Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Echo Show 8 (1st Gen, 2019 release) – Smart Display with Alexa – Stay in touch with the help of Alexa

Top positive review

This is the one! Buy it now!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2019

I uploaded some videos to youtube a few days ago, just search for beemandev
Comparing to Show5:- Show 8 doesn’t have any clock selections or full screen clock + is brighter than Show 5, so may not be as suited to bedroom. I have a fix for this on a youtube video. Uses about 5 watts vs 3w with dim screen+music, double that for max brightness & volume. 10w stereo speaker with sound coming out sides vs 4w mono with sound coming from below front on the 5. Neither can play higher than 480p on Youtube (via Firefox) without stutter.

Plex works but transcodes h265 and ALAC, though the MT8163 chip (same as latest fire tablet 9th gen) can natively decode h265 so probably needs Plex TLC... Plays h264@1080p and flac audio native. Using Plex web interface on touch screen via Firefox is awkward, a bit buggy and a little bit sluggish. Worked a bit better on Silk Browser, but very usable. Use http;//192.168.etc for local plex access (needs http prefix).

I’d buy Show8 over 5, even for bedroom as currently only £10 difference (Black Friday) cos of better speaker BUT if 5 was 2/3 price of 8 then would probably get 5 for bedroom, 8 for kitchen, especially if audio quality in bedroom no biggie. Was already using Echo Dots but Show 8 = great upgrade. Show 5 audio quality similar to dot, maybe marginally lower. Amazon low stock now, try Argos.

In summary, definitely buy one (or three), the more I use it the more I like it. I’d like to see o/s tweaks to align 8 with 5, much lower minimum brightness on Show 8 and large power jack sticking out back makes wall placement more awkward. But 10/10 from me. Good enough audio, good enough screen for kitchen & bedrooms at great price. In lounge you likely use tv+speakers so could just use an echo input or dot unless you want camera or a convenient touchscreen jukebox.

Show8 = Fire OS 6.5.3.5 (NS6535/2348)
Show5 = Fire OS 6.5.3.5 (NS6535/2348)
Same versions but menus are slightly different.

483 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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C. Smith

Not the Echo Show we deserve (Amazon please listen to your customers!)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2019

After over 2 years since the first Echo Show was released we get a new device with a shiny new exterior and a bigger and better screen. And that unfortunately is as much new and exciting about this product as I can say. The software, and all of the frustrations that have fallen on deaf ears, remains the same. The home screen is still mostly just a big useless empty space, unless you want to switch on the news and updates that are hand-picked by Amazon to remind you constantly to ask Alexa to try something you either already know about or have no interest in. The so called ‘news’ items bear no resemblance to real world news and why can’t we have the date on the screen – they added it to the Show 5 – why not this? The option to display weather, reminders and upcoming calendar events is quite useful but like everything else on this device it is presented in a very basic way – in fact as the screen constantly scrolls through these sections you are left wondering why can’t I just have it all on the one home page, along with other questions such as why doesn’t my calendar display the location of the event or the end time and why can’t I link my Big Sky Skill to the home page?
I’ll admit that some people will love this device for its ability to connect to security cameras and to make video calls but I think for most people its quicker just to get up and answer the door and the phone is sufficient for calling friends and family (also for my kids at least Skype has been replaced by either Face Time or WhatsApp). Music has always been the Echo’s biggest plus point across all devices, but here again it’s a very hit and miss experience in terms of the screen application. I used to be an Amazon music subscriber but switched to Apple as I found Amazon’s library limited – they also have a habit of removing tracks and albums from playlists and they decided to remove the best feature of being able to upload tracks not available in their library. That aside the price I pay for not being loyal to Amazon’s music service is that the Echo Show won’t show me my Apple playlists and it won’t display lyrics. Same restrictions for Video also – I do have a Prime account but I don’t really want to watch films and boxsets while pottering about in my kitchen – I want to have background TV on. It is possible to watch BBC iplayer on the browser but none of it is well executed and it offers no voice control. I have tried streaming freeview TV from other web sites and I can watch the likes of ITV and Channel 4 but only for 5 minutes, after which time the browser times-out and returns to the home screen. I can restart the browser but that’s not really ideal. I logged this issue 2 years ago and was told it was being looked into - I logged it again this week and got told the same thing – I am not holding my breadth and I can only assume Amazon are deliberately choosing when the screen times out and when it doesn’t to help increase their Prime subscribers. Netflix and Sky Q would be nice but I think we can assume that will never happen but some kind of Freeview skill is surely possible – they have a Freeview skill on the Fire TV stick so why not on the Show? We do get You Tube but despite Amazon and Google apparently patching up their difference we still have a basic looking version that sits in the browser. It is possible to open You Tube with voice and you can search with voice by clicking on the search option first and then clicking on ‘Return’ to action the search – all very clunky and half-baked.
Some functions I do like which take advantage of the screen are the ability to view and display my photos (via my Amazon Prime account), I can also search images online but unfortunately it uses Bing (despite setting the browser search engine as Google) – it doesn’t always work (try ‘show images of Ellen Page’ and you get images of pages). This is also frustrating as Amazon signed a major deal with Getty Images but these only appear occasionally which feels like a missed opportunity. The online video recipes and how-to’s is also good but you quickly find limitations with what it has to offer – a decent cooking skill is needed although a proper YouTube skill would fix that. I do also like the ability to search and watch music videos (but again You Tube skill could do that and better). I also like being able to view movie times and trailers and the TV Guide skill is probably one of my most and only used skills (but of course you can’t link that to any ability to watch the current TV programme – in fact 99.99% of all skills are useless – Amazon used to promote skills enhanced for the Show – they don’t do that anymore which tells you everything you need to know. And that is the main issue here - for a device that is supposed to be all about the screen there is just so little it does well. Here is just a few other examples of things I feel are missed opportunities:-
- Most radio players on Show wont disaply the track that is playing (but it will tell you if you ask)
- There is no enhanced skill to browse and play Podcasts
- Amazon Music will show your playlists but it doesn’t understand “show me new albums” or “show me the most popular albums” or “show me <genre> albums”
- Most people use screens to interact with e-mail or Social Media but other than the flaky browser there is zero voice activated skills linked to social media or e-mail accounts
- Online banking skills are non-existent
- IMDB is owned by Amazon and doesn’t feature as a fully-fledged skill
-Twitch is owned by Amazon but is not available for UK customers
-You can view and buy products on Amazon but you cannot read reviews of those products
-You can get an address of a hotel or restaurant but you cannot view it on a map, you can’t get detailed directions and you can’t read reviews
This is not a small device and for me to have such a large screen doing so little seems a waste of space on my kitchen counter - I also didn’t appreciate the power cable taking up almost an inch of extra depth at the back which limits placement against a wall – how hard would it have been to make it angled or flush? I have returned it for the Show 5 which has a decent speaker, gives me today's date and shows me my timers or album artwork – that’s all I need because that’s pretty much all the Show offers me that is useful. Maybe one day Amazon will get it right and make a Show the majority of customers want and need but at the moment there seems to be very little desire from Amazon to do that and judging by the instant price drop on the 8 they are only really interested in signing up new Prime subscribers.

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C. Smith

Not the Echo Show we deserve (Amazon please listen to your customers!)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2019

Colour Name: Sandstone FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

2,862 people found this helpful

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jgee

Truly awful. Just avoid it.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

It's truly rubbish. My echo dot was £22 and its got just as much features. Voice function always take you to the wrong place. You can't lock screen without talking. The stand is rubbish and costs £25. The smart home section is awful and it's easier to find your phone. YouTube is rubbish and can't even allow dark mode. Screen blurred round the edge. I bought this at half price for £60 and no way is it worth it. If you have low expectations and don't know gadgets well then yes you might enjoy it. If you know gadgets and smart home well then avoid this at all costs. It's a waste of cash...

65 people found this helpful

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TimM

Bad buy even at half price (£59.99 in Black Friday sale)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 December 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

With five Amazon Echos around the house for the last two years, plus a Dot in the bathroom & a Spot masquerading as an alarm clock in the bedroom, Echo devices have become very much part of our household furniture & domestic lifestyle, with most of our lighting, heating & electrical appliances controlled by smart switches, integrated with Echo Skills. Aside from a nagging concern about having effectively open microphones, potentially allowing "big brother" to eavesdrop in every room, my concerns about Amazon had ended there until now.

When I saw these new Echo Show 8s at half price (£59.99) in the Black Friday sale, I thought that this was too good an offer to miss - but I was very wrong & returned it after 24hrs. Yes it's that disappointing & annoying! Virtually none of the extensive, potential kaleidoscope of possibilities of an Echo having a screen, that any ordinary mortal might imagine, are implemented. This device's software/firmware has little extra functionality over "audio only" Echo devices. ... So for example, if you ask Alexa to "show" anything or make reference to "display" she doesn't understand what you're talking about! Well, at least I thought I might enjoy a placid, attractive wallpaper & useful digital clock on the home screen, but even this is entirely ruined by the most intensely annoying & irritating non-stop succession of banal "Try-Ask Alexa ..." messages across the home screen, such as "Try-Ask Alexa tell me a bad joke" etc.etc.etc.

Despite fairly comprehensive settings options, there's absolutely no way to disable this infuriating feature, which is irritating & annoying beyond words. ... After wasting about half an hour contacting customer services about this, my enquiry/feedback/complaint was handled as if reporting a "fault" that nobody had ever reported before. ... But, when I subsequently went to the Amazon online forum I discovered that this has been a constantly repeated concern or complaint for well over a year & over a series of previous models. This feedback to Amazon has been entirely ignored from day one! ... A simple firmware upgrade to add a settings option would solve this easily, yet Amazon's unresponsiveness to such voluble feedback whilst making repeated, disingenuous claims to be so intensely customer focused, undermines my faith in Amazon, the brand, more than anything.

62 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sue McDonald

Just to reiterate...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 December 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

...what others have commented extensively about:-

1) Can't turn off the annoying "Try Alexa blah, blah" scrolling rubbish.
2) The 'user personalisation' in respect of the clock is not available
3) I bought the 8" to show the streams from my security cameras but they time out after about five minutes (they remain in view on my Android phone)
4) Buggy and restrictive software. Why can't I implement app skills for the things that I want e.g. BBC iPlayer?

This device is a huge disappointment . Fortunately only paid £50 or so on Black Friday. Nevertheless GET IT SORTED OUT AMAZON (a plea that I suspect will fall on deaf ears.).

EDIT: Have now had this for around five weeks. Quite frankly I would have been better served just buying a second Echo Dot. I really do not understand what purpose this device serves as its functionality is so restricted. So just a badly considered device that has a nice screen but nothing else to commend it. It has absolutely zero functionality except to display a clock - and one cannot even configure that - and a rolling menu of "Alexa suggestions" that one cannot turn off.. Save your money.

EDIT 2: I tried very hard to like this device especially as I only paid £50 for it n the Black Friday sale but I have now decided that it is going back. It just takes up space and offers absolutely no usable benefits. BIG fail, Amazon. :(

53 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Poor

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

Item sent was used, tamper seal broken.

Tested item before returning and most functions are poor. Alexa on my echo dot responds far better then this.

Don’t waste your money and stick with the basic echo or echo dot.

36 people found this helpful

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Meowsters

Worst thing I bought EVER

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 April 2020

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

I had an echo show 5, it was great, you asked it to do something it did it, the echo show 8 seems to be useless, I ask it the same things and it repeatedly says 'hmmm I don't know that one' its beyond useless. It the jabbers on about things I have not even asked it to do, go one ask it to play Prime Video 'hmmm I don't know that one' what you don't know your own services fk off now, I am strongly swinging over to getting rid of Alexa and prime and going with google as this just gets worse and worse, I would honestly save your money and buy a hamster at least if I asked a hamster to play prime video I know it wont because its a hamster.

Update, what a bag of crap, been watching southpark on my echo 8 for the past 2 days now its telling me there is no more southpark and if I want to watch it I have to purchase it, its magically decided that if I search southpark to only show me one episode and can not find anymore, it a useless don't whatever you do buy this crap, I want a refund this is the worst piece of crap I have ever bought.

May Update, I am bewildered how my show has consistently worked as I have asked it to for a week playing a series I have been watching then all of a sudden half way through an episode its goes back home and totally forgets what I was watching as asking it to play the next episode it will start playing some random music or a movie and have absolutely no idea what I am on about if it wasn't for my mum having one and being able to video chat with her during this lockdown this would of gone in a landfill along with my subscription to amazon.

22 people found this helpful

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Acis

Irritating and poorly done

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

This thing sits like a bold three year old demanding attention; no matter what settings you pick, no matter explicitly unticking the setting that pretends to control this, the screen constantly scrolls through the most asinine suggestions imaginable: “try, Alexa tell me something stupid”, “try, Alexa tell me a stupid joke”, “try, Alexa make a stupid noise”...

It’s a bit hard to fathom how a grown up company could make something this irritating. I have a previous version, the spot, and managed to configure it to stop with this constant stream of distracting spam, but the “show 8” is ignoring the settings completely.

Hopefully Amazon will take it back from me on this basis but, anyway, aside from that, it’s all very half hearted and ill conceived. There’s very little sense about the display arrangement and options available. When playing a radio station the clock disappears, making it a bit useless in the morning. The options for displaying pictures, and such types of configuration, are extremely basic. It feels like something they have lobbed out to the masses and unfortunately fools like me snapped at the idea. But I’d advise everyone else to stay away and maybe encourage Amazon to be a bit more engaged and intelligent about the functions of this: it’s a great idea, just really poorly, and irritatingly, done.

24 people found this helpful

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Miles

Things to try

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

Great concept of a product completely let down by constantly showing pointless Alexa "things to try" suggestions on the bottom inch of the screen.

Support say you cannot disable these, you can only disable the frequency of which they show.

29 people found this helpful

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The picture shown in Amazon is measleading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 December 2019

Colour Name: Sandstone FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

The thing I don't like is I cannot change the clock face as displayed in the picture which is measleading.
I really like the product but the limited options to use such a good big screen having a bigger (possibly full screen) clock it's a nonsense.
The product displayed on Amazon showing a clock face which is unavailable as setting options.
This is not fair!

21 people found this helpful

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jackscott

can't listen to BBC on these devices any more

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2019

Colour Name: Charcoal FabricStyle Name: Echo Show 8Verified Purchase

Look at the recent forums for Alexa BBC before you buy any Alexa product

27 people found this helpful

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