Amazon Echo Show 15 review: Alexa on the big screen

When getting any type of display, the first thing to consider is size. And if the display won’t move, chances are that the larger it is, the better your experience will be. TV manufacturers have grown, smartphones (to my chagrin) insist on it, and now it’s time for a new category, smart displays, to hit the big screen.

The Amazon Echo Show 15 is not only the largest Echo package yet, it has the largest screen you can easily find in a smart display of any brand. The 15.6-inch display is designed to be pinned down and used as a central organizational hub for your family. Having Alexa-powered widgets like shared calendars, shopping lists, to-do lists, and the ability to call family members and control other smart devices has many useful benefits.

Navigating Echo Show 15 content sometimes feels clunky, and some features are hard to find, despite Amazon’s efforts to populate the user interface with hints. Various family member profiles can be activated using facial recognition, but the transition isn’t always smooth. You will need to teach your family how to use the Echo Show 15 for it to be truly worthwhile. But if you go the route of smart displays, the Echo Show 15 will have a bigger screen and more features than the competition.

Smart display bigger and more beautiful

The Echo Show 15 is the largest smart display you can find. The screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels has a diagonal of 15.6 inches. It’s better than the 10.1″Echo Show 10. The extra size has obvious benefits, such as easier navigation, the ability to view more images on the screen at the same time, and improved Picture Frame performance. But it doesn’t come at a higher price. At the time of writing, the Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 10 are priced the same.

Meanwhile, Facebook’s biggest portal, the $300 Portal+, is just 14 inches, Google’s Nest Hub Max is 10 inches, and Lenovo’s 10.1-inch Smart Display is 10 inches.

Portal+, however, has a sharper resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels. All this increases the pixel density for the Facebook display (185.43 ppi) compared to the Echo Show 15 (141.2 ppi). Naturally, the Echo Show 15 also loses out in the ppi competition compared to smaller screens like the Nest Hub Max (1280 x 800 for 150.94 ppi). A crisp picture is important considering the Echo Show 15 offers access to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Given that you’re going to be touching and reading information first, more screen real estate is better.

You can set the Echo Show 15 to adjust its brightness according to the amount of light in the room. This is not uncommon. In fact, Portal + can thus adjust both brightness and color. I didn’t find this feature as useful because the Echo Show 15’s brightness won’t drop above 50 percent, even in an almost completely black room.

Even though the Echo Show 15 was a fairly massive piece of equipment, it seamlessly blended into the aesthetic of my home. Unlike other smart displays, it doesn’t look like a tablet glued to a wireless speaker. The black bezel contrasts with the display’s thick yet stylish white bezel, making it easy for the device to act as a frame for a picture, picture, or bulletin board. The design made it easy for me to fall in love with the Photo Frame feature that displays your photos or a carousel of themed images and/or paintings.

And by combining pleasing images with Alexa’s Nature Sounds skill, which plays peaceful sounds through the display’s speakers, the Echo Show 15 added an unexpected soothing vibe to your room.

What is unique is that the Echo Show 15 can be mounted or mounted vertically or horizontally. Not everyone has a smart display meter, and installing one makes face recognition easier because it requires the camera to see the user at eye level. This makes it difficult to find the perfect mounting position (unless your family is the same height). Also, the Echo Show 15’s 5-foot cord may leave you in need of an extension cord.

If you think the Echo Show 15 isn’t worth holes in the wall, you can use a stand, but you’ll have to pay an extra $30.