SMART SCREENS
You’ve met the smart speaker… now meet the smart speaker with a display attached, which gives you a whole lot of extra options when it comes to what you can do
Your complete guide to smart home display assistants
Way back in 2014, when it made its debut, the Amazon Echo seemed slightly odd because it didn’t have any kind of screen – it went all in on voice. Wouldn’t that limit what you could do with it? Was voice input (and output) really as versatile as it needed to be for the Echo to be a success?
Well, yes, as it turned out – Amazon had no qualms about launching a device without a screen, the Echo went on to sell in huge numbers, and it’s now commonplace to see a smart speaker or seven tucked away in the corners of a home. Kudos to Amazon for the foresight.
The screen, though, is making a comeback. A speaker might be attractive in its simplicity and in its low price, but add in a display and the whole approach changes: think videos, photos, maps, on-screen controls and more. It turns out that having a device with a screen was a good idea after all.
Now these smart screens are propagating as fast as the smart speakers before them – Amazon alone has three different models on the market (plus one, the Echo Spot, that now seems to have been discontinued). It’s no exaggeration to say you’ve now got dozens of options to pick from when it comes to smart screens and smart speakers.
As with smart speakers, you’ve really got two choices when it comes to what’s powering your smart screen: it’s either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant (though third-party manufacturers besides Amazon and Google may make the external hardware). That’s not a lot of choice, but it does make it easier to decide on a purchase.
Facebook has a couple of smart displays of its own, built primarily as ways of video-calling friends and family over Facebook Messenger. These devices, the Portal smart screens, come with Alexa on board and so do function in the same way as other smart displays, but we’re not going to dwell on them much here because Facebook comes with so much baggage over privacy right now that we think few will choose them.
Picking the right smart screen is therefore largely about choosing between Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and then secondly a choice about how big a display you want dominating your bedside table or kitchen worktop.
For the first question, Alexa and Google Assistant are so evenly matched at this stage that you’re likely to simply opt for the one that you already use most often: Echo speakers and screens make sense if you’re a Prime subscriber and use Amazon’s various entertainment services, for example, while if you’ve already got Google Assistant on your phone and spend a lot of time watching YouTube, the Google-powered displays are a better option.
Got a lot of Ring security cameras around the home, and a Fire TV Stick plugged into your TV? Then you’re probably best sticking to the same brand for your smart screen, and choosing one of the Echo Show devices. Alternatively, if it’s Nest cameras and a Chromecast that you’ve already got installed around the house, you’re going to
want to stay with Google for your smart screen needs.
The list goes on, to music services and photos and so on. Whichever ecosystem you’re already most involved in is the one you probably should pick for your smart screen. Of course there’s nothing wrong with setting up two different ones for two different rooms – they just won’t work very well together.
Google Assistant is certainly the most ubiquitous of the two apps, because it appears on every Android phone and has an iOS app available too (it also features on most Chromebooks). Alexa does have apps for Android and iOS, but you can’t use them to ask questions and give commands, just to manage your devices. Admittedly, Alexa is spreading fast across a whole host of other gadgets besides phones though, from clocks to microwaves (with more devices appearing all the time).
Your other main decision is about what screen size you want – a bigger screen means a better picture for your images and videos, as well as better sound (because there’s no doubt a bigger speaker attached). Larger displays take up more room though, and are going to cost you more money, so it’s not always the case that biggest is best.
Options on the market at the moment range from a compact, sub-phone-size five inches all the way up to a tablet-esque 10 inches, so have a think about how you’re going to be using your smart screen (and how far away you’re going to be standing when you do). That should tell you the size you should be thinking about.
The good news for us users is that these smart screens and their digital assistants are getting better all the time, with Google and Amazon regularly adding useful new features and capabilities to them that give you even more options – some of which we’ll get into below.
SHOW AND TELL
If you’re wondering what exactly a smart screen can bring to your life, it’s simply everything that a smart speaker can, and then some. The weather forecast for today, tomorrow or next week is a good place to start – a smart speaker can tell you whether it’s going to rain, a smart screen can break that down by time. Or take your calendar schedule, which can be displayed as well as read out to you if there’s a screen available.
Or perhaps you want an early morning news bulletin, which on a smart speaker is limited to audio, and on a smart screen can include video too. It’s a bit like choosing between a radio and a television set: if you think you’re going to make use of the visuals, it’s worth the investment, but if not, you can save yourself some money.
You could always have a smart screen in one room, and smart speakers in the others – as long as they’re using the same digital assistant, they should be able to work happily together (eg broadcasting a housewide message that dinner is on the table).
Video is, of course, a big feature of any smart display, but double-check what you’re actually getting before you buy – Googlepowered speakers play YouTube, of course,
A smart screen is everything that a smart speaker is, and then some
and Amazon-powered speakers play Prime Video, of course... but beyond that it’s not quite as clear cut as you might think.
Smart screens with Google Assistant on board also act as Chromecast devices, which means you can cast audio and video from apps on your phone (not Netflix, though – these smart screens don’t meet Netflix’s stringent standards for what counts as a display suitable for streaming video).
Just about every app on your phone will offer a cast feature, so you can get the likes of Plex, iPlayer, the ITV Hub, YouTube and so on up on a Google-powered screen. In terms of supported streaming video, there’s a bigger range of options than there is on the Echo Show, where you’re really limited to Amazon Prime Video, plus iPlayer and YouTube through the on-board web browser.
The best option is to work out the types of video and audio content you think you’re going to want access to, and then pick a smart screen accordingly. Spotify, you’ll be pleased to hear, works across just about every smart screen on the market, so you don’t need to worry on that score.
What’s more, with a smart screen, your content – from podcasts to TV shows – can be controlled with a press on the display. Instead of shouting at your smart speaker to skip tracks or to pause playback, you can simply tap on the screen instead (and if you’re listening to a mix of new music, you don’t have to be constantly asking Google Assistant or Alexa what the current song is).
This sort of convenience extends to controlling smart home devices too. An Echo speaker can turn your bedroom lights on and off via a voice command, but an Echo Show lets you use your voice or tap on the screen, and see at a glance what smart home gear you’ve got set up (and the status of each device). It’s a more comprehensive option.
Smart home tricks extend to viewing live footage from a security camera or video doorbell, which most smart screens can do – provided you’re using compatible cameras, naturally (this is another reason why you need to weigh up the gadgets you’ve already invested in before you pick a smart screen).
Something else that almost every smart screen can do is video calls. If you want to be able to see your family and friends as well as hear them, it might be worth the price premium needed to upgrade from a smart speaker to one with a display attached. Typically though, you can only call smart screens and speakers of the same make – so find out what your closest friends and family members are already using.
Finally, recipes, which smart screens featuring both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are good at. If you’re going to be setting up your gadget in the kitchen, then it’s a lot easier to follow instructions on a display than it is to try and remember everything that a smart speaker is telling you while you’re up to your elbows in flour.
Almost every smart screen can make video calls to the same kind of device