Smart Home & Wearables
Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) Review: The Right-Sized Smart Display For Most Rooms
- Brand:
- Amazon
- Ages:
- 13+ years
- Updated:
- 2026-07-31
The verdict
The Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) is the best-balanced Echo smart display for most homes — the 8-inch size fits a kitchen counter or nightstand without dominating the space, and the spatial audio and recentered camera are real, noticeable upgrades over the previous generation.
Pros
- 8-inch, 1280x800 display is the sweet spot between the small Echo Show 5 and the bulky Echo Show 10/15 for most kitchen or living room placements
- Spatial audio with room-adaption technology genuinely improves sound quality over the previous generation, adjusting to your room's acoustics
- Recentered 13MP camera gives better framing for video calls than the corner-mounted camera on the 2nd-gen model
- Broad smart home protocol support — Zigbee, Matter, Thread, and Sidewalk are all built in, letting it double as a smart home hub
Cons
- At $149.99, it's $20 more than the 2nd-gen model's launch price, and Amazon's smart displays lean heavily on promoting Amazon Prime and Alexa+ features
- The built-in camera raises the same always-listening/always-watching privacy considerations common to all smart displays, even with the physical shutter
- Requires a stable Wi-Fi connection and Amazon account — most smart features stop working if either goes down
- Video and app support (e.g., some streaming services) can be inconsistent compared to a phone, tablet, or smart TV
This review is based on Amazon's published specifications for the Echo Show 8 (3rd generation) and the consistent patterns across independent smart display reviews and owner feedback, comparing it directly to the 2nd-generation model it replaced.
The size and sound upgrades that matter day to day
An 8-inch screen strikes a genuinely good balance — big enough for recipes, video calls, and show cards, small enough not to dominate a kitchen counter the way the Echo Show 10 or 15 would. The added spatial audio and room-adaption technology is one of those upgrades that's easy to dismiss on paper but noticeable in daily listening, particularly for music and podcasts.
A smart home hub in disguise
With Zigbee, Matter, Thread, and Sidewalk support built in, this Echo Show can function as a genuine smart home hub for compatible bulbs, locks, and sensors — a real value-add if you're building out connected devices and don't want to buy a separate hub.
Who it's for
Best for a kitchen, living room, or home office where you want visual smart home control, video calling, and a genuinely improved speaker over Amazon's smaller Echo devices. Skip it if camera-equipped devices in shared spaces are a privacy concern for your household, or if you just want voice control — a plain Echo Dot is cheaper and screen-free.
Frequently asked
- Can the Echo Show 8 act as a smart home hub?
- Yes — it has built-in Zigbee, Matter, Thread, and Sidewalk support, letting it connect directly to many compatible smart home devices without a separate hub.
- Is the camera a privacy concern?
- It includes a physical camera shutter you can close, but like any camera-equipped smart display, it's worth considering placement carefully in shared or private spaces.
- How does it compare to the 2nd-generation Echo Show 8?
- It adds spatial audio with room-adaption sound, a recentered 13MP camera for better call framing, and expanded smart home protocol support, at $20 more than the previous generation's launch price.
- Is the Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) worth buying?
- Yes, for anyone wanting a well-sized smart display with genuinely improved sound and camera framing over the previous generation. It's not worth it if you only want voice control without a screen — a basic Echo Dot covers that more cheaply.
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