Amazon is rebuilding its biggest smart display from the frame up. The new Echo Show 16, unveiled Tuesday, swaps the old plastic shell for an anodized aluminum body that Amazon says is 40% thinner than the Echo Show 15 or Echo Show 21, and pairs it with a reworked version of Alexa+ built specifically for the bigger screen.
The display costs $499.99 in its standard finish or $579.99 with Amazon's new NanoMatte anti-glare coating, a treatment the company is pitching for displays that get wall-mounted or set up near windows. Both versions are up for preorder now in the US, with $100 off either finish during the preorder window, ahead of a launch Amazon has set for mid-December. There's no word yet on international pricing or availability, including in India, where the Echo Show line has previously launched later than in the US.
TechRadar's Jacob Krol, who spent a few minutes with the device at Amazon's demo, described the design as reminiscent of an iMac, and said the hardware and software finally felt like they were built by the same team. That team is led by Panos Panay, Amazon's head of devices and the former Surface chief who joined from Microsoft in 2023.
Inside, Amazon has packed in eight micro-woofers and two tweeters, a jump from the simpler speaker setups on earlier Echo Show models, with onboard microphones and sensors meant to adjust playback in real time so audio stays clear as volume climbs. Krol said the unit got loud without noticeable muddiness during the brief demo, though that's a first impression rather than a tested result. Four microphones in total sit around the device, two up front beside a 13MP wide-angle camera and two on the back, handling both Alexa requests and video calls.
The 16-inch panel itself is Full HD, not a 4K upgrade, which keeps the Echo Show 16 behind flagship tablets and TVs on raw resolution even as its software gets more ambitious.
That software is really the headline change. Alexa+, Amazon's subscription-based upgrade to its assistant, now organizes past conversations into "Cards" on the Show 16, each one holding the original prompt, follow-up suggestions and expanded detail in a layout Krol compared to how Apple's Siri app presents conversations. The same card-based look is rolling out to the Alexa mobile app as well, not just the new hardware.
Amazon has also added what it calls Screen Styles, letting the display switch between a Family Organizer view for calendars and schedules, a Smart Home view for controlling connected devices, and a Photos mode that turns the screen into a digital frame when it's idle.
None of this has been reviewed yet in any traditional sense. TechRadar's account is a first-look, built on a short hands-on session rather than extended use, and Krol was explicit that he'd need more time with the Echo Show 16 to see how Cards and Screen Styles hold up day to day. That verdict will have to wait until units start reaching preorder customers ahead of the December launch, and until the Alexa+ features arrive for people outside the demo room.
HTFiled by The Home Tech Desk
TVs, home appliances and the smart home: refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, purifiers, robot vacuums, the sets on the wall and the platforms that connect them. Launches, prices in the US and India, and what changed.
More from this desk →
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.