Copyright Gizmodo
ChatGPT’s Atlas browser may be grabbing headlines today, but Amazon just dropped something that deserves equal attention: The retail giant is rolling out major discounts across its own product lineup, and the Echo Show 8 is leading the charge at just $99, down from $149. This smart display has hit its all-time low price and if you’ve been considering adding a central hub to your connected home, this is the moment to jump in. See at Amazon The Echo Show 8 answers a question that occurs to us all: running a smart home shouldn’t mean you have to coordinate with several apps or root through your telephone whenever you want to control the heater or see who is at your door. This device places it all on one screen, serves as your entertainment center, and keeps you connected with your family through seamless video calls. A Display That Truly Holds Its Own Amazon redesigned the Echo Show 8 with room-enveloping spatial audio that doesn’t just cast audio in front of you. The 8-inch HD touchscreen strikes the exact balance point, it’s big enough that you can actually see what’s happening on your security camera or view a recipe from across the kitchen but small enough that you can place it on a counter or nightstand without dominating the space. The 13-megapixel camera is a significant upgrade from earlier generations with sharp video quality that makes video calls that much more naturalistic and less like you’re talking through a 2010s grainy webcam. The spatial audio technology entails that when you are streaming from Amazon Music, Apple Music, or Spotify, the audio does not sound stuck in a small speaker. It opens up so that you can have a more complete listening experience that makes a big difference when you are baking dinner or working close by. The same is applicable to Prime Video content, Netflix and Fire TV Channels content. What makes this model stand out in particular is its integrated smart home hub with support for Zigbee, Matter, and Thread protocols. Practical upshot: you can connect compatible light bulbs, locks, sensors, and cameras directly to the Echo Show 8 without purchasing separate hubs that add clutter to your setup and more devices to fix when issues arise. You can control it with your voice or with the touchscreen, and you can create motion-activated routines so your lights come on when you enter a room, for example. The device also handles Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity so you have it both ways for older smart home devices that simply use those standards. Video chat is improved with the auto-framing webcam that ensures you stay in view as you move from position to position, along with noise reduction software that eliminates background noise. The new Top Connections widget provides one-touch access to your most frequently used contacts so that you can call them without having to wade through menus. At $99, this is the equivalent of buying on Black Friday and is the cheapest that this model has ever gone. The combination of entertainment features, smart home control and communication features makes it a sensible addition to any connected home.
