Amazon’s newest smart display, the Echo Show 10, went on sale this week nearly four months after it was unveiled alongside the latest Amazon Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers at Amazon’s 2020 event. The latest Echo Show 10 has ditched the angular design in favor of a new rounded look, but that’s not the only change – for the first time ever has a rotating display that can follow you around the room.
I was skeptical about just how useful a rotating display could really be when the Echo Show 10 was first announced. Surely, no-one’s that busy that they can’t take a few steps back across a room to check something on the screen?
However, after living with the new Echo Show 10 for just over a week, the rotating screen has very quickly become the feature I love most about Amazon’s newest smart display. In fact, I’m even considering replacing my beloved Echo Spot with the Echo Show 10 as my kitchen companion. Here’s why I think it’s actually a great idea and makes for one of the best smart displays out there.
Kitchen companion
I love cooking, so it made sense to put the Echo Show 10 in the kitchen, especially as Alexa can search for recipes from BBC Good Food, and display them on screen as well as reading aloud the ingredient list and method. I’m not the sort of cook that carefully weights and measures everything before I start – instead I dart around the kitchen gathering up ingredients as and when I need them.
This usually sees me going backwards and forwards as a check whether I need a teaspoon or a tablespoon of a spice, or grabbing an ingredient I’ve forgotten. While this is great for reaching my daily step goals, it does mean cooking is not the relaxed pastime I’d hoped for. However, with the Echo Show 10’s screen following my every move, there was no more frantic darting around the kitchen. Instead, I can simply look up and see the screen at all times.
Watching TV
I often have TV on in the background when I’m doing mundane housework such as dusting as it breaks the monotony of the tasks. I usually opt for shows I’ve seen before so it doesn’t matter if I’m not intently watching the screen. However with the latest Echo Show 10, every time I looked up the screen was within my gaze – it definitely made time go more quickly.
Video calls
The number of video calls I’ve made has increased since the pandemic started, and I often use my Echo devices to stay in touch with friends and family. The Echo Show 10 has an upgraded 13MP camera, which makes the picture look more detailed for the recipient, but the real bonus was the rotating screen which pans and zooms to ensure I am always in the center of the frame. So now if I move around during a call, they can still see me, and I can still see them. It also means the microphone can always pick me up, and has genuinely made video calls feel slightly more like being in the same room as the caller.
There is one small issue with the Echo Spot – its new design means it’s got the largest overall footprint of any Amazon smart display to date. If I use it to replace my cute little Echo Spot, I’ll have to give up some of my worktop space as it won’t fit on my windowsill. Right now, that doesn’t seem such a hardship though.