Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd gen)
Not a huge upgrade on the previous Echo Show 8, but it’s a no-brainer for video call fans
The original Echo Show 8 was released in the times before Covid, when video calls would have been, for most right-thinking people, a last resort. This 2021 version matches our new reality as the main change is a substantial upgrade to the front-facing camera.
When I say substantial, I mean it’s jumped from a measly 1MP sensor to a mighty 13MP unit. It’s also been upgraded to include automatic panning and zooming, so the camera will follow you around the room as you move about.
If that sounds familiar it’s because we saw the same features on the new Echo Show 10 ( see issue 320, p58).
While the Show 8 doesn’t physically move to follow the person speaking like its 10in sibling, the panning and zooming is a subtle and welcome addition. But it’s the image quality that really impresses, with colours and sharpness that puts most laptop webcams to shame. Together with high-quality mics, video calls becomes much more natural.
The default calling service is Amazon’s own, but just as you can use Spotify instead of Amazon Music Unlimited, you can also enable Skype here (Zoom support is US-only at the moment). Juggling all these services is a faff, as is enabling them in the first place, but it does work. Unlike the Nest Hub ( see
issue 321, p64), Amazon still won’t let you Chromecast things, but you can now log in to Netflix, at which point saying something like “Alexa, play Black Mirror” will instantly bring up the dystopian drama. Still, I miss being able to view Plex, BBC iPlayer y and Disney+ y as easily y as I can o n t h e H u b (yy o u c a n m o re c l um s i lyy access iPlayer via the browser). Another improvement comes via a processor upgrade: the 2019 Echo Show 8 made do with a quad-core MediaTek 8163 processor, but the 2021 edition gains an eight-core MediaTek 8183 chip for faster transitions and better responsiveness.
The one negative change comes with the removal of the 3.5mm audio jack, which previously allowed you to connect your Echo Show to a stronger set of speakers. You can still connect to an external speaker via Bluetooth. Elsewhere, little has changed, right down to the same touchsensitive 8in, 1,280 x 800 screen. It’s a perfectly fine display, if a little reflective, which is something to bear in mind if you plan to keep it in a room near a window.
As before, the screen sits atop a fabric-covered speaker on a thick, rubber base. It’s a practical design, but the angle can’t be adjusted. The camera can be blocked via a switch that physically covers it while pressing a button will also mute the mic; Amazon says this will cut the feed directly, but the only evidence that it works is a thudding noise and an orange bar appearing along the bottom of the screen.
The specs of the speaker’s dual drivers are the same, each measuring 2in across and rated at 10W. The quality of output sits somewhere between the Echo Dot and a full-sized Echo; although it’s on the bassy side, you can tweak levels so bass doesn’t dominate quite so much. This puts audio quality some way behind the
brilliant 10in Echo Show but ahead
of the Echo Show 5 5. If it were all about sound quality, however, you’re still better off purchasing a fourth-gen Amazon Echo for £90, or the equally affordable Nest Audio, so the question becomes whether the addition of a screen actually adds anything.
For example, you can have the lockscreen cycle through your photos if you use Amazon Photos or are happy to connect your Facebook account, which is nice but not as slick as the Nest Hub for users of Google Photos. Likewise, while it’s pleasing for the weather forecast to be illustrated with sun and rain cloud icons, it isn’t exactly a killer feature.
On the other hand, being able to ask the Echo Show to find brownie recipes, and for Alexa to then read said recipes onscreen step by step, is extremely helpful. You can then ask to see even more brownie recipes on YouTube, and the familiar search page will appear via the builtin Silk web browser. It isn’t as clean as the Nest’s integration, but it does the job if you’re in need of a brownie fix.
At the same £120 price as the previous generation, it’s hard to fault the latest Echo Show 8; it’s a marvellous product with a sensible set of improvements. My only caveat is that if you’re deeply invested in the Google ecosystem – for example, you use Google Photos and Chromecast – then consider the camera-less £90 Nest Hub or the £219 Nest Hub Max instead.
“It’s the image quality that really impresses, with colours and sharpness that puts most laptop webcams to shame”