JOIN USAmazon Echo Show 10: First Impression
American technology major Amazon on Wednesday (June 30) unveiled the new generation Echo Show 5, 10 series for Rs 8,999 and Rs 24,999, respectively in India.
I have been using the Echo Show 10 for a few days now, and so far as it has impressed me a lot with the new swivel design and improved security features. Here's my initial thoughts about the new smart speaker-cum-display.
Design:
Amazon's latest Echo Show 10 is very different compared to any previous Echo Show series models. Predecessors come with a trapezoid shape and display panel upfront and speaker in the backside.
The Echo Show 10 features a 10-inch flat-display panel connected to the cylindrically shaped speaker similar to the Echo Studio, but in a smaller dimension. The sound output is loud and at the same time, very clear even when the volume is on the higher side.
With support to Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana, and Apple Music, users can play their favourite songs any time and it sure will liven up the living room. It houses a 2.1 audio system-- two stereo 1-inch tweeters and a 3-inch woofer.
With a combination of well optimised stable motor, sound source localization (SSL) with computer vision (CV) algorithms, Echo Show 10 can accurately turn around for up to 175-degree.
It can intuitively calculate the angle of voice coming to the device and turn in that direction. This presents a lot of use-cases at home (more on that later).
The speaker comes laced with high-quality fabric and the screen has HD resolution, more than enough to view the content clearly inside the house.
User-interface:
Like all the Echo series of speakers and displays, the Echo Show 10 offers bytes on the latest news of the day, users can get any information such as the weather, last night's sports results and more.
Also, Echo Show 10 comes with MediaTek 8183 processor, an inbuilt smart home hub that supports Zigbee smart home devices. This means users can control thousands of IoT (Internet-of-Things) gadgets at home including smart bulbs, lights, plugs, AC, fans, TVs, geyser and more by asking Alexa to do the needful.
With the big 10.1-inch HD (1280x800p) display, users can watch trailers, movies, TV Shows on their favourite OTT apps, and even summon favourite food recipe videos from the web and start cooking in the kitchen with step-by-step guidance.
As said before, the biggest improvement we see in the new Echo Show 10 is its capability to swivel around for up to 175-degrees. It is best suited in the living room and kitchen.
Whenever I spoke to the Alexa-powered Echo Show 10, the sensors were really sensitive enough to pick the angle of sound coming from me and turned exactly to my direction and responded. This is quite a feat. Kudos to the engineers.
Also, it works as a neat security camera in the living room. With Alexa on the mobile, we can remotely pan the display and 13MP camera to see the entire room clearly.
If you have any privacy concerns, Echo Show 10's camera and audio can be switched off with physical shutter buttons on the top.
So far, it has impressed me a lot. Be sure to come back to DH, as I will doing a full review next week.
Amazon's Echo Show 10 video:
Echo Show 5
As said in the early part of the article, Amazon launched a small model Echo Show 8. It features 5.0-inch (960 x 480p) display, a 2MP HD camera, MediaTek MT 8163 processor and a single 1.65-inch 4W speaker.
Like the other Echo Show speakers, it will help you get all the information, control IoT devices at home from anywhere, watch multimedia content and even make video calls to friends and family. This is best suited for bedroom and kitchens.
It comes in three colours-- Black, White, and the new Blue and is available for Rs 6,999, Rs 2,000 less than MRP Rs 8,999 on Amazon (here) for a limited time.
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