Amazon Echo Show 8 (2023) Review: Great Screen, but Alexa Is Pushy

I have a smart home, and I enjoy setting up household gadgets for use with a voice assistant. Yet, I have only recently wandered into smart display territory, and so I was eager to get my hands on the new Amazon Echo Show 8. While smart displays are a bit more flexible than speakers -- they can show you a recipe, for example -- they also have the potential to be more intrusive, like the creepy, face-following Show 10.

Overall, using the Show 8 is enjoyable despite some issues, particularly in regards to Alexa's pushiness. It's fun, it has a bright screen, and it'll play music. As I write this, the $150 Amazon Echo Show 8 is $45 off its regular price for Black Friday, and at that price, it's a good deal.

Amazon Echo Show 8 3rd Gen $150 at Amazon

What it is

The Echo Show 8 is Amazon's third-largest smart display -- after the Show 10 and Show 15 -- and this newest version includes a number of updates. This model boasts improved response times, "adaptive content" and improved audio with spatial support. The Echo Show 8 is also the naggiest Amazon device I've used, with persistent pop-ups that didn't let up until I was compelled to turn most of them off.

Unlike the slightly smaller Google Nest Hub, which has a motion sensor, the Show 8 has a full 13-megapixel camera. There's a slider at the top for a physical camera shutter that's also a kill switch for its microphone, but using it means missing out on some of the display's biggest features. The "adaptive content" feature dials down the creep factor of the Show 10's tracking camera by detecting your proximity and using that to display relevant content. Stand far away and it shows a screen saver with the time, but come within three feet and it gives you a five-day weather forecast.

Apart from the camera and voice activation, the screen is also designed to be controlled via touch. Interface-wise, the Show is similar to a phone: Swipe down for the menu, swipe left for the most recent "Alexa skill" and swipe right for news and other content. The top of the screen includes a number of shortcuts, including music, calendar, devices, shopping (of course) and widgets. Delving deeper into the interface, you can access other features such as viewing Ring cameras (if you have them), checking on all of your smart devices at once or initiating a video call.

You can use your fingers to navigate, but it's the device's voice-control capabilities for which it is justly famous. Alexa was as responsive as you might expect, even responding promptly when playing music.

Would you like free delivery with that?

Though shopping events like Black Friday come around semiregularly, we don't necessarily spend all of our time wondering what we should be buying. Ordinarily, we use products like Amazon's smart assistant to help us with our day. To ask about the weather, search for recipes or turn on lights. It's natural that Amazon wants to balance this need with trying to sell us stuff, but it doesn't always lead to the best user experience.

I encountered this phenomenon multiple times during my testing with the Show 8, and the first was within five minutes of setting it up. I thought to myself: "What should I watch on this thing? I know -- 'Rings of Power'!" As young Galadriel was skipping along a stream, a pop-up message appeared, asking if I'd read the latest crime thriller from someone with two first names. (I'm already watching Amazon content, Alexa, pick your battles!) Apart from that unwanted interruption, I found the screen perfect for watching videos. But it's worth mentioning that you still can't request individual videos from YouTube. For instance, a request for "FailArmy" brought up the live FreeVee channel on screen instead.

While video quality was everything I expected from a smaller screen (fine but nothing special), I was a little disappointed by the speaker itself. I compared it with the Nest Hub and found the Google model was clearer overall. The Amazon speaker had a lot of bass, especially with rock and dance music, but it sounded very veiled. This is literally because the speaker is obscured by the screen and fires upward, unlike the forward-facing Hub speaker. By comparison, the Nest Hub sounded present and better with voices, though the trade-off is that it didn't have much bass.

Should you buy it?

If you're wondering if you need a smart display, then you probably don't; especially if you don't have any other Echo models or Ring cameras or the desire to watch a show on an 8-inch screen at the other end of your kitchen counter. A phone is just as good and probably more convenient as it's usually in hand. Yet, as a smart home companion, the Show 8 is a little easier to use than the Nest Hub, especially in regards to the use of the touchscreen. Once I had gotten all of the annoying distractions out of the way, I enjoyed using the Show 8, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a control center for their Alexa-based smart home.