(This feature is only available while docked so your camera feeds are safe from strangers if you take the tablet out and about with you.) The dock's built-in speakers have robust sound with surprisingly decent bass too. You can easily control smart home devices by tapping on the Google Home icon on the lock screen, which will pull up an overlay of your favorite smart home devices and controls-even check camera feeds on doorbells and Wi-Fi cameras without having to go to the home screen. When placed on the hub, it activates Hub Mode, and you can display photos from your Google Photos library or choose a few different snazzy clocks designs. You might be wondering-what's a tablet doing in a smart displays guide? Well, with the help of the included speaker hub, the Google Pixel Tablet ( 7/10, WIRED Recommends) can double as a smart display when it's docked. We'll update this guide once we've tested these. The Show 8 Photos Edition ($160) will be, you guessed it, focused on photos and acting as a digital photo frame. The third-gen Show 8 ( $150) is due in late October and will have a centered camera, smart home hub, and spatial audio. ★ New versions coming: There are two new versions of the Echo Show 8 coming out. The camera has a shutter for when you aren't using it. It doesn't swivel to follow you around the room like the Echo Show 10, but the camera does have auto-pan and zoom features to keep you centered in the frame during video calls (as long as you don't wander too far out of view). He particularly loves the timer setting, where you can see it count down. WIRED reviewer Parker Hall says it's a solid speaker and does all the expected smart display tasks like controlling smart home products and video chatting (yes, there's a camera). It has the same pixel density as the larger Echo Show 10, so it's a sharp screen. It won't be hard to read recipes in the kitchen or watch movies on this screen, and it won't take up the entire counter in small kitchens. Generally, 8 inches is a great size for a smart display. The second-generation Echo Show 8 is the middle child in the Show family, smaller than the 10 and bigger than the 5, but we think it's the best choice for most people. It also supports gestures-like playing or pausing a video with a hand movement-by using the unique radar tech. It has a wake-up alarm that emulates the rising sun for gentler mornings, and it has sleep-sensing tech to track your sleep quality, though that only works for the person sleeping closest to the Hub. ★ A camera-free alternative: Google’s second-gen Nest Hub ($100) ( 7/10, WIRED Recommends) is a great option if you don't need a camera and don’t mind a smaller 7-inch screen. Google now has a guest mode that allows you to enjoy all the voice assistant's features without saving anything to your account or showing personalized results-just say, “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode." If you use multiple Google speakers, be aware that you'll no longer be able to adjust the volume for all of them at once, at least for now, thanks to a lawsuit from Sonos. Just know you'll need the right amount of space for it, and while you can turn the camera off, you may want to pick up a privacy cover to block it when it's not in use. The camera can also identify individual members of the house and shows personal information only pertaining to each person. It has an unobtrusive design, a 10-inch touchscreen display, some pretty good speakers, and a camera for video calls over Google Duo or non-Google services like Zoom. The Google Nest Hub Max is a great all-around smart display. Otherwise, consider one of our favorite tablets instead. The future of these smart home devices isn't clear right now, but if you're going to get one, we suggest sticking with devices directly from the brand whose voice assistant you prefer. The company also laid off 18,000 people in 2022 and another 9,000 this year, and the Alexa team was purportedly hit hard. Google recently stopped issuing software updates for some third-party displays (more on that below), and it seems to have shifted focus to its new Pixel Tablet, which is a tablet that moonlights as a smart display (you can also read about it below).Īmazon seems to be continuing with new smart displays, but a recent report claimed the company lost $10 billion last year thanks to failures around the Alexa voice assistant. Meta's Portals that we liked are also no longer available. But we're not sure how long they'll be worth it, or even exist, in their current form. Smart displays are helpful, acting as hubs for your smart home devices, walking you through recipes while you chop away in the kitchen, and in some cases allowing you to video chat hands-free too.
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