I was a fan of the idea behind the first Echo Show but I didn't like the design. I thought it took up too much space for having the limited sound quality that it did and the screen was too small. There were also some 1st generation bugs Amazon had to work out of the hardware and software. Now, with the 2nd generation Echo Show, Amazon has improved everything. It has nearly the same footprint as the 1st generation speaker but the screen has been increased to 10". Amazon did this by reducing the bezels, moving the front-facing microphones to the top, and the speakers to the back. The screen is a great improvement and really lets me see everything. Amazon updated the Echo Show software so that you can actually interact with smart home accessories. I can actually touch the screen and control the brightness or color of my Philips Hue lights if I don't feel like using Alexa to make changes. I don't have touch controls for my Nest thermostat (the Google video assistants do) but other you will get full touch controls with other thermostats (Nest is owned by Google just as Ring is owned by Amazon). Video calls are nice, the camera doesn't follow you like with the Facebook portal but then again, you won't have Facebook always listening to you with this. I do wish that Amazon offered a physical cover for the camera for when I wasn't using it but the mute switch supposedly takes care of this. The FireFox web browser is also a nice touch and lets you watch YouTube videos. It's not as nice as having a YouTube app but it works for the time being until Google starts to play nice with Amazon (which is hopefully soon). But Alexa can pull up Hulu and Prime Video, it would be nice to add the same video services that Amazon's Fire TV platform works with as well (Showtime, HBO Go/Now, FXNow, Epix, Starz, Comedy Central, etc.) but I have a feeling that more video platforms are coming. People who subscribe to Hulu's live TV service can watch live TV on this as well, it's a nice feature that has me contemplating cutting the cord as I could take one of these to my back patio and still watch a game, the news, or whatever else is on TV. One would think that moving the speakers to the back of the Show would decrease their audio quality because they are no longer pointing at you. That's not the case here. Bass has been increased, highs are clearer, and the sound can output louder (and clearer) than the 1st gen Echo Show. Put this in a corner and the bass resonates even more. I put one of these on my nightstand (so I can see the front door from my bed) and use it as my primary music speaker in my bedroom. It's not Sonos One quality but it does the job and then some, I think it sounds a little better than the 2nd gen Echo speaker. The far-field microphones have been improved and I can easily call up Alexa when music is playing at loud volumes. This also works with Apple Music and will display album art for content that is playing (though not the first song, it will show up in all subsequent songs). It works better with Amazon Music and will show higher quality album art, a more customized background (when available), and scrolling lyrics (when available). But it's nice to have a more visual speaker for Apple Music playback. I can't browse my library visually or with touch controls, like you can with Amazon Music, but it's another option for Apple Music subscribers and finally gives you some vocal control with your library without having to shell out the high cost for a HomePod. Echo calls and Skype work fine for voice and video calls and the camera has been improved. I wish that the display was better at automatically dimming itself at night. I often have to manually adjust the settings to get it right where I want it and glare from sunlight can be a problem. I wish I could cast to it through different apps, Amazon should open up their casting tech like Google has done. Other things, like getting directions, is not as advanced as with Google devices. It will tell you how long you can expect to get to your destination but you can't send the directions to your phone. Lastly, because YouTube isn't integrated, you can't use Alexa to search for things. One thing I was impressed with in the Google devices is using them in the kitchen and looking up cooking directions. I can still do that with the Echo Show but it takes longer and playing YouTube content isn't nearly as integrated or intuitive (it's just like playing in a browser). Other than those few flaws, this is a great product and a solid upgrade from the 1st gen Show which felt like a tech. Amazon continues to expand Alexa skills and puts their assistant in more devices. The 1st gen Show as a proof of concept and the 2nd gen Show is a perfection of that concept.

As with thousands of others, my family was an early adopter in the Amazon Echo/Alexa product family (meaning, I got the first gen Echo the week it came out in 2014) . Since then, we've added a few Dots (first & second gen), Fire TV stick, 4K Fire TV, Fire Cube, the first gen Echo Show, TP-Link smart bulbs & switches, so on and so on. There were a handful of reasons I was interested in upgrading to the second gen Echo Show: 1) Sound. It sounds ten times better than the original. There's usually music playing in my house at any given moment in any given room, and sound to me is something I don't tend to settle for. The first gen Show is decent, but if you're on the fence about the new one, go to a local BB or Amazon store and give it a listen. I knew the first minute I heard gen 2 I'd likely get one at some point just due to the sound improvement. Thanks to Amazon for adding equalizer adjustments this past fall, it has definitely helped other Echo devices we have. However, IMO, you'll hear straight out of the box at factory settings, without even adjusting the Echo Show 2, that its sound is better than most of the other devices in the Echo product family. 2) Screen size. Fairly obvious - Amazon launched a product with a larger screen that simply put, provides more viewing real estate for us as users. When you're further away or across the kitchen (where ours is located) it's helpful not to have to squint or walk up several steps closer to see what's happening. 3) Visually and aesthetically more appealing. Besides the sound being better, the screen being larger, the decision to upgrade the back shell/casing gen 2 was a solid move - Amazon elected to forgo the plastic casing and roll with woven fabric, along with their new generation of Echo and Echo Dot devices. Makes sense. They also made the bezel around the ages slimmer, again, helping the design and amount of screen you have to work with. 4) Linking with Amazon Camera. I installed an Amazon Camera in our basement recently. Our daughter is nearly three and is cruising around on her own. Since we added the Gen 2 to our kitchen and I moved our older Gen 1 up to our bedroom, I can do the obvious "Alexa, show me the basement" and the Amazon cam will give me a live snapshot of what's happening in the basement. We obviously don't leave her alone down there, but as she ages it will be a security net for us to keep an eye on her from the kitchen and/or from our master bedroom. Since she has a little brother joining our family in the coming weeks, the inevitable 'kids will be kids' is going to happen and the camera will be our eye in the sky. Follow me? 5) I had a $100 BB gift card. My house has lots of gadgets, home theater equipment, new appliances, etc. I was truly trying to find a way to be smart about how I used this $100 and went back and forth on other ideas. When it boiled down to it...I chose to pair the $100 gift card and a $5 reward zone discount, with the Black Friday price reduction from $230 to $180 (and a free Philips Hue bulb), and I had a Gen 2 Echo Show for about $85. Done and done. We use this Echo Show 2 as much as the first gen...every day. The second one is superior in just about every way you can think of, and there has been zero regret upgrading. I'm sure when our friends at Amazon roll out their third iteration of the Show it'll bring a handful of new/upgraded bells & whistles. Maybe by then Amazon and Google will get over themselves and put the actual YouTube app back on their devices...and Google will allow Amazon Music on to their devices. Who knows. I can say with certainty, the gap between the first gen and second gen gave me plenty of reasons to buy and stick with gen 2 for the next several years.

If you have young children in the house, please don't put this device in your home. It's just not worth it. I wish I could give 0 stars. First let me say, we used our Echo show daily for 6+ months. As a family, we loved to ask Alexa to play our favorite songs and the kids would sing along and stand in front of the device to read the lyrics playing on the Echo Show. I loved to set timers in the kitchen and see how much time was left on the device and give voice commands to shut it off. We also enjoyed when Amazon/Alexa would show us trending topics - like "how the Super Bowl saved Avocados." We'd also see headlines that would lead us to ask things like "what's the Solo Honeymoon story?" The kids favorite activity was to hear Harry Potter on audible through our Echo show and we even enabled the Harry Potter Quiz skill. Gee, did they learn that we had kids that liked Harry Potter? Which brings me to last week when I walked into the kitchen to see my 8 year old standing in front of the device with a graphic pornographic music video playing on the Echo Show at 6:47 in the morning. The command that was showing and confirmed through the app (see photo) was "What's the Harry Potter video?" So, that's how Amazon exposed my 8 year old to pornography before she had breakfast. If Amazon had responded with anything remotely resembling an appropriate reaction - I might not leave this review. I believe this was targeted and someone deliberately tagged this video to follow that prompt and I don't believe they were targeting an adult with a desire to watch a Harry Potter fetish first thing in the am. I hope Best Buy allows this review as I truly think Amazon should be recalling the device until they can assure parents this can't happen again. Someone needs to be able to answer 1 - how this happened. 2 - what they're doing about? Long story short - it's a high end device that could make your life easier but at what cost?

I have been a long time user of Amazon Echo and Google Home products. I finally reached a point where I had to settle on one and Echo Show made the decision for me. One of the reasons I chose the Show is I wanted to be able to communicate with my parents (who are still using flip phones. yes, flip phones) and Echo was easy enough for them to use. Since I have some many extra Echos I have acquired over the years, it also makes for a great whole-house intercom. Some other reasons I really enjoy it is due to the integration with my Harmony remote, Ring doorbells, and and Hue bulbs. Although Google does now support these products, I have been leveraging Echo's support for these for so long, it has just become second nature and I still think Echo has the slight advantage. The three things I feel are still missing are the ability to easily mask the camera (there is a mute button of the microphone), a stand, and the ability to customize the wake word. The angle that it sits works for daily use, but with the camera being fixed, I find myself having to stand right next two it when using the camera due to the angle. I have invested in an aftermarket stand that solves this problem, but that is an additional 30 that I feel should be part of the product. When I want privacy, I will put a post-it over the camera, but that is not a clean solution. Would be nice to be able to disable the camera or have a commercial solution, similar to the laptop covers that don't cover the microphones. Although the wake word is a minor issue, I do find that sometimes I have to speak louder than normal and several devices respond. Because of this, I would be good to be able to customize the wake word. Overall, I love it!

This product is hit and miss for me. The screen is great, amazing clarity, great idea. However because of the screen, and certain skills that can come along with it, it has clashed with some of my routines or voice commands. For example, I had a routine set on my hue lights for watching The Walking Dead. Never had a problem with the echo, however, when I would say "its time to watch Walking Dead" alexa would tell me her current video skills do not support that. Same with my harmony hub, if I try to say "watch tv" it will bring up the NBC, ABC, and FOX skill apps and say "these skills do not support watch TV" So just something to be aware of if you have alot of smart home devices. Other than that, which can be frustrating, I love the functionality of the screen. When you read news stories videos and pictures come along with them. You can ask alexa to play you movie trailers, it doubles as a picture frame, and more. The video chat is surprisingly clear, and the lag and buffering (at least for me) is non-existent. My wife uses it to talk to her mother, who lives near the Canadian border, in a low populated town. One of those towns that loses cell reception when you cross into it. And her wifi is not the greatest. I got them both these a christmas gift but feared it would have trouble because of her location. But have not had a single hiccup which surprised me. Never a dropped call, or laggy/choppy screen. Has worked perfectly.

I have had the original Echo Show since it was first released and did not expect much from this update beyond a bigger screen. So I was floored when I played some music and discovered it sounds much MUCH better than the original. For starters, the bass is much stronger because of the built in subwoofer, which the original lacked. But there is also some sort of Dolby processing going on that simulates a much wider sound field than the device itself is capable of otherwise. That combined with side firing, instead of front firing speakers means excellent stereo separation (vs essentially mono with the original model). Definitely worth buying if you use it a lot to play music. The much bigger screen means it is also much more usable as a video playback device. Its essentially a 10 inch tablet, with better resolution than the original, and integrates well with Prime video and other services (There is no native YouTube app but you can get it through the browser). Beyond those big improvements, the new Echo Show is not that much different than the original in terms of functionality. Does the same stuff, in the same way. Perhaps a bit faster but nothing dramatic.

I purchased this on a need for beta testing I do for Ring Products. I was hesitant to spend $200 on this not knowing if I would use it after I was done with my beta testing obligations. I am happy to report, we love it. I have it currently sitting under my television so its always in my field of view. I have a number of Skills enabled on my profile as does my Wife. I truly don't have any complaints about he Echo Show we have. My only desire would be just based around the growth and maturity of Alexa in general. I look forward to her ability to in a more automatic fashion recognize different users and utilize their skills. For example although Alexa does not my Wife and I. I have Ring Skills enabled in my account that my Wife does not have. So if the Alexa is in my Wifes profile and I tell her to show my Front Door Camera... she does not understand the ask. I have to have her switch to my account for it to work. Again, this is not a reflection on the Echo Show it's more of an Alexa needs to mature gripe. The screen and the volume on the Echo Show is very good. It had be view easily in all matters of sunlight or darkness and adjusts brightness automatically. I am glad we purchased it and will be buying another one for use in the Kitchen.

I have to admit that my rating of the Amazon Echo Show maybe slightly harsh because I was expecting so much from this product. I bought this device for the video calling between family, the ability for my wife to cook with recipes on screen next to her (her request, not mine haha) and also to use as a hub for the Philips Hue lights and other smart home devices. The Good: Seems to work very well with on the Smart Home side of things, communicating effectively with all the devices and performing the requested smart home tasks. The Bad: the touch screen...perhaps the worst touch screen I've ever experienced on any device ever. It was very frustrating to pick and choose options on the screen. Multiple attempts at the option your trying to select. As a matter of fact, I just had to try 5 times to hit the option to factory reset the device so I could wipe it clean of my info...because this machine is going back to the store.