I'm a fan of the Echo Show 11, even if it's not perfect

The Echo Show 11 is one of Amazon's newest smart displays, on sale now for $179. The 11-inch touchscreen offers a 1920x1200 resolution and Alexa+ built in, along with Omnisense presence sensors and upgraded audio. It also functions as a gateway for calendar syncing, shopping lists and individual profiles.

The front-facing camera handles video calls but does not swivel like the older Echo Show 10, and it lacks a physical privacy shutter; the only option is to switch the camera off electronically. Omnisense combines the camera, microphones and other sensors to trigger context-aware screen behaviors, which can feel a bit personal when the display greets you by name.

Alexa+ arrives with generative AI to give deeper, contextual responses and runs during setup if you accept it. It can act like a countertop ChatGPT that controls lights and TVs, generates recipes or stories and even produces AI-generated images for kids, but it also makes mistakes and can hallucinate.

echo show, 11-inch, amazon, smart display, alexa+, omnisense, presence sensors, front camera, video calls, generative ai