Echo Show 5 (Newest gen), Smart display and alarm clock with clearer sound, Cloud blue, with Alexa+ Early Access

We bought a 1st generation one a good while ago, this is to replace it as it's looking tired now and Alexa's slowing down a bit. My wife just found out how to do a video call so she calls me now when I'm out fishing to check up on how I'm doing ! ! !

I bought this version because I only need very basic Alexa usage, hence I was happy to go cheaper and get a smaller screen. The interface is fairly snappy during the set up, but when all set, it gets a bit laggy when navigating menu and options. The voice commands are not always great: my living room it's not massive, but I found having to be fairly close to the device to have my command picked and understood. It might improve with a more tailored voice set up, but this has been my experience with basic configuration. Also, I've noticed the device sort of struggling a few times, having a little freeze, blacking the screen and returning to normal condition after a few seconds. The sound quality though is pretty good considering the size.

An excellent upgrade on the previous generations, it’s extremely easy to use the smart setup out of the box loaded in just moments and with Alexa plus it’s extremely useful. The display is very vivid and clear and it is good for watching videos in the kitchen. The sound quality and volume is good. It’s much more compact than previous generations and it’s a lot faster and more responsive to use.

Having used an Echo for some years to listen to the radio (which it sometimes has trouble doing via the internet, whereas my Pure internet radio has no issues) I bought this Echo Show for one reason only - to be able to remote view my Tapo doorcam. Firstly, the menu system is simply awful, slow (you often don't think you have pressed anything for several seconds) and not user-friendly, relying on a lot of settings to be made in the Alexa app - which despite my best efforts is unable to detect ANY devices in the household so therefore I cannot set any favourites or even access the majority of them via Alexa. I set up the doorcam via the Tapo app and this works perfectly. The Echo Show is able to show the doorcam view perfectly as well and the quality is excellent. Whilst it's on screen. Which is for around 15 seconds or so. Then the device decides to return to the 'Home' screen, via random adverts. Swiping down to access the menu usually activates the advert, resulting in Alexa voicing a full description of dog chews, tampaxes etc, none of which are of any use to me. Eventually the home screen appears, which initially toggled through a load of info screens such as weather, to-do lists etc (though I did eventually find a way of turning these off, one by one, in some sub-menu or other) resulting in the device then displaying selected background images, one by one, with a fade to black between each one - equally annoying and something you can't stop unless you install Amazon Photos and upload a single picture to it and set the Echo Show to show that as a home screen image instead! Sometimes the device would eventually go to a darkened screen, then inexplicably return to a random advert and cycle through everything again. I can deal with those issues, because I just want to look at the doorcam, on the screen, all the time, from my workshop. The device appears to be unable to do that, switching from whatever I want back to the home screen without any input from me within a few seconds. I know the cam is working fine as I can view it in the Tapo app, constantly, with zero issues. If I ask the Echo Show to view the cam, it does so. Then shortly afterwards switches back to the home screen. I can find no way to stop it doing this so currently the device has been relegated to the bedroom where it might become an alarm clock, depending on whether the random adverts light the screen up in the middle of the night. Instead I have dug out my previous mobile phone, installed the Tapo app on it, and I can monitor the doorcam constantly through that instead. Wish I'd have saved my money :-(

I use this on a bedside table, and it is a really handy size. The screen is clear for the time, weather, reminders and smart home controls, while the sound is better than I expected from something so compact. Setup was simple, and Alexa has been reliable for the things I use most. It fits neatly without taking over the space, which is exactly what I wanted.

Good sound quality vs our Bose Revolve (but not quite as good). BBC's reference version for BBC Sounds app - so it does everything - pause, rewind, what's playing. Works great as phone speaker with Spotify. Very pleased.

Negatives: When you have the full screen displaying clock, there is a smaller clock in the top-left corner that won't go away and obscures the weather/temperature icon. It constantly rotates ads for Amazon products, which means you cannot see the weather and date or large clock temporarily and you cannot turn ads off, and I do not want billboards on my desk. The operating system is quite slow and laggy. Sound is okay for the radio at low volume but you wouldn't want it as your main music player. Limited customization options for the home screen layout (permanently visible widgets would be good). Positives: Sound is better than Echo Dot. Connects well to Eufy and Ring cameras. Having the clear on-screen display for answers from Alexa is handy as well as the sound. Looks nice. Good price on Prime days.