Amazon Echo Show 10: A smart display designed to move with you

It is designed around Amazon’s own Echo devices, like the Echo smart speakers or the Echo Show lineup, which feature a display, making it great for music, TV shows and movies—a fantastic entertainment and learning system for the entire family.

Smart homes in India (at least in the big cities) know what Amazon Alexa does. Simply known as Alexa, it is a virtual assistant that sits in the cloud and is able to play music, provide information, deliver news and sports scores, tell you the weather, control your smart home and even allow Prime members to order products from Amazon. It is designed around Amazon’s own Echo devices, like the Echo smart speakers or the Echo Show lineup, which feature a display, making it great for music, TV shows and movies—a fantastic entertainment and learning system for the entire family.

Recently, Amazon introduced its all-new Echo Show 10 and Echo Show 5 in India. We got the former for trial purpose and trust me, once you start using the Echo Show 10, you’ll actually feel as if you’re either Captain James T Kirk or first officer Spock sitting aboard the starship USS Enterprise and interacting with this Amazon smart display with motion and Alexa.

The third-generation Amazon Echo Show 10 is an all-and-out futuristic device in its appearance as well as performance. It is Amazon’s most advanced Echo that comes with a 10.1-inch HD display, 13-megapixel front facing camera, high quality sound and intelligent motion that moves the display to face you as you interact with Alexa. Its smart display features a motorised base that lets it follow you around the room. You will not miss a moment of your favourite movie/show, on-screen lyrics, the next step in a recipe, or a smile from a loved one on a video call as the display always stays in your view. Yes, you can now make video calls to those with the Alexa app, an Echo Show, Skype, Amazon Chime, or Zoom.

“Echo Show 10’s intelligent motion capability makes any place in the room the perfect location to enjoy visuals on the HD display combined with an enhanced audio experience”, says Parag Gupta, head of Amazon Devices India. Plus, it has a 13 MP wide-angle camera with digital pan and zoom, so it automatically keeps you centered in the picture during video calls.

This reviewer installed Amazon’s new creation in his TV room—now converted into a quiet work area—on top of a sideboard. The best part is it doesn’t take much real estate and gels well with the décor of the room. Set up is simple: Simply plug in Echo Show 10, connect to the internet on your home Wi-Fi and you are good to go. Just ask Alexa for music, weather, news, and more. Its front-firing tweeters and powerful woofer provide rich, directional sound that adapts to your space, making it great for listening to music or for your visual consumption. You can stream thousands of songs from Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana, and Apple Music.

The screen of Echo Show 10 will face you as you listen to music, watch the news briefs from NDTV or Aaj Tak, and TV shows from Prime Video and Netflix. You can ask Alexa to search, browse, and stream your favourite shows/ movies, sing along with on-screen lyrics, move around the kitchen as you follow recipes by Sanjeev Kapoor, or practice yoga with Shilpa Shetty skill, using just your voice.

Technical-speak, Echo Show 10 uses advanced computer vision algorithms to help make your home smarter and more secure. You can securely access a live feed from Echo Show 10 through the Alexa app on your smartphone, or another Echo Show device with the ability to remotely pan the display and camera to see the entire room. You can set up and control numerous Wi-Fi connected smart home appliances such as lights, plugs, AC, fans, TVs, geyser and more that work with Alexa.

Without doubt, Echo Show 10 is Amazon’s most advanced smart display with a rotating screen. You can watch the latest Prime Video or Netflix blockbuster movie or TV show in high definition, good enough for watching from a distance, or listen to music on its powerful bass-heavy speaker. Remember, it’s hands-free—the camera can be used to keep an eye on your home, plus the video calling experience has been improved, weather updates, news or anything that you throw at it is just a voice away. In short, bring this Amazon invention home and give it a smart dash.

SPECIFICATIONS

Rotating screen with manual tilt
10-inch touchscreen with adaptive colour
13MP camera with built-in cover
Woofer and two tweeters
Hands-free with Alexa
Microphone and camera on/off button
Estimated street price: Rs 24,999