Is the Echo Show a Smart Hub?

The Echo Show allows you to do a lot of things that connect you to Amazon’s servers. A smart home hub is meant to connect you to all your devices at once. Giving you access to them by either way of voice assistance or using only one app.

Is the Echo Show a smart hub? Yes. The second-generation Echo Show is a smart home hub. The Echo Show has Zigbee built-in so that you are able to connect your smart home devices to the Show.

The second-generation Amazon Echo Show is capable of working with different apps that will connect you to all of your smart devices. However, what all does the second-generation Echo Show do and what smart devices are compatible with the Echo Show?

Amazon Echo Show       

The Amazon Echo Show can also be used for those who are not tech-savvy. Amazon makes its Echo Show interface accessible to everyone because their screen displays everything in nice big letters and numbers.

The screen for the second-generation Echo Show is bigger for you to enjoy better video calls. It sports a 10.1 Full HD display that gives you a big bright screen to look at. The Echo Show can be magnified so that you can see smaller images or words. You can see the following on your Echo Show:

• Prime Video
• Vevo
• Hulu
• Video calls
• Weather forecasts
• Calendars
• Live TV

Along with its big screen, the second-generation Echo Show boasts its dual speakers that will bring you a deep stereo sound to your:

• Movies
• TV Shows
• Video Clips
• Music

VoiceView is a feature that tells you what you are touching on the screen. It reads to you and you can adjust the speed and volume if you need to.

The color correction feature adjusts the Echo Show’s screen color for people with these three types of blindness:

• Deuteranomaly (Red-Green)
• Protanomaly (Red-Green)
• Tritanomaly (Blue-Yellow)

Protection

Your Echo Show has different layers of privacy protection. You are able to control your camera and when the microphone is set on and off. On the Alexa app, you can delete any of your voice recordings. The light blue dot on the top of your Show will tell you when it is recording.

Those voice recordings happen when you say the word, “Alexa” and it is then sent to Amazon’s servers. As with any of Amazon’s devices, your information is secured because they are encrypted during transit when traveling to Amazon’s cloud server.

Voice Activation

The voice activation control can hear you across the room and even if there is music playing in the background. In order for your Echo Show to hear you across the room, it carries 8 microphones and has a noise-canceling feature

Amazon recently added the Follow-Up Mode feature. This feature will allow you to say more commands towards your Echo Show and will stop Alexa from shutting off before you can speak again. Just say, “stop” and the Echo Show will turn off and will stop listening to your commands.

Just start your sentence with Alexa and tell your Echo Show what you need.

• “Alexa, turn on toaster (smart plug).”
• “Alexa, start the timer for 30 minutes.”
• “Alexa, find me a lasagna recipe.”

Most individuals use the Echo Show when they are cooking. It will give you recipes and show you videos on how to create meals. Amazon uses the kitchen demo in most of their ads because they want to show you how flawless the voice activation control is.

Use the voice activation feature to start any video call or messages. You can contact another person only if they have the following devices:

• Skype
• Alexa App
• Echo Spot
• Echo Show

Now that you know what your second-generation Echo Show does, you can now learn what devices are compatible with it.

Compatible Devices

Smart devices that use Zigbee can connect to your Echo Show since it has a Zigbee hub built into it. With Zigbee built into the individual smart devices, you will not have to use their original apps since they can all be used through your Echo Show.

The types of Zigbee devices that you can connect to your Show are:

• Light bulbs
• Door locks
• In-wall switches
• Sensors
• Plugs

Along with the ability to control any smart device you need, there are brands that your second-generation Amazon Echo Show is compatible with. These are the following brands:

• Ring
• Arlo
• Philips Hue
• Lutron Caséta
• Belkin
• Ecobee4
• August
• Sonos
• Samsung Family Hub refrigerators
• Behmor
• iRobot Roomba
• Yale
• Nest
• Honeywell

These are the top brands to use with the Echo Show, but there are more that are compatible with the smart hub.

Your Echo Show also has Bluetooth capabilities and you can hook up your Echo Show to your Bluetooth speaker. If you have a Bluetooth speaker that uses a PIN number you will not be able to connect the two together.