smaller version of the standard Echo Show or a slightly larger version of the Echo Show 5. All three devices share the same general shape, with a striking black bezel display. Slightly tilted back and fabric-wrapped trapezoidal rear section, covering the speaker drivers. The difference lies in the overall size and some smaller details, like the camera placement (top right corner of Echo Show 5 and 8, center top of Echo Show).

Two pinhole microphones sit on the top edge of the Echo Show 8, with Volume Up/Down and Microphone Mute buttons around them. A mechanical switch above the camera slides a cap over the lens for privacy. The back of the device houses a power connector, a micro USB port for service, and a 3.5mm aux output.

The Echo Show 8 has an 8-inch touchscreen LCD with the same 1,280 x 800 resolution as the larger model and a marked step up from the Echo Show 5’s 5-inch, 960 x 480 display. It’s bright and colorful and paired with two 2.0-inch drivers, each with up to 10 watts of power. That makes it much closer in audio power to the 10-inch Echo Show (two 2.2-inch drivers, 10 watts each) than the Echo Show 5 (one 1.7-inch, 4 watts).

Features of Alexa

As an Amazon Alexa smart display, the Echo Show 8 has the same features and functions as other Echo devices. You can activate it by saying, “Alexa,” then ask a question or say a command. Alexa can answer general questions, provide weather and traffic reports, tell you your schedule, and make to-do lists. It can also play music from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora, SiriusXM, and Spotify; read audiobooks from Audible; and access videos from Amazon Video and Hulu.

If Alexa’s list of voice-controlled music services doesn’t satisfy you, the Echo Show 8 can pair with your phone via Bluetooth or with the 3.5mm port (cable not included) to play any sound you want. And if Alexa doesn’t have all the answers you’re looking for, Show 8’s screen will present your choice of Amazon Silk or Firefox web browsers for you to search for yourself.

Alexa can also control various smart home devices, including all the major brands like Philips Hue, Nest, and TP-Link. If you have a compatible home security camera or video doorbell, you can even access their live feed on display, with two-way communication through the speaker and microphone.

For other forms of communication, the Echo Show 8 can make calls to most North American phone numbers and make voice or video calls to other Echo devices and Alexa app users through Amazon’s Drop-In service.

Sound performance

The Echo Show 8’s 2.0-inch stereo speakers have a fair amount of power, though they don’t produce quite the same level of thunder as the Echo Show’s larger 2.2-inch drivers. The Show 8’s sound seems to be an inverse of the 10-inch Echo Show, emphasizing the mids rather than the lows and highs.

Our bass test, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” sounded pretty explosive on the Echo Show 8, although it didn’t reach the sub-bass frequencies that caused wall vibrations. Kick drum hits have some force behind them, and while they flirt with puffiness, they don’t distort even at maximum volume.

The opening acoustic guitar riff in Yes’ “Roundabout” sounded full and clear in Show 8, creating plenty of resonance and showing solid string texture. When the track fully starts, the electric bass is strong, and vocals can be heard clearly through the mix. The drivers show a slight weakness in high-frequency response, letting the guitar and hi-hat frequency bands settle further into the mix than is ideal, but it’s still a balanced sound. Flat, energetic can easily fill a small room.

Crystal Method’s “Born Too Slow” sounded interesting on the Echo Show 8, with a strong response from the lows to the high mids. The drums propel the track with plenty of mid-lows and lows, and the guitar riffs and vocals cut through the mix quite well. The steam traps are at the rear of the mix, lacking the presence of higher frequencies, but it’s still a frenetic sound that stays true to the track.

Show the time

The Echo Show 8 is in the Goldilocks area of ​​the smart display. It’s much more powerful than the Echo Show 5, and it costs less than half the price of the 10-inch Echo Show. It offers all the smart display features you could ask for in an Echo device, with the sharpest display, and does all of this for a very reasonable $130. The full-size Echo Show is still the most powerful of the three, and the Echo Show 5 is still an ideal bedside alarm clock, but the Echo Show 8 strikes an almost perfect balance between the two.

Advantages

Good price

Powerful sound for its size

Sharp screen

Defect

Bass response and high frequencies need better.

where can you get a Amazon Echo Show 8 online

Echo Show 8 (1st Gen, 2019 release) — HD smart display with Alexa – Unlimited Cloud Photo Storage – Digital Photo Display – Charcoal: Buy it now

All-new Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen, 2021 release) | HD smart display with Alexa and 13 MP camera | Glacier White: Buy it now