It also lives up to its promises of tracking (and therefore facing) you as you move around your room, and it does so inaudibly. Design-wise, this is a complete departure from any previous Echo Show. It’s like a half-height Echo Studio with a Fire HD 10 tablet attached to it.
Move with me
But you have full control: you can swipe down from the top of the screen and turn off motion at any time, and can choose your preferences for when you want the screen to move with you. As well as ‘During All Activites’ there are options for ‘During Select Activities’ (calling and multimedia) or ‘On Request’, which is when you say “Alexa, follow me”.
There’s an even easier way to disable motion: slide the camera shutter closed. When you first plug in the Echo Show 10, or move it to a new location, it will map its range of motion and figure out where any obstacles are. You can adjust the angle it can turn in either direction using a slider on screen and also where it should face when it’s idle.
If someone puts down, say, a mug of tea and the screen bumps into it, it will stop and ask if the object is always there or not, and will update the mapping if you say it’s not just temporarily in the way. You’ll see “Did I move correctly?” on screen from time to time as Alexa learns to follow you correctly. You can also turn the screen with your hand, and there’s now tilt so you can adjust the angle up or down by around 45° to suit whether you’re sitting or standing. The main one is the centre zone. As long as you stay in roughly same position, the screen won’t move even if you’re nodding or shaking your head. Second is the ‘holding zone’, an area outside centre. It uses this to avoid unnecessary movement if you, for example, just lean out of the frame to grab something quickly. Then there is the ‘motion zone’ which is at the edges of the camera’s field of view. If you move to this zone, the screen will only move after a short delay. This is all designed to make the motion feel natural, and avoid too much movement. It still takes a while to get used to it, and it certainly feels futuristic. Some may find it a bit creepy to start with, but they soon realise the benefits of a screen that always points at you.
Better still, it isn’t just the screen that moves: the speakers do too, so they’re always pointing at you as well. The 13Mp camera ensures you look nice and sharp, and that resolution is used to zoom in and focus on you.
The options in the native Alexa calling service are confusing though, as they tell you what will happen when you tap them, not what the current setting is. Above, the camera, microphone and follow mode are enabled, but it’s easy to think they’re not.
Plus, it uses the desktop versions of these websites, so it can be fiddly to use with your fingers: tapping the ‘full screen’ button in YouTube is a good example of this. Don’t expect YouTube, iPlayer or other popular video services to be added natively as there’s every chance they won’t be: you can’t install apps on an Echo Show like a Fire TV. The good news is that a lot of news services make their live streams available on YouTube so you can watch Sky News, on the Echo Show 10 without too much hassle. Not BBC News, but you can set BBC News as one of the elements in your Flash Briefing via the Alexa app. Ultimately, don’t think of the Echo Show 10 as a self-contained Fire TV, but there’s still a good array of content to watch.
Sound quality
Considering the size of the speakers, the Echo Show 10 sounds great. Voices are very clear – lifelike – and music is handled admirably with nicely balanced bass and treble. Bass, in particular, is reined in compared to the second-gen Echo Show which was a little too bottom-heavy in the music department. It’s no competitor to the Echo Studio, but it’s still respectable if you listen to a lot of music. It will also adapt sound to your room, just like the Studio.
Interface
If you’ve used an Echo Show, this will all be familiar. There are only minor changes to the home screen, and if you ask Alexa certain questions (such as “how many ounces are there in a pound?”) she will show the information overlaid on whatever you’re currently looking at, such as a recipe.
You won’t really touch the screen much as it’s quicker to ask Alexa to turn on the lights or show the video feed from the front door camera than it is to swipe in from the right-hand side, tap Smart Home and then try and find the device you want in the list. I can’t see too many people using the Echo Show 10 in a bedroom, but as well as adaptive brightness, it also has a Sunrise Effect setting which will “display gradual, simili-sunrise lighting beginning 15 minutes before alarm set”. So, you can use it to help you wake up more gently in the mornings.
Security
One of the extra benefits of the Echo Show 10’s rotation and camera is that you can use it to monitor your home like a smart security camera. In the Alexa app you can tap Devices > Cameras and then tap on the Echo Show 10. You’ll see a live video feed and you can swipe left or right on it to turn the device in that direction. Thanks to the mics and speakers, you can talk and listen to people in the room, just like many security cameras – these options are disabled by default and anyone at home will see a message saying someone is viewing the camera. They can stop you watching, too.
If you’re in the US, you get the bonus of Alexa Guard. With the Echo Show 10, this means you’ll get alerts if it hears the sound of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, or glass breaking, and will periodically sweep the room to look for human shapes, again alerting you if anyone is spotted.
Privacy
So if you leave the room or disable motion, that data is deleted. It doesn’t use facial recognition, unlike the Google Nest Hub Max, so Alexa doesn’t know who you are except by your voice. You can also more easily control the voice recordings Alexa keeps (and this applies to all Echo devices) by saying “Alexa, delete what I just said” or even “Alexa, delete everything I’ve ever said”.
Zigbee and Sidewalk
Like the previous two 10-inch Echo Shows, this third-gen model has a built-in Zigbee hub which is handy if you have Zigbee smart home devices. If you don’t, it’s a feature you won’t notice.
Price & availability
Look at the Echo Show 5 and 8 and you can’t help but think the Echo Show 10 is rather expensive. But the biggest Echo Show has always cost a lot more and, if anything, the fact this new model is only £20/$20 more expensive than the less-capable second-gen version is impressive. US buyers can add a Blink Mini camera for only $5 (normally $34.99) but there’s no pre-order or introductory deal in the UK. And if you want to see how alternatives from Google, Lenovo and other brands compare, read the best smart displays.
Verdict
But, there is a lot to like: it sounds good, motion generally works well and you can do a lot with the Echo Show 10, whether following a recipe, listening to music (and following the lyrics on screen), checking the weather, controlling your smart home or using one of the thousands of Alexa skills. Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
