The Echo Show 8 4th Gen does a good job of handling smart home functions, and the display is a decent way to watch content too, though it’s not inexpensive.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Nice loud speakers | Smart display still isn’t all that smart or open |
| Good microphone pickup for Alexa integrations | There are cheaper ways to get Alexa into your smart home |
| Very clear indication of muted microphone | Intermittent touchscreen lag |
Score: 3/5
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In this review
Specifications
Design
Performance
Verdict
Ethical disclaimer:
The Amazon Echo Show 8 4th Gen was sent to me for review by Amazon Australia’s representatives; I didn’t buy it myself and to the best of my knowledge they’re not likely to ask for it back – but they could, and as always this would make absolutely no difference to my review in any way whatsoever. Ethical disclosure is, sadly, a bit of a dying art but I’m doing what I can to be upfront and honest with my readers, listeners and viewers.
For more on ART’s Ethics position, see here.
Design
The Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) is built around an 8.7 inch display, making it the second-smallest of Amazon’s smart displays; if you want just the basics the slightly older Amazon Echo Show 5 (still available from Amazon at the time of writing this review) is considerably cheaper.
Still, for a smart display likely to live on a kitchen bench or side table, 8.7 inches is quite a nice size, because it gives you a decent amount of screen real estate to play with.
At 1340×800 resolution it’s not the sharpest screen you can glance at, honestly, but for the kinds of interactions most people are likely to want to have with a smart display, it’s enough.
It has been a while since I’ve tested out any Alexa smart speakers or displays, but Amazon’s basic style for these devices hasn’t changed a whole heaping lot.
The Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) like many of its predecessors really does look like a display that’s been bolted on top of an Echo Smart Speaker, not that this is a terrible idea. The primary speaker body sits behind the display, and this is where your colour choices come into (limited) play.
Amazon sells the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) in either “Graphite” or “Glacier White” finishes, and it’s the latter that was sent my way. White tech gear does look spiffy in a showroom, but prior experience with Alexa devices in this finish did tend to end up with them showing their wear and tear, especially if I used them for any length of time near my kitchen. Let’s just say that coffee stains do not easily clean out of a white speaker wrap and leave it at that.
In terms of controls, they’re kept minimal, but then this is primarily meant to be either a touchscreen or voice activated device. At the right hand side of the display you’ll find volume buttons sitting beneath a mute switch that (as has long been the classic Amazon display style) shows an aggressive red bar when activated to let you know that its microphone and (presumably) cameras have been switched off.
Even when I’m watching Blackadder, the Echo Show 8 wants me to know that the microphone is muted.
I say presumably here because while I do like the way that Amazon makes it very clear that you’ve engaged the mute mode, there’s no actual physical camera shutter on the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen).
Performance
Setup of the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) is a simple enough affair; plug in the supplied power adaptor and sign into Amazon, either manually if you prefer full control over the experience, or via the Amazon Alexa app for Android and iOS if you’ve already got other Alexa devices enabled.
The Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) is Wi-Fi 6E enabled, which means it’ll work nicely with both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi networks. All up, it took me less than 10 minutes to have the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) fully installed, and that included the time it took to get it out of the box. Not bad work there, Amazon, because smart displays like this are meant to be about ease of use.
The Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) runs on Amazon’s AZ3 Pro chip, with the promise of slicker and more intelligent Alexa conversations and integrations. This, I found, was a bit of a mixed bag.
It’s definitely the case that the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen)’s pickup of my voice and basic interactions mostly worked well, though it did decide that my decision to make ABC News Australia my preferred news provider meant that I would want to see Sky News broadcasts instead, which isn’t even remotely accurate.
This is what I wanted, Alexa.
My bigger issue here was with the touchscreen, where controls were sometimes snappy… and sometimes not. This was never to a degree where it stopped working or anything like that, but it did sometimes lag between inputs when using the onscreen keyboard, or tapping between menus for reasons that I couldn’t quite pin down. Maybe that’s an issue with software optimisation that might improve over time, but I can only review what’s in front of me at the time of review.
The point of getting a smart display should be to do more than you can just do with a smart speaker, and here I’m still struck – and this is true of Google’s Nest Displays too, though to a slightly lesser extent – by the fact that you are somewhat limited in what you can display on them.
It’s not surprising that Amazon pitches its own photo storage solutions if you want a smart photo frame, but on the video front the only two services natively supported are Amazon’s own Prime Video (duh) and Netflix, with support also offered up for YouTube, Disney+, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Tubi and Red Bull TV via Amazon’s own Silk Browser.
Viewing these services via a browser on a screen and UI like this is a clumsy affair; as an example if you want to search YouTube you can do so, but the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen)’s interface brings up a full screen keyboard while you search, which means you only see results after you’ve finished typing, where an actual YouTube app will typically try to help you out with autocompletes and showing you potential matches as you go. It’s slower and less compelling to have to rely on the touchscreen this way, and while you can use voice searches for these platforms, search results can be a little clumsy in this fashion too.
Searching for my own YouTube videos is much faster via voice, not shockingly — but it would be nicer if the onscreen keyboard wasn’t so clumsy when I want to use it as well.
I’m struck — and again, this is true for a Nest Display as well — that it’s a pity that these small smart displays don’t incorporate an HDMI video input, simply because this would open up a lot of additional functionality to users. Maybe I’m just wanting too much there…
Still, it’s a pity that it’s limited for video playback, because otherwise the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) is rather well positioned as a small video player, thanks to the very good (for its size) output of its speakers. No, you’re not going to replace that 115 inch TV with it any time soon, but as a basic playback device it’s quite pleasant for both video and music purposes.
The Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) features an integrated 12MP camera for video calling which has decent enough pickup for that kind of purpose; nothing you’d shoot actual video from but workable for family calls.
Being an Alexa device there’s a wide range of skills available, and it’s not surprising at all that both Ring and Blink cameras are supported as viewable devices through it; Amazon owns both brands after all and I had no problems getting either type of camera integrated for alerts or even longer-term viewing of those cameras over time as required during my review period.
Echo Show 8 (4th Gen): Alex’s Verdict
In the smart speaker space, you’ve only got a few choices, and if you’re keen on the concept it does make the most sense to choose a brand and stick with it; having a mix of Google Assistant/Gemini, Apple Siri and Amazon Alexa would be a recipe for headaches and confusion within any smart home.
Alexa itself is nothing new in the Australian consumer space, and the odds feel high that most consumers keen on a smart home setup will have made their choice in this regard.
There’s not much in the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) that would likely make an existing Google or Apple smart home user switch, but if you’re after a mostly-compact smart home display and can live without a proper physical camera shutter and the price point the Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) commands, it’s worth considering.
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Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen): Pricing and availability
The Echo Show 8 (4th Gen) retails in Australia for $349
|
Buy The Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen)! | Buy On Amazon |
If you buy a product using the link above, ART may earn a small commission.
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