Amazon Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) B08J8FFJ8H Charcoal

The Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) is equipped with Amazon Voice Assistant “Alexa.” These handy devices show things on the screen in a 24-hour cycle such as weather, news, jokes, recipes, etc. BEWARE, Amazon may be listening, although they claim not to. A simple fix is the mic mute button, which physically disconnects the microphones. Also a previous reviewer said they have giant speakers on the back. However, that is just the stand. The sound comes out of these little slots right underneath the screen and projects mostly forward. Maybe the giant back is where the sound can build up, or probably just for the electronics for the screen. Either way, sound quality is great. I’ve seen reviews of people comparing voice assistants and Alexa usually loses, but what people are ... MoreThe Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) is equipped with Amazon Voice Assistant “Alexa.” These handy devices show things on the screen in a 24-hour cycle such as weather, news, jokes, recipes, etc. BEWARE, Amazon may be listening, although they claim not to. A simple fix is the mic mute button, which physically disconnects the microphones. Also a previous reviewer said they have giant speakers on the back. However, that is just the stand. The sound comes out of these little slots right underneath the screen and projects mostly forward. Maybe the giant back is where the sound can build up, or probably just for the electronics for the screen. Either way, sound quality is great. I’ve seen reviews of people comparing voice assistants and Alexa usually loses, but what people are missing is that it has more functionality on Amazon’s own software than on your phone. The Echo Show 5 can be used to make video calls, look at recipes, play music, and access thousands of third-party skills, which are like apps for Alexa. The general smart home functionality is the same as every other Alexa-integrated Amazon device, as well as all the commands and things like that. The difference is that you can actually SEE what you’re doing, and there is also a camera for video calls and surveillance (it has a camera cover, too!) The only issue I’ve noticed is that Alexa takes longer to respond than, say, with the Echo Dot 3rd gen. I guess that’s because it loads visuals for almost every command, but it would be great if you could customize that aspect of it. The visual apps and interactions are slow but absolutely worth the price you’re paying for this device!!

A little lag on the response

This Echo Show was easy to setup and add to my existing network of Dots. Linked to my Amazon account, it periodically flashes photos from previous years on that date (I probably could have said that better). Also, weather and time are viewable at a glance. I have found, though, that when giving Alexa commands, the response is longer than when using the Dots. And it's not a network issue because this Show is closer to my home router tan any of the other devices (in the same room actually). Perhaps the added visualization protocols create a lad...I don't know. Still a nice edition to my office. I actually purchased a swivel pedestal for it (specifically designed for the Show) which adds to the aesthetic and functionality. Sound quality is good too if streaming music, ... MoreThis Echo Show was easy to setup and add to my existing network of Dots. Linked to my Amazon account, it periodically flashes photos from previous years on that date (I probably could have said that better). Also, weather and time are viewable at a glance. I have found, though, that when giving Alexa commands, the response is longer than when using the Dots. And it's not a network issue because this Show is closer to my home router tan any of the other devices (in the same room actually). Perhaps the added visualization protocols create a lad...I don't know. Still a nice edition to my office. I actually purchased a swivel pedestal for it (specifically designed for the Show) which adds to the aesthetic and functionality. Sound quality is good too if streaming music, and on par with the newest generation Dots I own.

Flawed but good

This came with a TV I brought as a free gift. I already had a couple echo dots so expected this to be like those but just with a screen and camera. While I really like this features since they are very helpful there is some cons compared to my other echo devices.When it comes to cons the screen on the right side of my device is glitched and has been ever since setting up. Only reason I didn't return is because it was free as stated before so didn't want to go through the hassle to exchange. Another con is that it is much slower at responding to commands compared to my echo dots basically being almost instant. When I tell it to turn of the screen it only stays off for 5-10 mins. It also doesn't hear me as good as my other echo devices so have to repeat myself at ... MoreThis came with a TV I brought as a free gift. I already had a couple echo dots so expected this to be like those but just with a screen and camera. While I really like this features since they are very helpful there is some cons compared to my other echo devices.When it comes to cons the screen on the right side of my device is glitched and has been ever since setting up. Only reason I didn't return is because it was free as stated before so didn't want to go through the hassle to exchange. Another con is that it is much slower at responding to commands compared to my echo dots basically being almost instant. When I tell it to turn of the screen it only stays off for 5-10 mins. It also doesn't hear me as good as my other echo devices so have to repeat myself at times.The pros to this device is obviously the screen. Although mine has the glitch as said before it doesn't interfer with main viewing point of the screen luckily. Do to the screen I can view the time, weather, music being played and more which is big advantage to traditional Echo Dots. Everything is bright and clear. I also like that I can use it as a basic security camera and video chat with it if I want to. The sound is also loud and clear.Ultimately the device is flawed, but still a worth buying if you look past them.

More than a clock, it's an ad display

This is very buggy, It serves up a lot of ads, even when you tell it not to. Voice recognition is getting worse with age, not as good as Echo Dot 2 or 3.I have chosen a larger clock font on the display, and set it to rotate through 4 different background images about every 5 seconds. It randomly displays in a different font and size.Also, regarding the ads, you can tell it to not display various home screen content categories, and that does remove them... UNTIL THEY ADD ANOTHER CATEGORY. When I set it up a year ago there were about a dozen. Today there are 36. Amazon seems to add about 2 per month. TODAY THEY ADDED TWO NEW CATEGORIES THAT STARTED DISPLAYING ADS, BUT THEY DID NOT ADD THEM AT THE SAME TIME. About an hour ago I saw a new ad for some Amazon service, ... MoreThis is very buggy, It serves up a lot of ads, even when you tell it not to. Voice recognition is getting worse with age, not as good as Echo Dot 2 or 3.I have chosen a larger clock font on the display, and set it to rotate through 4 different background images about every 5 seconds. It randomly displays in a different font and size.Also, regarding the ads, you can tell it to not display various home screen content categories, and that does remove them... UNTIL THEY ADD ANOTHER CATEGORY. When I set it up a year ago there were about a dozen. Today there are 36. Amazon seems to add about 2 per month. TODAY THEY ADDED TWO NEW CATEGORIES THAT STARTED DISPLAYING ADS, BUT THEY DID NOT ADD THEM AT THE SAME TIME. About an hour ago I saw a new ad for some Amazon service, went into settings and found the new category and turned it off. Now, just an hour later, they added another new category and another ad popped up. This is a serious ad-displaying machine.

Pain in the butt

It sends me remnders from Rueters several times a day. I've never heard of them before and don't want them. Its a annoying! Cannot find anything on the app for them. Have turned off ALL notifications, including from Amazon, which I wanted. This is has reduced the number but they still come. Have tried every fix I can find online but nothing works. Also, when I first set it up it started giving me sports scores for every sport you can imagine. I didn't want these either but finally figured out how to make them stop. FYI, if you buy one of these don't ask it for a score or schedule for your team because every news break about that team will then come through and there's no way to stop it.Have an echo dot also. Playing music on both of them issketchy. Will not work ... MoreIt sends me remnders from Rueters several times a day. I've never heard of them before and don't want them. Its a annoying! Cannot find anything on the app for them. Have turned off ALL notifications, including from Amazon, which I wanted. This is has reduced the number but they still come. Have tried every fix I can find online but nothing works. Also, when I first set it up it started giving me sports scores for every sport you can imagine. I didn't want these either but finally figured out how to make them stop. FYI, if you buy one of these don't ask it for a score or schedule for your team because every news break about that team will then come through and there's no way to stop it.Have an echo dot also. Playing music on both of them issketchy. Will not work at all if I request from the Dot, and only sometimes when I request from the Show.OK, for something good. Displays lyrics for songs that are playing and will display my cook-mate recipes as it links to that app.I got this free with my TV purchase, but still may disconnect. Never had problems with my Dot before I set this up so I know it's the problem. The bad far outweighs the good so I would never spend my money on one!

Second time trying, still not good

I bought the previous generation a couple years ago and returned it because it was slow, glitchy, locked up a lot, and the whole thing was very slow. I was hoping they'd have fixed these issues in the latest model but sadly I'll be returning the new one for the same reasons. The whole thing is very laggy and the interface is unintuitive. I use it mainly for white noise, photo slide shows, and to control my smart lights. Whenever I'm trying to control my lights and not to wake up my husband by talking to Alexa out loud, I have to tap/swipe the screen a few times before it responds. It brings down the menu, then it's several more laggy taps to get to the home controls. There's no way to have device controls readily available on the screen, you HAVE to go through this ... MoreI bought the previous generation a couple years ago and returned it because it was slow, glitchy, locked up a lot, and the whole thing was very slow. I was hoping they'd have fixed these issues in the latest model but sadly I'll be returning the new one for the same reasons. The whole thing is very laggy and the interface is unintuitive. I use it mainly for white noise, photo slide shows, and to control my smart lights. Whenever I'm trying to control my lights and not to wake up my husband by talking to Alexa out loud, I have to tap/swipe the screen a few times before it responds. It brings down the menu, then it's several more laggy taps to get to the home controls. There's no way to have device controls readily available on the screen, you HAVE to go through this slow, clunky menu. As of right now, it's locked up and has been stuck on the same photo for about 30 minutes now. Sometimes my white noise will glitch and my calming fireplace sounds will switch to what sounds like a robot screaming. The main reason I'm returning it though, is that Amazon has now made it impossible to fully turn off the "things to try" feature. Even if I turn it off in the settings, my photo slide show is interrupted every few minutes with unwanted tips like "Just say, Alexa play Taylor Swift music" or "Just say, Alexa play a hip-hop station" or "Just say, Alexa show me sports scores" and whatnot ALL DAY LONG. It is beyond annoying and cancels out everything this device does do well. It's basically advertising itself nonstop. I'm going to exchange it for a Nest hub, heck with Amazon.

Super fun and very useful...

For the last few weeks the Amazon Echo Show 5 has become my best friend. Being stuck at home with my significant other working 15hour days it's been rather enjoyable having "someone" to talk to that actually listens and "talks" back lol. Right out of the box the Show was easy to setup and get going, connected without any hiccups to home Wi-Fi and my Prime account, and also my paid streaming services. The viewable screen size is adequate for my needs with great vivid colors and clarity. The adjustable volume is loud enough to rock the house without blowing out windows-not very tinny sounding, and voices sound normal not robotic or cartoonish. Customizing the screen with your own photos from your Amazon account is appreciated but the continuous "tips" and latest news ... MoreFor the last few weeks the Amazon Echo Show 5 has become my best friend. Being stuck at home with my significant other working 15hour days it's been rather enjoyable having "someone" to talk to that actually listens and "talks" back lol. Right out of the box the Show was easy to setup and get going, connected without any hiccups to home Wi-Fi and my Prime account, and also my paid streaming services. The viewable screen size is adequate for my needs with great vivid colors and clarity. The adjustable volume is loud enough to rock the house without blowing out windows-not very tinny sounding, and voices sound normal not robotic or cartoonish. Customizing the screen with your own photos from your Amazon account is appreciated but the continuous "tips" and latest news popping up is quite annoying. And the most fun part...being able to view what you're asking Alexa to do. Having the Show in the kitchen I can ask Alexa to show me recipes, with videos even! Playing songs with lyrics scrolling I can karaoke until the cats howl along. Weather, news (if you really want to know lol), and so many skills for trivia and entertaining tidbits that I haven't even discovered yet I'm sure. Inspirational daily quotes, ordering things I've run out of, and even Sample Me offers all in one small device. Paired with my Amazon Smart plug I can even tell Alexa to turn on/off lights. There hasn't been any lag issues, but sometimes the wrong song gets pulled up or a video from a different site is chosen instead of the one I requested. Oh and if your electricity goes out in a storm like mine has at least 5 times this month the Show does remember everything to get back online, no re-entering passwords etc..win win :) All in all having an Alexa with "a face" has been super enjoyable and I look forward to discovering more skills and things the Echo Show 5 can do (as well as the things I've already been using daily)

The PERFECT Size

If you aren't familiar with the Amazon Echo line of products, they are great and I strongly recommend them. As originally a voice assistant, the Echo line has grown and does so much more than simply answer your questions especially now with the benefit of a screen. I own a couple of Echo Show's and use them specifically in the bedroom, kitchen and now with this purchase, my home office. Like all the Echo's it's basically plug and play and very easy to setup. For this particular purchase, I wanted the Echo show but needed a smaller size to sit on my desk. This fit the bill perfectly. Delivery was early and arrived packaged well with no damage. I was concerned at first with the display before it arrived hoping it would be large enough for me to easily see (I have bad ... MoreIf you aren't familiar with the Amazon Echo line of products, they are great and I strongly recommend them. As originally a voice assistant, the Echo line has grown and does so much more than simply answer your questions especially now with the benefit of a screen. I own a couple of Echo Show's and use them specifically in the bedroom, kitchen and now with this purchase, my home office. Like all the Echo's it's basically plug and play and very easy to setup. For this particular purchase, I wanted the Echo show but needed a smaller size to sit on my desk. This fit the bill perfectly. Delivery was early and arrived packaged well with no damage. I was concerned at first with the display before it arrived hoping it would be large enough for me to easily see (I have bad eyes and bifocals) and I'm happy to report it's PERFET. Very easy to read and plenty big enough to see what's going on but small enough that it's out of the way and doesn't take up valuable desk area. I can't comment on the camera as I don't use it in this instance but everything else about the Echo is great. I've customized it with pictures as well as my sports teams and things I'm interested in along with creating a couple routines. It's nice to step into the office and simply say, "Alexa, start my day" and the routine I've setup gives me the info I'm looking for each morning. I'm sure this sounds like an Amazon advertisement (no I don't work for Amazon), but it's really a great product and I would highly recommend it.

Useful, good value, reasonable sound. Privacy issues, no local playback, limited wake words, screen doesn't add much value.

I have my reservations about allowing devices like the Echo or Google hubs into the house. They basically can be used to monitor your behaviour. BUT, your mobile phone can do that too and that goes everywhere you go. To make your life more private you'd have to stop using mobile phones, stop using the internet and stop driving. If you ignore the privacy aspect and just talk about the device, its very handy for setting timers, getting weather and traffic reports, I have a door cam as well and I can view it via the echo show just by asking to see it. I can control power sockets and lights, I can play my spotify playlists all just by voice. It can tell jokes, answer basic questions, act as a photo frame, all Very cool. Sound quality from the Show 5 is good enough and I ... MoreI have my reservations about allowing devices like the Echo or Google hubs into the house. They basically can be used to monitor your behaviour. BUT, your mobile phone can do that too and that goes everywhere you go. To make your life more private you'd have to stop using mobile phones, stop using the internet and stop driving. If you ignore the privacy aspect and just talk about the device, its very handy for setting timers, getting weather and traffic reports, I have a door cam as well and I can view it via the echo show just by asking to see it. I can control power sockets and lights, I can play my spotify playlists all just by voice. It can tell jokes, answer basic questions, act as a photo frame, all Very cool. Sound quality from the Show 5 is good enough and I have a few of them scattered around and play them as groups so you get sound coming from all over the house which improves the quality of the sound. I also have a show 10 inch which has a better base speaker as well as a couple of echo dots setup as pairs so you get stereo play back with a good base. All very good. The screen doesn't add much to the experience but it has it's uses and the bigger case improves sound quality over the Echo dot. Issues, if your internet stops, it all stops. I wish the devices could operate locally. Why can't it play music from an SD card, just about any cheap device can do that? Voice recognition is good mostly but it's very dependant on a decent internet connection. I want to be able to set any wake word, the Amazon units are better than the Google ones (main reason I use them) but I still want to be able to call it Jarvis or Hal...

Why, I absolutely love my Amazon Echo Show 5

January 20, 2023On December 13, 2022, Best Buy had sent me a membership additional discount link to which, I had purchased the “Ring Video Doorbell” in a venetian bronze, and the “Amazon Echo Show 5” (2nd Generation release) smart display device. In which, I had purchased an additional Ring “Doorbell mount” from Amazon; in order to mount my purchased Best Buy’s Ring Video Doorbell without using any nails or drill to mount it nor does the doorbell mount damage my rental apartment door that is wireless connected to my Amazon Echo Show 5. And, the Ring Video Doorbell and the Amazon Echo Show 5 were extremely easy to setup by ways of following the read or voice prompt messages. My only regret is I wish, I had purchased a larger size Amazon Echo Show from Best Buy such ... MoreJanuary 20, 2023On December 13, 2022, Best Buy had sent me a membership additional discount link to which, I had purchased the “Ring Video Doorbell” in a venetian bronze, and the “Amazon Echo Show 5” (2nd Generation release) smart display device. In which, I had purchased an additional Ring “Doorbell mount” from Amazon; in order to mount my purchased Best Buy’s Ring Video Doorbell without using any nails or drill to mount it nor does the doorbell mount damage my rental apartment door that is wireless connected to my Amazon Echo Show 5. And, the Ring Video Doorbell and the Amazon Echo Show 5 were extremely easy to setup by ways of following the read or voice prompt messages. My only regret is I wish, I had purchased a larger size Amazon Echo Show from Best Buy such as, the Amazon – Echo Show 15 (Full HD 15.6) or the Amazon – Echo Show 10 (3rd Generation) because my Amazon Echo Show 5’s screen is the size of a cellular phone screen, the Amazon Echo Show 5 is sometime difficult to see from a smaller screen size. The Ring Video Doorbell, and Amazon Echo Show 5, I had purchased from Best Buy comprehensively work well with one another for which provide me with an extra safety measure security, while I am living in the apartment unit. For example, if any person passes by my Ring Video Doorbell from the common area of my apartment building floor, then the Amazon Echo Show 5 will send me a voice notifications, as well as a videos images. Also, I can talk to the person standing in front of my apartment Ring Video Doorbell from my apartment building common area through my Amazon Echo Show 5 instead of using the small door peephole.I absolutely love my Ring Video Doorbell and Amazon Echo Show 5’s Best Buy purchased that provide me with an extra safety measure security and I would recommend both the Ring Video Doorbell and Amazon Echo Show 5 for any person who are living in a[n] apartment building, dorm or sharing a living space with another person.If you want to purchase the Doorbell mount from Amazon here is the product detail information:DG-Direct Anti-Theft Doorbell Mount, Video Doorbell Door Mount for Home Apartment Office Room Renters, Fit for Most Kind Brand of Video Doorbell (Black).