Brilliant Control puts an Echo Show on your wall with Display Cards

Brilliant Control is trying hard to live up to its name at CES 2018. I was already intrigued by its list of abilities. Brilliant is a touchscreen that replaces your light switch and has Amazon's assistant Alexa built in. You can talk to it or touch it. You can use it to control an impressive list of smart home partners. At CES, Brilliant is adding Amazon's Display Cards, so Alexa can show you more info on the screen when you ask a question.

The Display Cards are the visual information Alexa uses on the Amazon Echo Show. The Show combines a touchscreen with a smart speaker. You can give it a voice command like the original Amazon Echo. You can also make video calls, see the weather or check your calendar. Now that it's added Alexa's visual cards, Brilliant will also be able to show you the visual information associated with any Alexa skill.

Brilliant is due out early this year starting at $200. Brilliant plans to ship overseas at some point, but hasn't offered any concrete info, though the US price converts to roughly £150 and AU$250. Since it has Alexa for voice commands and now Display Cards for Amazon's visual info, it stands to be more capable than the $230/£200 Echo Show.

Brilliant will do just about everything the Show can do, and will add its own set of skills. Alexa will let you control plenty of smart home devices with your voice. Brilliant lets you interact with compatible devices via the touchscreen as well. The Show takes up room on your counter, Brilliant replaces a light switch on your wall.

We've seen other light switch control panels such as the Wink Relay, but now that Brilliant is bringing the Show's abilities to your wall, it could be the most capable one yet. 

What to expect from the smart home at CES 2018: We take a look at the smart home and appliance trends we expect to see this year.

CES 2018: CNET's complete coverage of tech's biggest show.