Amazon Echo Show 8 Review: A Slimmer, Louder Kitchen Display With a Smart Home Hub Inside
A redesigned 8.7-inch HD touchscreen with spatial audio, a 13 MP auto-framing camera and a built-in Zigbee, Thread and Matter hub, held back by a screen you cannot tilt and a home screen that keeps pitching content at you.
The Echo Show 8 is Amazon's mid-size smart display, rebuilt around a floating 8.7-inch HD touchscreen sitting on a rounded speaker base, with a 2.8-inch woofer plus two full-range drivers, a 13 MP auto-framing camera, the AZ3 Pro chip and a smart home hub that acts as a Zigbee coordinator, Thread border router and Matter bridge. Owners consistently call it a real upgrade over the previous Echo Show 8: sharper and brighter screen, clearly better sound, snappier touch response, and microphones that catch a quietly spoken request. The trade-offs are physical and editorial rather than technical: the display is bolted to the base so it cannot be tilted or swivelled, the adjustable stand is a separate purchase, the sliding camera shutter is gone, and the home screen pushes recipe and shopping prompts that cannot be turned off. For an Alexa household that wants one screen in the kitchen for recipes, video calls, photos and smart home control, it is the right size and the hub alone saves buying a separate gateway.
- Kitchen and recipe use
- Alexa smart-home households
- Video calls and family updates
- First smart home hub
- Photo display and music
Pros
- Sharp, bright 8.7-inch HD touchscreen with slim bezels and a fast, fluid response
- Spatial audio from a 2.8-inch woofer and two full-range drivers, a clear step up from the previous model
- Far-field microphones catch quietly spoken requests and Alexa answers quickly
- Built-in hub: Zigbee coordinator, Thread border router and Matter bridge
- Wi-Fi 6E across all three bands plus Bluetooth 5.4
- Presence, ambient temperature and ambient light sensing can trigger Alexa routines
- 13 MP auto-framing camera with 3.3x zoom for video calls
- Simple setup that often arrives already linked to your Amazon account
Cons
- The display is fixed to the speaker base, so it cannot be tilted or swivelled
- The adjustable stand is a separate purchase, and the previous model's stand and power adapter do not fit
- No sliding camera shutter, only the microphone and camera enable/disable button
- The home screen pushes recipe and shopping prompts that cannot be switched off, and the night clock is inconsistent
- Scattered software faults: slideshow crashes, patchy YouTube playback and multi-room music grouping failures
- Alexa handles one language at a time and defaults to Amazon Music unless you name another service
- No Ethernet port and no wall mounting
- Alexa only: no Google Home, Apple HomeKit or SmartThings, and Home Assistant support is partial
- Glass break and smoke or CO alarm sound detection require a subscription
Who is the Echo Show 8 for?
This is the middle of Amazon's display line, an 8.7-inch HD touchscreen at 1340 x 800 that sits on a counter or shelf rather than on a wall. It suits an Alexa household that wants one screen doing several jobs: recipes and timers hands-free in the kitchen, video calls through the 13 MP auto-framing camera with 3.3x zoom, a photo slideshow when idle, shared calendars, lists and announcements, and smart home control that includes pulling up a doorbell or camera feed. It is also a hub in its own right, working as a Zigbee coordinator, a Thread border router and a Matter bridge, so Zigbee and Thread accessories can join without a separate gateway. Connectivity is current: Wi-Fi 6E on the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands plus Bluetooth 5.4. Omnisense sensing adds presence detection, an ambient temperature sensor and an ambient light sensor, so routines can fire when someone walks into the room or the light level changes. Owners repeatedly describe it as the right size for a worktop, big enough for a recipe or a video without swallowing counter space the way the larger models do. If you want a wall panel, a tilting screen, Ethernet, or you live in Google Home, HomeKit or SmartThings, this is the wrong device.
What buyers love
The redesign lands. Owners upgrading from an older Echo Show 8 describe the build as noticeably more premium, the slim floating screen as sharper and brighter, and the whole unit as something they are happy to leave on show. Sound is the most repeated surprise: several say the speaker is a clear step up from the previous generation, with cleaner vocals and a much more defined bass line, one German owner reckoning it comfortably replaces a pair of small Echo speakers, and a UK owner successfully pairing it with an Echo Studio for party-mode playback. Voice pickup and speed draw the next most praise, with owners noting it understands them even when they speak quietly and responds instantly where their old unit hesitated, which several attribute to the new processor. The touchscreen itself is called fast and fluid by most owners, a real change from the sluggish swipes of earlier models. Setup is repeatedly described as effortless, often arriving already linked to the buyer's account with Alexa+ early access attached. On the smart home side, owners report lights, cameras and Ring doorbells working reliably from the screen, and the presence-based attention mode behaving exactly as advertised.
What to know before you buy
The most common complaint has nothing to do with software: the screen is fixed to the speaker base, so you cannot angle it up, down or sideways, and more than one owner says that is the single thing they would change. Amazon sells an adjustable stand for that, but it is a separate purchase, and one detailed owner found that neither the stand nor the 30 W power adapter from the 2023 model fits or works with this one. The sliding camera shutter earlier Echo Shows carried is also gone, leaving the physical microphone and camera enable/disable button plus software controls, which owners who liked flipping a shutter closed in a bedroom consider a real downgrade. Then there is the home screen: owners report recipe tips, shopping-list prompts and other suggestions appearing with no way to switch them off, and the night-time clock showing up only intermittently. Software rough edges show up in a minority of reports but they are specific: a photo slideshow that crashes the device, patchy YouTube playback through the browser, missing track names on Apple Music, a device that refuses to join multi-room music with other Echo speakers even though it appears in the group, and a Ring doorbell chime that stopped announcing. Alexa+ itself is good at everyday tasks and poor as a research assistant, it handles one language at a time, and it defaults to Amazon Music unless you name another service, prompting for a music subscription once you skip past a few songs. One owner also found the speaker a step back from the 2023 model at maximum volume, with buzzier highs, and disliked the hardware buttons moving to the side. Note too that there is no Ethernet port and no wall mounting, and that sound-based glass break and smoke or CO alarm alerts need a subscription.
Is the Echo Show 8 worth it?
For an Alexa household, yes, and the case is strongest in a kitchen. The 8.7-inch panel is the sweet spot in the line: readable from across a worktop, small enough not to dominate the room, and paired with a speaker that owners rate well above what a display this size usually manages. The built-in Zigbee, Thread and Matter hub is the quiet argument in its favour, because it removes a box from a starter smart home rather than adding one, and the presence, temperature and light sensors give routines something real to trigger on. Go in knowing three things. The fixed screen angle is permanent unless you buy the stand. The privacy hardware is a step back from earlier Echo Shows. And Alexa+ is still visibly improving, so expect the odd rough edge in the interface and the occasional feature that behaves differently from the model you are replacing. If you need a tilting or wall-mounted screen, a physical lens cover, a wired connection, or you are invested in Google Home, HomeKit or SmartThings, look elsewhere; otherwise this is the Echo Show that fits most kitchens.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Echo Show 8 work as a smart home hub?
Yes, and it is one of the strongest reasons to pick it. The display is a Zigbee coordinator, a Thread border router and a Matter bridge, so it can create and run a Zigbee network, bring Thread accessories onto your home network and expose devices over Matter without a separate gateway. For a first smart home that removes a box from the shopping list.
Does the Echo Show 8 have a camera shutter?
Not a sliding one. This generation drops the physical lens cover that earlier Echo Shows had and gives you a physical microphone and camera enable/disable button instead, marked with a Ø symbol, plus camera controls on the device and in the Alexa app. Owners who specifically wanted an opaque cover treat this as a downgrade and cover the lens themselves.
Can the Echo Show 8 screen be tilted or wall mounted?
No on both counts. The screen is attached to the speaker base and cannot be angled up, down or sideways, which is the complaint owners raise most often. Amazon sells an adjustable stand as a separate accessory that adds tilt and swivel, and it is designed only for the current Echo Show 8 and 11, not for the older model. Wall mounting is reserved for the Echo Show 15 and 21.
Does it work with Google Home, Apple HomeKit or SmartThings?
No. This is an Alexa device with Alexa+ built in, and it is not supported by Google Home, Apple HomeKit or Samsung SmartThings. Home Assistant support is partial rather than full: the official Alexa Devices integration lists Echo Show displays and exposes media player, sensor, notification and switch entities, but it does not hand over control of the display's own smart home hub.
Does the Echo Show 8 need a subscription?
Not for the core experience. The screen, voice control, video calls, smart home control and the built-in hub all work without one. A subscription is required for sound-based alerts, such as detecting breaking glass or a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm going off, and Alexa will prompt for a music subscription once you skip past a certain number of songs.
Is the sound better than the previous Echo Show 8?
Mostly yes. Amazon rates the new 2.8-inch woofer and dual full-range drivers at up to twice the bass of the 2023 model, and owners broadly agree, describing clearer vocals, a stronger bass line and enough volume for a medium room. The dissenting view comes from one detailed owner who found the older model held together better at maximum volume, with less buzz in the highs.
