Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen, 2021 release) | Smart display with Alexa and 2 MP camera | Glacier White

The Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) is a fantastic addition to any smart home setup. The HD screen is crisp, perfect for checking the weather, watching videos, or even video calls with its upgraded 2MP camera.Alexa integration is seamless, and I love how responsive it is. It works great as a bedside or desk companion—managing alarms, routines, and smart devices with ease.The compact size makes it super versatile, and the sound quality is surprisingly strong for its size. For the price and features, this is easily a 10/10 product. Highly recommended!

We love this, we keep it in our master bath, and it is the perfect size! It's great to have and be able to ask anything while you shower or get ready.

I'm really pleased with the Alexa device

I wanted to really give this a test before I reviewed it, so I bought this about 2 weeks ago. My thought was to give it to my parents (older) who have issues with typing on a little screen. My mother has learned how to use a cell phone, but my father gave up with technology several years ago. I had also heard that devices such as this were great for keeping on your desk at home, asking how to spell something, doing simple math, and of course listening to music.To make full use of this device you must have Prime. If you have Amazon's extended music (unlimited) it would probably be better. Since I don't have it, about half of the times I request a song, it tells me that I can get it on unlimited, for only $X a month... But after offering me that unlimited, it often plays that song. When you do ask for a song, it plays that (if available) and then starts one of its radio stations. It has a wide variety of music, even music to calm your dog or cat (my dog likes his, the cat could care less, typical).For movies/ TV it will play prime movies, and you can probably buy the movies that you can rent or buy from Amazon. The problem is that you have a 5 inch screen, about the same size as many cell phones. The sound quality on this is decent, not great, not bad, better than my cell phone. But if I want to watch a movie on a 5 inch screen, my cell phone is right there for that, with the same selection of movies available.This does not have a battery included (I ended up buying a base with a battery). If I wanted to move it from one room to another, unplugging it caused it to shut off, and then has to restart when you reach the next plug. So if you are watching a movie and want to move from the living room to the kitchen (to start cooking dinner for example), without a battery base, sold separately, you unplug it and then it has to restart. It does not take long to restart, but then have to find what you were watching and re-start it. The plug is a old fashioned block plug with a round piece that goes into the device. With everything on USB or USB C now, I am surprised they keep their specific cord (but without the battery base, you have to have it plugged in, so probably will not lose it).I have heard that Amazon is shutting down, or scaling back its Alexa division. This is too bad as the voice recognition is very good. About 90% of the time it understands what I am asking, and most of the time can find something close to that. But I guess the idea is that people would use it for shopping. I don't, as I want to compare products, see what the costs are, look at the size, read the reviews. With the way prices change, I want to make sure I am getting the best deal not just the same product from the same vendor, regardless of price.And after two weeks, I am still trying to figure out Alexa skills. As far as I can tell, these are like apps. Many are free, and you can just ask your Echo to do them. There are some that you have to go on to the Alexa app you must install on your smart phone to enable, and there are some that you have to pay for. There are sometimes ads that pop up on the screen, so I saw one for Jeopardy, it gave me a few questions, and then said "And you can play more for only $X a month... " So I could see you getting lots of fees if someone is using this and does not listen carefully or care about the $3 a month here and $9 a month there. I have run into a couple magazine articles that suggest echo things you should try and found a few that are not available on the echo show. Kind of like some apps are not available for your phone I guess.There are also many things you can do, which I have not made use of, such as video calls between two shows, or linking them with echo speakers to "drop in." It is a little concerning to have someone else have the ability to "drop in" on your echo show, sometimes I don't want others to see what I am doing. And how secure is this? The camera has a little slide to go over the camera, and the speaker does have a button you can shut off. It does have a neat thing for your elderly parents, where it has to check in every day, or it calls you. It, like several other things, requires a monthly subscription. There is also one that hears breaking glass or a smoke alarm and connects to you (or maybe you can set it to call?). Again, a monthly fee. I could see it being useful for an elderly person, if they fall and are still within voice of their Alexa, it could still try to connect with you, but I believe that is all though Amazon, so if my Alexa is not open on my phone, or I don't have an echo device open, might not work. As a 50 year old, I am having some issues trying to figure this all out, so don't see my 80+ year old parents being able to figure a lot of this out.So I suspect that this will either go to my parents, or stay with me and be used for listening to music/ news and simple tasks (like set a timer for 5 minutes from now). I will continue to try to figure out the calling features, as I think that could be helpful. Voice controls for people with eye issues, or fat fingers, are nice (but if you have eye issues, you don't want to be trying to see a 5 inch screen). It certainly has potential, but if Amazon is shutting down that division, it may not be developed to its fullest potential. And with the recent advances in AI, the technology in the echo may become quickly obsolete. But at time of purchase it was $35, so certainly not too expensive to get and play around with.

The Amazon Echo Show 5 is fantastic! It has a crisp display, great sound quality for its size, and is super easy to use. Perfect for controlling smart devices, watching videos, or checking the weather. A great addition to any home!

So the secret is I purchased the Echo Show 5 2nd Gen solely as an “add-on” bc it only cost me an additional $10 as part of a Prime Day Deal (w the purchase of 3 Blink Outdoor Cameras- which I love)The pros are that it’s extremely easy to set up (uhhh, just plug it in), has great voice recognition, decent screen quality, and it’s the perfect size for me on the night stand (neither too big nor too small). I also like the clock feature(s) and all the different ummm apps? which you can download to use on the ES5 (like Netflix). Now, that being said, I haven’t watched a single thing of substance on it yet (no movies, videos, video calls) bc I have my iPad, iPhone, etc. for all of that stuff.I also like all of the different settings and features available, allowing you to customize your ES5 screen(s).Finally, I like how you can easily block the front-facing camera on the home screen so no bored pervs at Amazon can watch me sleep.Now, the one negative … WHICH I 100% KNEW GOING IN … So it’s not really a fair knock … BUT unless you’re willing to pay substantially more (at least in the Prime Day deal I was offered), you can’t select one single Lock Screen for the ES5 to display all the time (such as an alarm clock face or the weather forecast). Instead, it’s always scrolling through various screens.Now, you absolutely CAN get all the information you need on the screen at times; but, unless you pay extra, your ES5 screen will also contain auto-scrolling nonsense as it shuffles through various faces (stocks, scores, weather, pics, etc.). I’d love to be able to use the Home Screen solely as a weather station or solely as an alarm clock, both while I’m using it (as a speaker) and while I’m not using it at all. To be fair. I’ve really only used it as a Bluetooth speaker so far, and it’s been really good for that limited purpose.Again, in full disclosure, I only purchased the Echo Show 5 2nd Gen as an inexpensive add-on to a Prime Day deal, so keep in mind it’s always possible (likely) I’m only tapping like 3% of it’s actual abilities, but that’s ok too, bc I’ve been really satisfied with it as a Bluetooth speaker so far.Final thoughts- If you can get it as an inexpensive add-on as part of another deal/item, that would be ideal. However, it’s still a good + solid product that delivers as promised, which may not sound like much, but is actually quite the rarity these days.FINAL VERDICT: SOLID BUY … as long as the price is right

works great. i did close the camera as i just needed Alexa to turn on/off items for me.

Good quality