Quick Thoughts on Amazon’s Echo Show
Ambient computing goes visual
“Huh, that’s sort of cool.”
That was a thought I had a day after setting up the Amazon Echo Show in our house. I had set it up the night before and had some fun doing the obvious demo stuff: the extended weather forecast, watching movie trailers, some YouTube videos, etc. But I quickly learned that while the explicit actions with the Show are nice, it’s the serendipitous ones that make it a solid, if still slightly novel device.
To that end, when I came downstairs on that day two, I noticed the screen illuminate from “sleep” mode automatically. Sort of nice, if mildly creepy (until we’re used to this type of computing) — but simple motion detection. What really sold me was that while I was making coffee, it was next to me displaying news headlines.
This sounds obvious. I mean, we all walk around every single day with devices in our pockets that can access any information — including news headlines — at any time. But there’s something profound about having it pushed to you in an ambient way. And without needing to use your hands. It’s a true secondary screen in that it’s quite literally in the background of you doing something else.
It’s like watching the news, if anyone my age still did that in 2017. And without the often annoying talking heads. It’s like a mixture of the old school “watching” of the news and push notifications.¹
Again, this sounds silly. But it works.
It points to what Amazon got right with the Echo line in general, even if they weren’t the first to do voice, and even if they don’t have the best backend technology for it — it’s a dedicated device, always in the same spot, always ready to use. As a result, you don’t have to think about using it, you can just use it. Again, something so obvious and yet all the other players in the space missed the nuance at first.
Now, does any of this make the device worth $229 to you? Perhaps not — certainly not if you already own another Echo device. But obviously the Echo Show can do a lot more than just the ambient stuff. In fact, its most highly-touted feature is one I haven’t even used yet: video calling. Because I don’t know anyone else — let alone another family member — with a Show. So I can’t speak to that beyond noting the awkward situation where Amazon invested in a company, Nucleus, which created a device that had the exact same functionality as its core feature…
Anyway, I’m surprised at how much I like this thing. Beyond the serendipity noted above, there are subtle things it does to delight which the regular old Echo cannot. Things like showing album art and lyrics when playing music. And, of course, taking selfies.²
I didn’t think I would like this device because my belief was that if voice was ever going to take off, it needed the non-screen constraint of a device like the original Echo or Google Home. But now I’m not so sure. The Echo Show is still an Echo in every way, but the added benefits of the screen are starting to win me over.³ I find myself talking to the Echo Show more.
Megan doesn’t like the design of the thing, but I’m in the opposite camp. It feels like something out of the 1960s to me — well, what people in the 1960s thought the future would look like. We have the white one. It has a 2001-ish look and feel. It’s not quite Apple-caliber, but it doesn’t look or feel cheap either. It’s… different.
I’m not sure I’m ready to put one in the bedroom (we do have an Echo Dot there), but I want one for my desk at the office. I’m also grateful that the use of “Alexa, how much time is left?” should decrease about 80% while we’re cooking.⁴ When you set a timer, it shows you, right there on screen.
¹ You can also watch-watch the news via Alexa Skills like CNBC.
² Not to mention the constant prompts on screen to “Try ‘Alexa, FILL-IN-THE-BLANK-COMMAND’” — very useful to kick off new habits and to remember other prompts in these early days of voice.
³ Also, I’ll admit that it is nice at times to have a touch screen for actions.
⁴ I’m going to get shit for this.
