The Echo Show 8 and 11 both feature a new AZ3 Pro chip with an AI accelerator. It represents a distinct step up from the third-gen Echo Show 8’s AZ2 neural engine, which was already several years old when that model first launched. The AZ3 chip was designed with Alexa+ in mind, and both new displays have Amazon’s new AI-powered assistant ready to go at launch. The chip allows it to run more smoothly and multitask, for seamless switching between voice and image responses without pausing.
The more conversational version of Alexa is also available on older devices in the Echo Show lineup by signing up for early access. Currently, Alexa+ is free, but it will increase to $19.99 per month when it launches next year. It will also be included as part of Amazon Prime, which costs $14.99 per month.
Alexa+ can offer suggestions if you can’t think of anything to ask (Credit: Andrew Gebhart)
Alexa+ enables you to use voice commands to control your smart home devices, play music or videos, search the web, manage your calendar, receive recipe recommendations, summarize your schedule, shop on Amazon, and more. It also comes baked into Amazon’s new smart speakers, the Echo Dot Max ($99.99) and the Echo Studio ($219.99), but the screen on the Echo Show allows you to keep up with the conversation with a transcription, and lets the assistant show pictures or videos as a visual aid when appropriate.
While a lot of its capabilities are somewhat similar to the old Alexa, Alexa+ is much better at building off of previous prompts and responding to natural commands. You don’t need to remember an exact syntax to control smart home devices anymore, and you can even use Alexa+ to create automated routines on the fly.
For audio, both the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 feature two front-facing, full-range drivers and a 2.8-inch woofer to add low-end resonance. It’s the same speaker used in the latest Echo Studio, which has an additional driver. The Echo Show 8 features spatial audio, similar to its predecessor, with double the bass, according to Amazon.
Ambient light and ambient temperature sensors join a new Omnisense presence sensor, which combines ultrasound and Wi-Fi radar for fine motion detection. With the new sensor, the latest Echo Shows can use your presence to more accurately trigger personalized routines, such as turning on the lights and changing the temperature of your smart thermostat when it detects your presence. As before, it’ll display information in a larger font if you’re further away, and adjust the screen brightness based on ambient light.
The camera features built-in facial recognition, allowing you to enable a feature that recognizes you as you approach and tailors the screen accordingly, such as displaying your calendar and controls for your favorite smart home devices. You can also use the camera to make video calls to other Echo Shows; it can follow you to an extent as you move about the frame, and digitally zoom up to 3.3x.
The Echo Show 11 displaying the camera feed of a nearby Echo Show 8 (Credit: Andrew Gebhart)
The Echo Show 8 and 11 connect to Wi-Fi and have a Wi-Fi 6e antenna, but they can’t act as a relay in an Eero Mesh Network. They can function as a Thread Border Router, allowing them to act as a control hub for smaller Matter-enabled devices that need a bridge to the cloud. They also support Zigbee for the same purpose, and they offer Bluetooth input and output, allowing you to stream music from your phone to the Echo Show for playback, or from the smart display to a different speaker.
On the smart home front, you can use the Echo Show 8 to check the footage from Ring video doorbells or security cameras. You can also have it announce if your Ring camera detects motion or if someone rings the bell. It’s compatible with Ring’s new AI-powered notification summaries, which provide a concise overview of what happened instead of informing you about every trigger, and smart video search, which allows you to search for specific footage, such as a delivery person’s arrival. These AI features require a subscription to Ring Premium.
The Echo Show 8 works with the company’s Sidewalk feature, a wireless protocol that enables different Amazon devices, including Ring security cameras, to create a communication mesh network for extending their usable range and tracking lost objects. We generally recommend opting out of it for privacy reasons, which you can do when setting up the Echo Show 8 or 11.
In terms of accessibility features, you can interact with Alexa using an on-screen keyboard. It can also display captions or magnify information, and adaptive listening provides you with more time to complete your response before it responds.
You can use the browser on the Echo Show 8 to find videos from lots of platforms (Credit: Andrew Gebhart)
Alexa can launch video content on compatible devices, such as Fire TV media streamers. You can also use voice commands or the video submenu to quickly launch content natively from Fire TV Channels or Amazon Prime Video. It also supports services like YouTube, YouTube TV, TikTok, Peacock, and HBO Max in the connected browser, allowing you to search for these channels by voice. For audio playback, the Echo Show is compatible with most popular services, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, and Tidal.
