amazon echo show amazonseifert Since its inception in 2015, Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant has always been a disembodied digital form trapped in a box of electronics. The original Echo was a cylinder, later models have had a spherical shape, and the Echo Show devices are effectively wedges with screens on the front. Alexa behaves in the same way on all of them: you ask it to do something, then it provides a polite response and does that thing.
The new $249.99 Echo Show 10, which starts shipping on February 25th, is the first Alexa-powered device that is more than just a speaker or a screen sitting on your shelf. It is, simply put, an Alexa device that moves — just a little.
The Echo Show 10’s motorized base allows Alexa to spin the screen around so it is facing you, and the built-in camera and tracking algorithms allow it to keep the screen pointed in your direction whenever you’re using it. It’s a little glimpse into a future Alexa robot that could become much more than a voice powered remote control.
It’s just a glimpse, though, and Alexa in the new Echo Show 10 is largely the same Alexa you get on the prior Echo Show and every other Alexa-powered smart display. You ask it for information — a weather report, a favorite playlist, news, calendar appointments, and so on — and it will give you a polite response and show the requested information on the screen.
Unlike the prior Echo Show models, which all share a similar wedge shape, the Echo Show 10 has a completely new design, with a floating touchscreen above a cylindrical base. This allows the Show 10 to do two things the prior version couldn’t: tilt its screen and spin around nearly 360 degrees.
Tilting the screen requires you to manually pivot the screen forward or back, but the spinning happens automatically thanks to the silent brushless motor inside the base of the Show 10. Both of these capabilities make it much easier to position the screen just right, whether you are using it to watch Bridgerton on Netflix (yes, the Echo Show supports Netflix now!) or place a video call to a family member across the country.
Along with that motor, the base houses three speakers: a 3-inch downward-facing woofer and two 1-inch tweeters, which are positioned just below the screen. This ensures that whenever the screen is facing you, the speakers are as well.
The display is the same 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 touchscreen from the prior model. It’s certainly far from the highest resolution screen in your home, but it’s vibrant and bright enough to see from a few feet away. Around the display is a chunky bezel, which isn’t a problem I will care about until Amazon comes out with a model that has a thinner, more modern bezel that immediately makes this one look silly.
Wanda B. Hewlett
Wanda B. Hewlett (Contributor) is a freelance writer from the UK. When she’s not busy writing she loves to spend her time traveling, exploring and running.