Echo Show
The Echo Show is a smart speaker enabled with a 7-inch touchscreen by Amazon featuring Alexa, the company’s AI assistant. Amazon introduced the Echo Show in May 2017.
Unlike most smart speaker designs, which are audio-only and driven by speech recognition, the Echo Show has a display and supports both audio and touchscreen input for Amazon’s AI assistant service. Essentially, the touchscreen makes the speaker more of a general-purpose computing device with advanced speech-recognition capabilities. The device ties into the Amazon marketplace to make purchases seamless for consumers and drive sales for the company.
The Echo Show includes an Intel Atom x5-Z8350, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of embedded flash memory, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1, an integrated video camera with microphone and a 21-watt sound system.
The device has raised privacy concerns because its built-in camera, microphone, voice recognition and constant connectivity mean that it could easily collect audio data from its environment. The Show is equipped with an external button to disable the intrusive devices for the sake of times users wish to ensure privacy. While the device is being hailed by many reviewers as the most compelling Alexa offering, some also admit to unplugging it for the sake of privacy.
Amazon introduces Echo Show: