Amazon Echo Show (1st gen. 2017)

Alexa takes great advantage of the new touchscreen ; Music sounds great over the new speaker ; Echo Show does everything the original Echo does ; It'll get better over time as developers build skills for the touchscreen

Odd, angular design ; Low-resolution screen

Amazon essentially created a category with the Echo, and the Echo Show marks the first significant re-thinking of what a voice-activated home-hub can be. Ultimately, the screen isn't essential , but it proved to be very useful. And the improved speaker...

Easy to use ; Some Alexa features, like timers and lists, are better with visuals ; Plays videos and gives visual search results ; Lots of potential uses for an assistant with a screen

Skills still need some work ; No privacy shutter

Right now, the Echo Show’s on-screen features aren’t show-stoppers. We can see a lot of potential, though.

Touch screen useful for discovery, selecting suggested items, and controlling playback. Full range of Alexa features with visuals.

Limited touch control options. Dated design. Unimpressive audio quality and mediocre screen for the price.

Bottom Line: The Amazon Echo Show combines the Alexa voice assistant with a 7-inch touch screen and stereo speakers, but its smaller successor has proven to be a better experience.

Isn't trying to be a tablet ; Better sound than other smart speakers ; Video conferencing between Shows is easy

Not enough screen-enabled skills yet ; Could be better sound for the price ; Camera can't handle backlit rooms

Ask not what you must do for your gadget

Solid screen, microphone, and speakers. Alexa's way more useful when it can show you stuff. This is the kitchen TV you've been missing.

For an object in your home, Amazon sure built an ugly gadget. A lot of the screen's true usefulness is up to developers. Alexa is great, but nowhere near perfect yet.

Alexa is as useful as ever ; Hardware is solid and soberly handsome ; Touchscreen-enabled apps show some promise

Short list of touchscreen-enabled 3rd-party Skills ; Teething pains for some Skills on how display is used ; Most expensive Echo version yet ; Alexa still lacks multi-user support

The more I interacted with Alexa via Echo Show, the more the subtle differences versus it and the Echo or Echo Dot became clear. When I use one of the latter, Alexa is decentralized: a disembodied voice, much like a Star Trek ship’s computer. In...

Everything we like about Alexa, plus visual feedback ; A 7-inch touchscreen display ; Video calls and an in-home video intercom (two Echo Shows required)

Can't stream media from network storage ; No video our aux audio output ; Smallish 7-inch display that's limited to 1024x600 resolution

Priced at $229.99, the Echo Show isn’t exactly cheap. But it delivers plenty of value, and at press time, Amazon was offering a $100 discount to shoppers who buy two at once. This is the first time Amazon has offered a lower price on the Show, however,...

2017 is the year of voice assistants. Earlier this year, Samsung released the Bixby assistant for its Galaxy S8 smartphones and on June 5, 2017, Apple will probably launch her own Siri speaker.