Amazon Echo Show 15 Is The Smart Home Gadget I've Been Waiting For - Screen Rant

Amazon just announced the Echo Show 15 as its latest Alexa-powered smart display, and it could very well be the company's most impressive yet. Following the launch of the first Echo in 2014, Amazon's continued to keep the product line fresh with a heap of new form factors over the years. Between dirt-cheap speakers, ones with a focus on premium audio, or ones that plug directly in the wall, the hardware innovation for Amazon Echo has been fascinating to watch.

One section of the Echo family that's been especially interesting to watch is Echo Show. Echo Show is Amazon's product family for Alexa-powered smart displays. Today, Echo Shows are available with various screen sizes, numerous price points, and some especially fascinating hardware. The latest Echo Show 10, for example, has a rotating display that can follow people around as they move throughout a room. After building a strong foundation with Echo Show, Amazon's now cranking things up in a really interesting way.

On September 28 during a virtual press briefing, Amazon showcased the Echo Show 15. It's similar to other Echo Shows in that it supports Alexa voice commands with an accompanying screen, but the difference is that it has the largest screen yet — 15.6-inches, to be exact. That huge canvas is backed by a 1080p Full HD resolution and can be used in one of two ways: either propped up on a table/desk or mounted directly on the wall. While the huge display will certainly be great for things Echo Show already does well, such as watching videos and following recipes, Echo Show 15 also comes equipped with a few new features.

How Echo Show 15 Utilizes Its Massive Screen

The entire home screen of Echo Show 15 is completely redesigned. Users can now customize it with 'Alexa widgets,' such as a family calendar, to-do lists, incoming package reminders, etc. The existing Echo Show interface doesn't currently offer any of these things, so the day-to-day interactions with Echo Show 15 should be considerably improved. Another unique aspect of this is something Amazon calls 'Visual ID.' Utilizing the Amazon AZ2 Neural Edge processor, Visual ID enables the Echo Show 15 to recognize different people walking in front of it. After discerning who's in front of it, Echo show 15 can adapt its interface to show personalized reminders, calendar events, notes, and more.

That's the whole idea of Echo Show 15. It's pretty similar to Echo Shows available today, but on a much larger scale. It should be more enjoyable to watch movies, keep track of reminders, and make synced photos look that much better in people's homes. Echo Show 15 may not be enough to convert folks into the Alexa ecosystem if they haven't already joined, but for anyone already sold on it, it's a pretty fascinating addition.

And, finally, there's pricing and availability. Echo Show 15 will cost $249.99 when it launches — the same price as the 3rd generation Echo Show 15. Countertop stands and under-cabinet mounts will cost extra as optional accessories, though pricing information for those has yet to be announced. There's also no firm launch date for Echo Show 15, but Amazon should be sharing more details on that soon.

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Source: Amazon

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About The Author

Joe Maring (831 Articles Published)

Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he's happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.