“The Echo Show slaps on a decent-sized screen on to a Alexa-powered smart speaker”

As per a recent study by Accenture, standalone voice assistants, or smart speakers, are one of the fastest adopted technologies in India. Now that’s a pretty strong statement to make, but the fact remains that for the proponents of these assistants (which included the likes of Amazon, Google, Samsung and Apple), these devices act as gateways for users to entrench themselves deeper into the respective ecosystems and services umbrellas. The importance of services can’t really be overemphasised, as Apple’s latest push into streaming indicates. Amazon has been one of the early entrants in the smart speaker space, and its latest offering for India comes in the form of the Alexa-powered Echo Show (2nd-generation). While the first-gen model never made to the country, the new device adds to the existing portfolio of Echo devices, which includes everything from the basic Echo Input (review) to the feature-loaded Echo Plus (review).

Right at the back, you’ll find a panel that holds the port for the bundled 30W charging adapter, a micro-USB port labelled ‘Network’, and one for a Kensington lock. The network port can be used (with a suitable USB-to-Ethernet adapter), to hook up the device to a wired LAN in case you desire a more stable connection than what you get over Wi-Fi.

In terms of features and capabilities, think of the Echo Show as a supersized, blown-up version of the Echo Spot. Sure, the cutesy Echo Spot is designed more like a smart bedside clock than a smart display, but the basic feature-set is essentially the same. Obviously, the Echo Show’s 10.1-inch display makes it much better for watching videos on, and that’s really one of its mainstays over and above the Echo Spot.

For its asking price of Rs 22,999, the Echo Show (2nd-gen) doesn’t come cheap, but Amazon is throwing in a free Philips Hue White Ambiance smart bulb to sweeten the deal for a limited time. I’m going to be using the Echo Show over the next few days to figure out how the addition of a decent-sized screen helps the overall user experience and if it can make me love Alexa even more. Watch this space.

Photos by Raj Rout