Amazon Echo Show 8 Review: Your Smart Home’s New Best Friend

The world of smart displays can feel crowded, but every now and then, a device comes along that hits the sweet spot between size, features, and price. The new Amazon Echo Show 8 (Charcoal) is that device. It packs a powerful punch with spatial audio, a built-in smart home hub, and the ever-helpful Alexa. This isn’t just another screen for your countertop; it’s a central command station for your entire home.

In this review, we’ll dive deep into what makes the Amazon Echo Show 8 a standout choice. We’ll explore its impressive audio-visual upgrades, compare it to its siblings like the larger Amazon Echo Show 15, and see how it elevates everything from your morning routine to your home entertainment. Let’s find out if this is the smart display you’ve been waiting for.

First Impressions: Design and Display

Right out of the box, the Amazon Echo Show 8 looks sleek and modern. The charcoal fabric finish gives it a premium feel that blends seamlessly with most home decor. It’s compact enough to fit on a nightstand, kitchen counter, or desk without overpowering the space. The design is familiar if you’ve seen previous models, but the subtle refinements make it feel more polished.

A Display That Pops

The 8-inch HD touchscreen is bright, clear, and responsive. Colors are vibrant, making it great for everything from following a recipe to watching a show on Prime Video. The resolution is crisp enough for viewing photos and making video calls without any pixelation. While it’s not the sprawling canvas of the Amazon Echo Show 15, its size is perfect for most daily tasks. It provides enough screen real estate to be useful without being intrusive.

The adaptive brightness feature is a small but appreciated detail. It adjusts the screen’s brightness based on the ambient light in the room, so it’s never too glaring at night or too dim during the day. This makes it an ideal bedside companion.

Audio and Entertainment: A Leap Forward with Spatial Audio

One of the biggest upgrades in this new model is the audio quality. The Amazon Echo Show 8 now features spatial audio, and the difference is immediately noticeable. Music feels more immersive, with sound that seems to fill the room rather than just coming from a small speaker. Bass is surprisingly robust for a device of this size, and highs are clear and distinct.

Whether you’re listening to a playlist on Spotify, catching up on a podcast, or watching a movie, the audio experience is a significant step up. This device easily doubles as a high-quality smart speaker for any room. For comparison, while the larger Echo Show 15 offers a bigger screen, the audio on the new Echo Show 8 feels more dynamic and room-filling due to the spatial audio technology.

Entertainment options are plentiful. With an Amazon Alexa Echo Show device, you can:

• Stream video: Watch your favorite shows and movies from Prime Video, Netflix, and other services.
• Listen to music: Access Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and more with a simple voice command.
• View photos: Turn your device into a digital photo frame that cycles through your Amazon Photos albums.

The Smart Home Hub: Unifying Your Devices

This is where the Amazon Echo Show 8 truly shines as a command center. It comes with a built-in smart home hub that supports Zigbee, Matter, and Thread. This means it can connect directly to a huge range of smart home devices—like light bulbs, plugs, and sensors—without needing a separate hub for each brand.

Setting up and controlling your smart home becomes incredibly simple. You can use your voice or the touchscreen to:

• Turn lights on and off or dim them.
• View live feeds from your security cameras.
• Adjust your smart thermostat.
• Create routines that trigger multiple actions at once (e.g., a “Good Morning” routine that turns on the lights, starts the coffee maker, and tells you the weather).

Compared to older Amazon Echo Show models that required separate bridges for some devices, this integrated hub streamlines the entire process. It makes building a smart home more accessible and less complicated for everyone.

Alexa and Voice Control: Smarter Than Ever

Alexa continues to get smarter, and the experience on the Echo Show 8 is seamless. The microphones are highly sensitive, picking up voice commands accurately even from across the room or with background noise. You can ask Alexa to do almost anything: set timers, add items to your shopping list, answer questions, tell you jokes, or read the news.

The visual component adds another layer to the interaction. When you ask for the weather, you get a detailed forecast on the screen. When you ask for a recipe, you get step-by-step instructions with pictures. This combination of voice and visuals makes the Amazon Alexa Echo Show experience far more intuitive and helpful than a voice-only speaker.

Enhanced Video Calling

The 13 MP camera is another standout feature. It’s centrally located, which makes for more natural-looking video calls. The camera automatically pans and zooms to keep you in the frame as you move around, which is fantastic for calls with family or friends when you’re busy in the kitchen. The video quality is sharp, making it feel like you’re in the same room. You can make calls to other Echo devices or anyone with the Alexa app.

Echo Show 8 vs. Echo Show 15: Which is Right for You?

Choosing between the Echo Show 8 and the Amazon Echo Show 15 comes down to how you plan to use it.

• The Amazon Echo Show 15 is a wall-mountable, 15.6-inch display designed to be a central family organization hub. Its large screen is perfect for shared calendars, sticky notes, and watching content from a distance. It’s essentially a smart TV for your kitchen or living room wall.
• The Amazon Echo Show 8, on the other hand, is all about versatility and superior audio in a compact form. It fits anywhere, and its spatial audio makes it a better dedicated music and entertainment device for its size. The built-in smart home hub is a huge advantage for anyone serious about home automation.

For most users, the Echo Show 8 offers a more balanced package. It provides a great screen and fantastic audio without demanding a dedicated wall space.

A Personal Recommendation by Kiran Yousuf

After spending time with the new Amazon Echo Show 8, I can confidently say it’s one of the best smart displays on the market. It strikes the perfect balance of size, functionality, and performance. The addition of spatial audio transforms it from a simple utility screen into a genuine entertainment device. The built-in smart home hub is a game-changer, simplifying home automation for tech novices and delighting seasoned smart home enthusiasts.

Whether you’re a tech lover looking to build out your connected home or a busy parent needing a central hub to manage daily life, this device delivers. It’s practical, powerful, and incredibly easy to use. The Amazon Echo Show 8 is more than just a gadget; it’s a helpful companion that genuinely makes everyday life a little bit easier and a lot more fun. Buy Shop Now