Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd gen)
The motorised base and multiple tweaks mean t this is a big upgrade on the previous Echo Show 10
SCORE
PRICE £200 (£240 inc VAT) from pcpro.link/320echo
This is a big update to Ama Amazon’s previous 10in Echo Show ( see issue 291, p65), with one undoubted star addition: a motorised mot base that enables the screen to pivot 350° and lean back by up to 45° 45°. It can even follow you around the room. roo Alas, it can’t nip at your heels like a motorised pooch, but instead uses a 13MP camera and beam-forming mics to pinpoint your location and pivot the screen to face you.
The principal use case is video calls. Amazon launched group calling for Echo devices at the end of 2020, in the hope that it would supplant Zoom and Skype for remote family gettogethers. Indeed, with support for Skype in place and Zoom coming soon, the Show 10 could be viewed as the ultimate standalone webcam.
Before you can get started, though, there’s setup to plough through. This sees you tweaking the default resting position of the display and setting the range of motion, which is handy if you’re positioning the speaker on a shelf or up against a wall. If you don’t restrict the speaker’s range of motion, it can get confused as sound reflects off nearby surfaces.
Sadly, this process is a pain. You adjust two points on a slider to set the left and right positions, then tap “Preview”. The speaker then slowly spins clockwise and anticlockwise to preview the range of motion you’ve chosen and, if it’s slightly off, you have to tweak the slider position and preview again. It’s clunky and slow.
You’ll also need to experiment with “Motion preferences”. I started with motion enabled “during all activities”, but quickly found that I didn’t want the screen following me during music or radio playback.
Instead, I set it to “During select activities”, which turns on motion with only some multimedia l activities ( (watching video or following g a recipe, but not while playing music, podcasts and radio) and when you’re on a call.
The device also turns to face you when you say the wake word; “Alexa” by default. It was occasionally confused by large objects placed nearby, which caused it to get stuck facing the wrong way, but it can be freed by saying the wake word, or “Follow me” or “turn left/right”. The motor driving things is silent too. I can’t say it has dramatically improved my relationship with the smart speaker but it’s handy for video calls. Here, its object-tracking tech recognises how far you are from the camera and digitally reframes and zooms the view to keep you centred.
Camera quality is excellent; better than most laptop and standalone webcams can offer. It’s crisp with balanced colours and copes well in low light without getting too noisy. And it sounds great.
Where the second-generation Show 10 needed hefty tweaks to the EQ settings to make it listenable, the new model is a joy straight out of the box. The bass is more balanced, tight and agile, the mids more forward and the trebles crisper and more detailed. That makes it easier to hear voices, no matter how deep, and it also means it’s more fun to listen to with music and video.
Still, the Echo Show can’t match the Echo Studio,
“With support for Skype in place and Zoom coming soon, the Show 10 could be viewed as the ultimate standalone webcam”
Sonos Move or Apple HomePod on the audio front. If sound quality y is y your ur thing, you need to sacrifice the display.
Aside s de from om the obvious smart speaker skillset, et, the Show can control smart t devices such as smart bulbs bs and plugs thanks to its built-in lt-in Zigbee hub. And, since ce it has a 10.1in 1,200 x 800 00 screen, it can also display lay your photos and patch you u through to your video doorbell orbell and security camera feeds.
It’s a nicely made thing, in part because ecause it’s not as lumpen as previous Shows. The speaker ker is shaped like a small barrel rrel wrapped in textured fabric – either white or charcoal harcoal grey – and other than the e power cable, which snakes a es out of a small cutout at the rear, it’s pleasingly ingly minimalist.
The physical controls are mounted on the top edge of the display. Here, you’ll find volume and mute buttons plus a privacy slider for the camera. Slide the latter into place and the lens is physically blocked and electrically disabled, so there’s no chance of any potential hacker taking control of it. Wireless receives a specification bump with support for Wi-Fi 6, which should improve connection reliability with Wi-Fi 6 routers.
The final upgrades concern the screen and interface. The display now adapts its colour temperature to the ambient light, giving it a more natural tone than the previous Show 10. Amazon has also squeezed multiple panels of information onto some screens, making more of the space available than before. It’s a step forward, but there’s no way to display the time permanently and, when you’re listening to some services – such as the BBC – you’re given nothing to look at apart from an oversized logo against a bland background.
The third-generation Show 10 is, in some ways, a technical tour de force. The silent, brushless motor and motion tracking are genuinely impressive, it has a nicer screen than its predecessor, sounds better and has improved UI. Combined with that ultra-modern look, the Show 10 is a smart speaker that justifies the price.
SPECIFICATIONS
10.1in 1,200 x 800 touchscreen dual 2in stereo speakers 2 x 1in tweeters 3in woofer
13MP camera Wi-Fi 6 Zigbee Bluetooth (A2DP and AVRCP) 251 x 172 x 230mm (WDH)
2.6kg 1yr limited warranty