Amazon announces the more affordable Echo Show 5 smart display for $90/₹8,999

Amazon has plans to plant its Echo devices to in all walks of your life. Not just in the living room, bedroom, or the kitchen, but also your car – while also bringing Alexa to your toilet seats through partners. While voice interactions remain to be the key here, Amazon also wants to capitalize on its investment in movies and television production by attaching a touchscreen to the regular smart speaker. Launched back in 2017 and refreshed last year, the Amazon Echo Show smart display-cum-speaker is Amazon’s fighter in the domain and is now being complemented by a more affordable variant with a smaller display.

The new Amazon Echo Show 5 is now officially launched for $89.99 and features a 5.5-inch which has a resolution of 960 x 480. This display can be used to watch over the top video content from Amazon Prime or news from partner outlets like CNN, and video-call others who have an Amazon Echo Show or the Echo Spot. It can also show lyrics or text on the screen while playing music or audiobooks.

Besides reducing the screen size to almost half, Amazon has also cut down the number of speakers from two on the $230 Echo Show to one on the Echo Show 5. Additionally, the camera resolution has also been reduced from 5MP to just 1MP. The number of microphones, too, has been reduced from four to two and instead of being in the front, they’re now located on the top along with volume and mute buttons.

Meanwhile, the Echo Show 5 retains the physical shutter to cover the camera so that you don’t have to worry about it spying on you. There’s a 3.5mm USB output for you to connect other speakers alongside the standard support for Bluetooth out.

At this price, the Echo Show 5 totally overshadows the smaller Echo Spot ($130) and this suggests that Amazon might eventually discontinue the latter – or still continue to sell it at a lower price. Further, it also undercuts the Google Nest Hub (previously called Google Home Hub) by a sweet $40. Yes, you can’t officially watch YouTube on the Echo Show, but it can be achieved using the Firefox web browser which comes pre-installed.

The Alexa Echo Show 5 is also coming to India for ₹8,999 (~$130) and in addition to Amazon Prime, will support content in regional music videos via Hungama besides music from Amazon Music, JioSaavn, Gaana, Hungama Music, TuneIn, etc.

“Alexa, delete everything I said today”

With privacy concerns on the rise, Amazon has announced a new Alexa Privacy Hub, which will allow users to delete all the information that the company has about the consumers. Besides that, there’s a couple of new commands such as “Alexa, delete what I just said” and “Alexa, delete everything I said today” that will delete voice searches directly from the Echo devices.

Buy Amazon Echo Show 5 for $89.99

Pre-order Amazon Echo Show 5 in India for ₹8,999

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