Amazon Echo Show 8: The category is that of smart speakers, but it is difficult to define Amazon’s new Echo Show 8 in this way. The 2023 version is, in fact, the first to introduce important innovations, both hardware and software. First, there is Amazon’s AZ2 chip on board, which makes use much faster and more dynamic, and then the widgets, which allow you to approach the display almost as if it were a tablet, with the necessary differences.
How it’s done
The Echo Show 8 appears as a small screen, available in anthracite or white. Connected to power, it uses Wi-Fi to communicate with other connected devices in your home and with the Alexa app. It has an eight-inch touchscreen and a 13-megapixel camera with a privacy shutter (the same goes for the four microphones), plus improved speakers. The display is 1280 x 800p, the highest quality Amazon has to offer. The main improvement concerns the support for spatial audio and the ability of the speaker to analyze the acoustics of the room in which it is located to adjust its balance.
The third-generation Echo Show 8 features an octa-core processor with Amazon’s AZ2 Neural Engine, which already powers the Echo Show 15 and Echo Pop. It’s a clear upgrade over the MediaTek MT 8183 chip in the previous Echo Show 8, allowing for faster performance. Alexa is extremely responsive and responds to most commands instantly. Touch controls are also smooth, and content plays quickly.
The functionalities
Regarding functionality, the Echo Show 8 is not limited; with a camera, screen, speakers and microphone, there are many opportunities for accessing Alexa. Simply say the wake word “Alexa” to ask anything from the weather to today’s events and thousands more. Music fans will appreciate the presence of Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, and Audible despite the lack of Dolby technology. Then, there is the possibility of video chatting with Skype or using the Drop-In function, a sort of video intercom with other Alexa users. Web browsing is contemplated but a little cumbersome. It is based on Silk or Firefox, and although it responds well to voice commands, scrolling with your fingers on a screen like this, which is not optimized for reading, is not the best.
The widgets and the privacy side
So far, smart displays have been good from a visual perspective but terrible from a tactile perspective. Simple tasks like controlling light or changing an alarm take more time with touch than with voice. The new widgets of the Echo Show 8 2023 go some way to solving this problem. A smart home widget allows you to access a light with two quick taps and music, which is useful for playing a recent album. Then there is the shopping list, calendar widget, and many more for playing. It’s not all perfect, but it is a new beginning for Amazon, a move that makes Show 8 more useful than ever.
For some years, Amazon has paid great attention to confidentiality in the use of technology. Here, too, everything translates into hardware and software implications. We can use a shutter or a button to close the webcam and avoid the remote possibility of someone spying on us without our knowledge. In the settings, there are all the possible links to limit data collection, avoid sharing uses and so on. You can even ask Alexa to delete questions asked shortly before, within a day or since starting to use the voice assistant. The third-generation Echo Show 8 is a little more expensive than its predecessor but has some substantial upgrades under the hood. It enjoys powerful sound, a responsive display and all the flexibility of the Alexa system. Amazon’s voice assistant has grown a lot in recent years, carving out an exceptional place in consumers’ homes.
