Amazon Echo Show 15 Review

Amazon’s Echo Show 15 ($249.99) is the company's largest and most unique smart display yet: It resembles a picture frame and hangs on the wall like one, while its widgets and face-detection capabilities make it a useful information hub for every member of your household. That said, its audio and camera quality are disappointing, widgets are currently very limited, and both widgets and face detection will be rolled out onto other Echo Show devices. Unless you specifically need a smart display to hang on your wall, Amazon's other Echo Shows might serve you better. For example, the $129.99 Echo Show 8 costs half as much as the Echo Show 15 and offers superior speakers. And for $249.99, the Echo Show 10 is the best model for video calls thanks to a motorized base that allow its cameras to follow you around the room.

Designed for Mounting

The Echo Show 15 measures 9.9 by 15.8 by 1.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 4 pounds, 4 ounces. It looks similar to a framed, matted piece of art. A 15-inch screen with a 0.7-inch white border sit under a glass panel, surrounded by a 0.4-inch matte black metal bezel for an attractive, minimalist look.

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(Photo: Will Greenwald)

A 5MP camera in the left corner of the white matte border is the only element that punctuates the clean aesthetic. The edge of the frame to the left of the camera houses pinhole microphones for hands-free Alexa use, while the edge to the right of that corner has a physical camera cover switch, as well as buttons for mic mute, volume down, and volume up.

The back of the Echo Show 15 has a square-shaped groove for the included mounting bracket, along with four screw holes. A circular recess houses the power connector and a micro USB port for service. 

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

The included mounting bracket and hardware allow you to secure the Echo Show on your wall, either horizontally or vertically. However, because of its narrow depth, you can’t just set it on a table like most other smart displays. If you want a stand, you have to pay extra; the Sanus Tilt Stand costs an additional $29.99.

Amazon sent us the stand for testing. It’s a simple, appropriately heavy stand with a rectangular matte black foot that keeps the Echo Show 15 steady in either landscape or portrait orientation. The mounting arm of the stand has a hinge that lets you tilt it up to 30 degrees. It works well, but putting the Echo Show 15 on a table defeats its biggest appeal, which is the ability to hang it on a wall.

The centerpiece of the Echo Show 15 is a 15-inch, 1,920-by-1,080-pixel touch screen. It’s a bit smaller and less sharp than the Facebook Portal+’s 15.6-inch, 2,160-by-1,440 screen, but it still looks clear and crisp. We can’t measure its contrast and color like we can with TVs, but anecdotally it looks bright and colorful enough for a smart display. Don’t expect the kind of light or color output you get with a good 4K TV, though—just from eyeballing it, it clearly doesn’t attempt to present a high dynamic range (HDR) or a wide color space.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

The large screen helps drive the newest Echo Show feature: at-a-glance widgets that provide information and media access. You can arrange multiple tile-based widgets to pop up when you look at the Echo Show 15, arranged in two rows. Currently 14 different widgets are available, including calendars, maps, reminders, shopping lists, smart home controls, sticky notes, and weather reports. It’s a modest but useful collection, though only some take full advantage of the touch screen. For instance, while you can tap to select a radio station on the Amazon Prime Music widget or to control lights with the smart home widget, most primarily provide visual information.

No third-party widgets are currently available, and even Amazon Prime Video is missing from the current selection. The Amazon Prime Music widget also feels very inflexible; it lets you listen to Amazon’s recommendations, but not your favorite songs or playlists. You can also only select one large widget (spanning two or three normal tiles) at once, so you have to choose between your calendar, a map, or music suggestions. Even widgets that simply serve as quick access to apps and services like Netflix or the web browser would be a welcome addition.

Facebook’s Portal displays offer far more touch controls for direct app and contact access, but the Echo Show widgets provide more visual information. It’s a trade-off between the two systems, with Google’s Nest Hub lineup trailing both in this regard. It's also worth noting that, while the Echo Show 15 offers the best way to show off widgets with its ample screen real estate, widgets are also being launched on other Echo Show devices, where they show up in just one row instead of two.

Each person in a household can set up custom home screens with different widgets, and the Echo Show 15 will load the correct screen profile when they approach. Aside from the Voice ID feature all Echo devices have, the Echo Show 15 adds face-detecting Visual ID, in which the camera will keep an eye out for faces it recognizes and react accordingly.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

Setting up Visual ID is simple: The camera records each user’s face at different angles and connects that data to the correct profile. If you don’t want the Echo Show 15 to always watch for you, you can disable Visual ID and physically close the camera shutter with the switch on the side. Visual ID isn't exclusive to the Echo Show 15; it will be added to the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10 in a future update.

Alexa Remains Helpful

All of the usual Alexa-dependent voice commands are available on the Echo Show 15. Just say “Alexa,” give a command, and Alexa will do what you ask. Amazon's voice assistant can check your calendar, open various apps, and provide general information such as weather reports. The Alexa platform works with a long list of smart home devices, and we like its ability to directly pull up camera feeds from compatible home security cameras and video doorbells.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

Alexa also offers plenty of communication capabilities. Amazon’s Drop In feature lets you make voice or video calls to anyone with an Echo or Echo Show device or the Alexa app on their smartphone, including within your household. Outside of Amazon’s platforms, you can make phone calls (to standard North American and United Kingdom phone numbers, but not premium or three-digit numbers including emergency services); initiate Skype voice and video calls; and Zoom support will be added in early 2022.

You can expand Alexa's utility even further with third-party skills. Most Alexa skills are for Echo smart speakers rather than Echo Show smart displays, however, and offer only audio-based information and controls. Additionally, unlike the apps on Portal devices, you can’t browse Alexa skills on the Echo Show 15 or arrange icons to access them by touch; you need to use your voice.

Not the Best Camera or Audio

The camera in the Echo Show 15 is surprisingly much less advanced than you get in the Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 10. It uses a modest 5MP sensor and lacks the auto-framing capabilities of the 13MP cameras on the other two devices (and, of course, the motorized tracking of the Echo Show 10). You can get solid video call performance and photo booth pictures with proper lighting, but it’s odd that Amazon skimped on the camera here.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

The Echo Show 15 also lacks audio power, though this is more understandable, given its narrow design. It features two 1.6-inch drivers, which are smaller than the 2-inch drivers in the Echo Show 8 (not to mention the Echo Show 10's 3-inch woofer paired with two 1-inch tweeters). Expect sound that is suitable for idle listening (despite its lack of bass power), but not appropriate for fully experiencing music or powering a party.

On our bass test track, The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the bass synth notes sound hollow and distant on the Show 15, while the kick drum hits pop with almost no force behind them. Fortunately, the drivers don’t distort at maximum volume.

Tracks with much less sub-bass, like Yes’ “Roundabout,” sound better. The acoustic guitar plucks in the opening sections get solid resonance and a pleasing sense of string texture. When the track fully kicks in, the balance clearly favors the mid-highs and highs, with the guitar strums, cymbals, and vocals all standing out. The bassline is audible, but suffers from a lack of low-end presence, for a pleasant, but slightly bright, sound.

This also comes through with The Crystal Method’s “Born Too Slow.” The harsh guitar riffs stand firmly in the spotlight, while the vocals sit a bit in the background. The backbeat sounds somewhat distant in the mix as well.

(Photo: Will Greenwald)

Echo, Echo on the Wall

The Amazon Echo Show 15 is a large, attractive smart display that easily mounts on a wall. We like its expansive screen and widgets, but it falls a bit flat in terms of audio and camera performance. If you have space on a counter, desk, or shelf, the Echo Show 8 sounds much stronger, has sharper camera quality, and costs half the price. For the same price as the Echo Show 15, meanwhile, the Echo Show 10 offers even better audio and useful mechanical tracking for video calls. And if you prefer Facebook’s services, the $199 Portal Go makes much better use of its app-driven touch screen and supports many more enterprise-level videoconferencing services. But if you're looking for a smart display you can mount like a piece of art, the unique Echo Show 15 fits the bill.