I mean compared to what? I mean you can basically DIY (this is ars I can assume such things) with your favorite SBC and a cheap 21" monitor with a VESA mount (I guess if you want touch spend a few $ extra). I guess the one thing you wouldn't get is the alexa integration, and that's not nothing, but if you don't want ads then no ads. I'm not morally opposed to alexa (I have a hockey puck one with the clock that shines through the mesh, and my bose clock radio does alexa - sorry I sound like my parents making it a verb). Not sure I'd need a full echo display to see the weather (have one of those indoor outdoor ones that tells me the actual weather outside). and I have a phone/ipad nearby always for things I can't get via the weather display. I certainly am not voice shopping. My boss brought an alexa into the office when they first came out to demo it as having possible uses in the hospital, and during a team meeting I yelled out "Hey Alexa, order a case of kraft mac n cheese. Confirm purchase") After that we agreed less likely to have applications in the hospital (he has 3 grandkids who were in the preschool age so wasn't worried the mac n' cheese would go to waste...
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As Apple Prepares to Launch Home Hub, Amazon Debuts New Echo Show With 21-Inch Display
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My problem with those, is you get a hue bulb for my front lights and despite being hue, my choices were a hub (uh really? Seems like a uncecessary thing to act as an intermediary from a iPhone 15's powerful ARM processor and wide array of wireless transceivers and their bulb, OR (I guess technically a XOR) the "wiz" app (yeah, I'm sure it is very reliable, no janky backdoor stuff - I'm not saying when I came home the other night and my house looked torchlit as ll the bulbs were in "fire" mode, that it was the MSS, but also not saying it wasn't... 🙄)
So should Apple stop making devices because @dzankizakon already owns like 50 of their products? lol what’s the point of this post? Just don’t buy it
I bet that mic and camera works for Amazon 24/7... I couldn't put that thing in my house, I don't trust them.
There are several ways to get Zigbee devices into HomeKit. HomeBridge and Home Assistant are inexpensive and work great.
i don't understand the point of having a dedicated "home" device with a screen. the whole point of using HomeKit and having a smart home in general is to control aspects of the ENTIRE house, not just one specific room. i will want access anywhere i go, which is why being able to use my watch or iPhone is far more useful then having a dedicated stationary device. voice assistant? i simply ask siri what i want to control wherever i am. granular control? device setup? i simply use my iPhone. a "hub" defeats the purpose of having a smart home imo. it simply becomes another "remote control" with no other real use.
The Echo show is a solution for a problem that doesn't actually exist. I have the Echo Show 15" and I have it set up to show pretty pictures. Other than that, it is worthless. All it does is show ads and Amazon product suggestions. If you ask it to run a skill, it will try to upsell the skill with more useless Amazon subscriptions. It is actually a pretty bad device.
But maybe I'm not being entirely fair. I guess from Amazon's perspective, the problem is - "we don't have a good (aka intrusive) way into people's homes to sell them a bunch of crap that they don't need. I know, let's create a device with a display that will let us feed them non-stop ads and upsells!!"
As with the HomePod, AI, smartphone things, Apple is very late to the market. In my opinion too late. Same with Apple TV. Most (best) smart tv’s are using Android or webos (lg). Unless Apple is disrupting the market with something we haven’t thought of before (since Timmy is at the helm of Apple this chance can be dismissed 99,999%).
I have a Show 15, and an 8, and a 5. I like them, but I don't love them. I think the 15 is the best of them, and I suspect I would like the 21 as well.
My problem is that the software is just too limited. 99% of the time they are showing our photos, which everyone here loves to see. But they have little option for cropping/etc. I also use the smart home controls on the 15, but it's a frustrating, slow interface, that is a last resort. Meanwhile Amazon has a home hub device with a better interface, but is not using it on these "premium" devices.
I welcome Apple to the space - maybe they can do a better job? I'd love to see control apps from 3rd parties (Sonos? Smartthings? SmartLife?). I expect Apple will keep in their lane though which will disappoint a lot of us.
My problem is that the software is just too limited. 99% of the time they are showing our photos, which everyone here loves to see. But they have little option for cropping/etc. I also use the smart home controls on the 15, but it's a frustrating, slow interface, that is a last resort. Meanwhile Amazon has a home hub device with a better interface, but is not using it on these "premium" devices.
I welcome Apple to the space - maybe they can do a better job? I'd love to see control apps from 3rd parties (Sonos? Smartthings? SmartLife?). I expect Apple will keep in their lane though which will disappoint a lot of us.
I am sure new options are added regularly but if you are unwilling to go into settings to update things to your liking once in a while, then I think maybe technology is not for you. And while I can't account for what you are seeing, I am not - no sponsored content whatsoever and certainly nothing that I am unable to remove in settings or through widgets, etc. I am a Prime Amazon member as well so perhaps this might contribute to my happy use of the Echo Show 15 and its uncluttered screen.
I started with the Echo Show 5 a few years ago to use as alarm clocks because my husband & I were both gadget geeks. It was fun to have a device that could do more than just show the time & set an alarm. When I lost my husband not long after that, I also got a few of the Echo Show 8s to use as digital picture frames so I could have a continuous rotation of pictures of him from over the years. That's when I started noticing that stuff that I had turned off was suddenly turned on again. I'd go into settings & turn it all off once more. Then, it would happen again. I would turn it off again. And *then* the sponsored stuff or whatever also started & I decided that Amazon could go to hell (or, the echo shows - I like everything else, including Prime, which I have been a member of for 20 years) so I got rid of them & got the Google Max Hubs. It has not *one time* ever made me go into settings to turn off something that I had already turned off so my unwillingness to continue to have to reset to turn off what I do not want does not mean that technology is not for me. Technology does not mean having to deal with inconveniences that the maker decides to force on you. Instead, it means that I swapped one technology for another.
At the risk of sounding rude...
... a lot less rude than you have tried to be to me of course.
... as an IT professional of the last 30 years im more than capable of using menus to select options.
You seem to live in some strange bubble.
What I am explaining is that there is sponsored content which is NOT removable and does NOT belong in any of the *many* categories that are switch-offable.
I too am a prime member.
You must be very special to not have sponsored content pushed to your device. For many of the rest of us, its ruining the echo show experience and would certainly stop up buying more.
Thanks for your very productive response.
I cannot get myself to throw mine away, although it’s more yellow than white by now.
You have deets on a 15”+ iPad with IR and kiosk software?! I’d love to buy it.
One thing I have noticed is that if you set your country to Canada (I’m in the US), the ads and product placement disappears. It does somewhat hobble the device if you’re in the US but not in any way I care about.
Well, some people aren't married to their phones, I don't like carrying my phone around with me when I'm at home, so its nice to have a dedicated device you can interact with via voice or touch in a room. That's why the Echo is such a popular device. Cheap enough to have in high traffic rooms.
I have an echo 15 and since one month smart home widget stopped working, called support and they told me to wait for a solution 