Amazon’s biggest smart display is more than wall art
The $399.99 Echo Show 21 is Amazon’s largest smart display. With a 21-inch screen, it’s almost 6 inches larger than the $299.99 Echo Show 15, but otherwise, the two are identical. It’s essentially a massive touch screen housed in what looks like a picture frame. It has a 13MP camera for video calls and home monitoring, uses Amazon’s Fire TV media interface, and supports voice control via Alexa. That said, it’s fairly expensive and produces only average sound. It’s worth checking out if you want the biggest smart display possible, but we prefer the $249.99 Amazon Echo Show 10. It can’t hang on a wall, but it sounds better and has a motorized base that lets it turn to face you wherever you are in the room. Design: The Bigger Picture
The Echo Show 21 looks just like the Echo Show 15, just bigger. It measures 13.2 by 21.4 by 1.5 inches (HWD). A 1.8-inch white mat and 0.4-inch flat black frame surround the 21-inch screen. The design gives the impression of a framed picture. A square cutout on the top edge of the white mat houses the built-in camera. It looks like a black square, but a mechanical switch on the top moves a white, physical privacy shutter over it to help reinforce the illusion when you disable the camera. The top of the frame also has mic mute and volume buttons, as well as pinholes for the far-field microphones.
The back of the screen includes a large square recess for its included mount, with a deeper circular recess in the middle for the power adapter. The circular recess has two slots: One faces the bottom long edge, and the other faces the right short edge. They help you run the power cable down, regardless of whether the smart display is in portrait or landscape orientation.
Like the Echo Show 15, the Echo Show 21 is primarily for wall-mounting. As such, it doesn’t come with a stand. If you want to set up the monitor-size device on a counter, desk, or table, you need to spend an extra $100 for Amazon’s Premium Adjustable Stand. Amazon sent one with the Echo Show 15 for testing, which is pictured throughout this review. It’s a solid metal stand with a circular base and a pillar with a tiltable mount for the screen. The base rotates on its flat foot, meaning you can adjust the horizontal and vertical angles of the screen. It doesn’t support height adjustment like many other monitor stands, however. It also doesn’t automatically rotate like the motorized base of the Echo Show 10.Interface: Alexa and Fire TV
Echo Show smart displays combine the Amazon Alexa voice assistant with a touch screen for non-voice control and visual navigation. The Alexa aspect is simple: Say, “Alexa,” followed by a command, and Alexa will perform said task. Responses come through through the device’s speakers, appear on the screen, or both. Alexa has become quite powerful; it can control smart home devices; help you set appointments, reminders, and to-do list items to check later; make video and voice calls; provide information like recipes, sports scores, and weather reports; and search for content like movies, music, news, and TV shows.
The Echo Show 21’s large touch screen augments Alexa and enables it to serve as a hub for organizing your home. A customizable control panel of widgets dominates the default home screen. These provide quick access to your calendar, Fire TV apps, music picks, and smart home devices.
