Product Review: Echo Show 5 (1st Generation)

 

This can perform all the functions of the other echo devices such as playing music, telling you the news headlines or the weather forecast, etc. It can do things like acting as a smart picture frame, by doing a camera roll from any pictures you have in Prime Photos. It can also do things like video calling, displaying video from a smart camera, streaming video from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and the like. It is like the other devices always listening, but also has the same privacy options (such as deleting the audio recordings) that the other devices have and you can mute the microphone so it only listens when you want it to. So, it all really depends on what your comfort level is with using smart devices that can essentially monitor everything you do.

The screen generally displays the date and time and what the background is depends on how you have it set up. It defaults to scrolling between news headlines, the local weather, tips for using it, or skills that can be enabled, and just a generic screensaver background. As I said above, it can also be customized to display photos almost like a digital picture frame and if you use Amazon Music, it will display what song is currently playing, and if lyrics are available will display the lyrics for the song.

Overall, it is easy to set up (assuming you are comfortable setting up smart devices) and easy to use. The video functionality may be great for some people, a nice bonus for others, and completely useless to others. It really just depends on how you want to use it. I definitely recommend it.