Amazon has released the Echo Show 15 and it’s the biggest Alexa smart display of them all. With its 15.6-inch display, it looks more like a picture frame than a piece of technology. But if you hang it on your kitchen wall or stand it on the kitchen bench – it can become the digital heart of your home – keeping you organised, connected and entertained.

Here at Women Love Tech, we trialed the Echo Show 15. Obviously, it has many of the same features of other Alexa displays but the fact you can stream your favourite shows from Netflix, ABC iView and Prime Video on a larger screen is a major plus factor.

It means you have a TV in your kitchen so you can stay in touch while whipping up all those Christmas dishes. Or you can listen to music and podcasts via Spotify, Apple or Amazon Music as you cook – another major bonus.

Obviously, the Echo Show has many of the usual Alexa display’s features including a shared calendar as well as shopping and to-do lists. You can check the weather if you need to or leave notes for household members. You can even call them using Alexa calling.

The Echo Show’s screen is larger and it’s easy to customise it so it’s just how you want it. By doing this, we found it’s easy to get even more organised. You customise the home screen using the new widgets gallery which lets you choose and add the information you and your household are after. These Alexa widgets keep refreshing so you always have the latest information and you can rearrange them to suit your preferences.

Just walk past the Echo Show 15, Alexa will recognise you!

Another nifty feature is the fact the Echo Show 15 has the new visual ID feature so once you’ve enrolled your visual ID, you only have to walk in front of the Echo Show and it will recognise you. It will then automatically update to show you your custom greeting, your personal reminders, calendar events, recently played music and any personal notes from other household members. This is a pretty amazing feature and takes a bit of getting used to – but once you’ve got it all up and running it works well.

Plus, with visual ID you can send a note directly to a specific adult household member, which only shows up when they walk past the device and Alexa recognises them.

The Echo Show also has the next-generation Amazon AZ2 Neural Edge processor and this means it can deliver on-device speech. We found it gives the device a smoother, faster experience than some of the previous Alexa displays.

Organise your household
A huge benefit of the Echo Show 15 is how much you can organise everything you’re doing. You can view your household’s shared calendar, add or remove items from your shopping list and check your to-do list. If it’s in your kitchen or your shared living/dining area, it’s easy to decide what to eat because Alexa will give you assistance with recipe inspirations as well.

Stay connected to your home and others
Some other nice features of the Echo Show 15 include a smart home widget which lets you view and control your compatible smart home devices with just a tap. You can also see who’s at the door with compatible smart doorbells. Plus, you can keep track of personal devices such as Echo Buds and Tile trackers. With its 15.6-inch screen and 5-megapixel camera, the Echo Show 15 is also great for video calls via Alexa.

Echo Show 15 can also blend into your décor by displaying full-screen pictures from Amazon Photos or alternating visuals from pre-loaded art, nature or travel galleries.

Powered by the new Next-Gen AZ2 Processor
Echo Show 15 is powered by the next-generation Amazon AZ2 Neural Edge processor, a machine learning (ML) inference engine with a quad-core scalable architecture and 22x more TOPS (trillions of operations per second) than the previous generation. Like AZ1, it’s capable of processing speech recognition on device and can also process computer vision (CV) workloads in parallel.

The AZ2 architecture is custom designed by Amazon and runs ML-based speech models significantly faster than its predecessor—enabling CV algorithms that once required the immense computer power of the cloud to be processed entirely on the edge. What this means is that Echo Show 15 is able to recognise an adult household member enrolled in visual ID and will be able to process their voice right on the device.

Privacy and accessibility
The Echo Show 15 is designed with privacy in mind; it has microphone and camera controls, the ability to view and delete your voice recordings, and a built-in shutter to cover the camera. Visual ID is optional and requires explicit enrollment, and you can delete your visual ID profile at any time through the on-device settings or the Alexa app.

The back of the Echo Show 15 has screws for the included wall mounting plate or stand (as shown above), with a cable tidying compartment to keep things neat.

It can be bought with a stand for a little more if you’d rather not screw 2.2kg of technology into your wall.

The 1080p touchscreen is bright and crisp when viewed at arm’s reach. Its two 1.6in speakers are loud and clear for Alexa’s voice or watching video but only average for music lacking in bass, sounding closer to the budget Echo Dot than the beefier Echo Show 10.

It has buttons on the top for volume, muting the microphones and camera, plus a physical privacy shutter for the camera.

“As households move back into a hybrid mode of home and office work in addition to the day to day demands of juggling family priorities like kids’ sport, music practice and remembering the details of the shopping list, life is busier than ever! With the Echo Show 15 and Alexa, we want to show how smart assistance can make the load lighter and more manageable,” said Kate Burleigh, Country Manager for Amazon Alexa, ANZ.

“Our continued innovation across Alexa and Amazon devices aims to ensure that our
technology will always be there when you need it, but fade away quietly when you don’t. With visual ID displaying customised calendar and music preferences across a household, Alexa’s performance has never felt more personal.”

Patrick Walker, Country Manager for Amazon Devices, ANZ added: “With the Echo Show 15, managing your smart is easier than ever for Australians. With a redesigned home screen that acts as a smart home control hub, it brings everything that makes your household tick into one place. You can easily customise your Echo Show 15 experience to display your connected devices, shared household calendar, manage to-do lists and reminders, and even find meal inspiration.

Sustainability

The Echo Show 15 is generally repairable and will receive security updates for at least four years after the device is discontinued. It contains 99% recycled aluminium plus at least 35% recycled plastic. Amazon has also pledged to offset the electricity used by Echo devices with renewable energy. The company offers trade-in and recycling schemes.

Verdict

The Echo Show 15 is a good smart display with a lot of potential to be a really great one.

There is nothing else quite like it on the market, with that big 15.6in screen, picture-frame surround and wall-mounting or stand options. But Amazon has yet to really take advantage of its size, with only a few limited widget and multitasking options. It feels as if it could do so much more as the central digital hub of a home.

Alexa responds quickly and does everything it can on Amazon’s smaller displays. The face recognition works well as a way of showing you personalised content without having to directly interact with it.

If you want a really big Alexa smart display for the kitchen, the Echo Show 15 is it, priced the same as Amazon’s smaller 10in motorised version. But it isn’t quite the revolution it promises just yet.

Pricing and availability
Echo Show 15 will be available for Available NOW via Amazon.com.au and JB Hi-Fi. To learn more, visit: www.amazon.com.au/echoshow15. Countertop stands and under-cabinet mount accessories are sold separately.

For more information about the Echo Show 15, visit here.

For more information from Women Love Tech on smart homes, visit here.

Smart Home Designs Trending Now!

The post We Take A Look At The Echo Show 15 – The Biggest Alexa Smart Display Of Them All appeared first on Women Love Tech.

DMTBeautySpot

via https://dmtbeautyspot.com

Pamela Connellan, DMT.NEWS, DMT BeautySpot,