• 2 months ago
Transcript
00:00Who is the Tech Chap?
00:02According to Wikipedia, Chattahoochee Technical College is a public technical college in New
00:08York.
00:09Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap and I've had this, the new Echo Show 10 for a couple
00:14of weeks now and as much as I really do like this, I must admit at the start I did feel
00:19a little bit uneasy as it kept following me around.
00:22Then again, I think we all felt the same thing when we bought our first Amazon Echoes or
00:27Google Dots and brought a voice assistant into the house.
00:30Plus you can simply do this to hide the camera and turn motion off.
00:35The thing is, this isn't exactly cheap.
00:37The Show 10 will cost you about £240 or $250 which is about twice as much as the Echo Show
00:448 and actually right now because that's on sale, this is about four times more expensive.
00:49So is it worth it?
00:50Well, coming from an Echo Show 8, we're getting a bigger 10-inch screen as it says on the
00:5510, a slightly refined UI, as well as a higher quality 13 megapixel camera for video calling
01:01along with better speakers.
01:03It's a 2.1 setup with two tweeters and a woofer and it actually sounds really good.
01:08It's also a Zigbee hub, you've got Netflix and Amazon video apps, although YouTube still
01:12plays through the web browser.
01:14You can pick between using Silk or Firefox, plus you can use the Alexa app on your phone
01:19to drop in and even use it a bit like a remote security camera.
01:24It's basically an Amazon Echo with a 10-inch tablet screen stuck on the front and it can
01:28swivel to follow you around.
01:31So there are a few nice upgrades with this and it does feel like the most do-it-all feature-packed
01:36Amazon device you can buy with the Alexa Assistant, but really I think the premium you're paying
01:41for with this is the fact that it can swivel and move around and follow you.
01:46When you first set this up, it does a little motion tuning so it spins left and then right
01:51to see how far it can go and then you can adjust it and set where its default position
01:55is.
01:56So for example, if you put it in the middle of the room, maybe on your kitchen island
01:59or this is my breakfast bar, it now has a full 360 range of movement.
02:05I can do it myself, which actually disables the motion, or I can turn it back on and then
02:09it will track me, which we'll talk about how it does that in a second.
02:12But I don't know how many people would be able to use it in this sort of optimum setup.
02:16I find myself usually putting it in the corner of my kitchen so I only get sort of 40-50
02:21degree field of motion, but I just don't know if this motion is going to be really that
02:26helpful for most setups.
02:29How does it know where you are and also when it should follow you?
02:32Well the Show 10 uses audio location first, so if you're talking or saying the wake word,
02:37and then it also uses what Amazon calls computer vision, which is not to be confused with Wanda
02:42Vision, which you actually can't watch on this because it doesn't support Disney Plus right now.
02:47Amazon are keen to point out that there's no face tracking with this, and it doesn't
02:51actually record any video of you.
02:53The computer vision uses hundreds of data points, so shapes, colors, movement, to interpret
02:58where you are and then follow.
02:59And they say it can't be reverse engineered into an image and it's never stored, plus
03:03all the processing is done on the device locally.
03:07Obviously privacy is a big question when you've got something like this in your house with
03:11a great big camera on the front, but it does make me feel better that really all this is
03:14seeing is some computer juggled nonsense that no human would be able to actually interpret
03:19or see.
03:20And it all works eerily well, it's also dead silent, it's using a brushless motor in here
03:25which is smooth, you can't hear anything actually, as you can see it's tracking me now, which
03:30may be a little bit difficult because I'm really close up to it.
03:33But it does a good job following me, which is not only useful so you can always see what's
03:36on the screen, particularly if you're watching a show or on a video call, but the speakers
03:41are also designed to be more front firing and less omnidirectional like other Echo devices,
03:46so they're always pointing at you.
03:48Now to be honest I mainly use my Echo devices, or the Show 10 in this case, for changing
03:53my smart lights around the house, setting timers, and also playing some music, so I
03:57was kind of curious how this would compare with the latest 4th gen Amazon Echo.
04:03And to my ear, the Show 10 is a fair bit better quality, it sounds richer and there's definitely
04:07more bass, but have a listen side by side and let me know which one you think sounds
04:11better in the comments below.
04:33Now my wife Sarah loves to cook and bake and we normally have the latest Echo in our
04:53kitchen, which I've now replaced with the Show 10, and she says that having a screen
04:57and actually being able to see timers and reminders without having to keep asking how
05:01long's on the timer is really helpful.
05:04Plus you can watch how-to YouTube videos or follow recipes.
05:07I genuinely think having a screen is a big plus, although I just don't know if I necessarily
05:12need it to follow me around.
05:14Downsides?
05:15Well, as I mentioned earlier, I think a lot of people just won't have the room or the
05:19countertop space to put this to really fully take advantage of the 360 motion, which again
05:24limits just how useful having motion is in the first place, but then again everyone's
05:29setup will be different.
05:30You can also see that we do get these pretty chunky bezels around the 10-inch screen, so
05:34it is quite a big device to have around.
05:37I do quite like it in this white color, although I think if you wanted to blend in a little
05:42bit more, you should go for the black one and also then the screen sort of blends into
05:45those chunky bezels as well.
05:47But on the flip side, it does mean it's a little bit more protected because inevitably
05:51when you set this up, it's going to bang against something, maybe a wall or someone's going
05:55to put a coffee cup down and bash it, so you do want a little bit of protection and of
05:58course we do also have these physical buttons on the top for the volume as well as muting
06:02it, and also this physical slider which hides the camera and turns off the motion.
06:07So yeah, slightly chunky bezels, but I think overall it's a really well-made bit of kit.
06:12The screen is also just above the basic 720p HD resolution, so it's not the sharpest screen
06:18in the world, but I don't think it's really a problem because you're rarely that close
06:21to it anyway to notice, but I suppose considering the price and the fact that you might want
06:26to watch videos or movies on here, full HD would have been nice.
06:29But the screen is still bright and punchy and it does look good.
06:33And I would also like a dedicated YouTube app at some point, it's just not as slick
06:36using it through the web browser.
06:38So I don't know if I could justify £240 on this, although now I have it here, I think
06:44I would miss not having it.
06:45So I would suggest maybe waiting for an Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday deal before picking
06:50this up, but I don't think you'll be disappointed when you do.
06:54So what do you make of the Echo Show 10?
06:55Would you be tempted to buy one of these?
06:57And also, is the fact that it can rotate and follow you a big deal or not really bothered
07:02by it?
07:03Let me know in the comments below.
07:04I'll also leave a link in the description if you want to check this out, and if you've
07:07got any other questions at all, let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to answer
07:10them.
07:11Thank you so much for watching, guys.
07:12Hit that subscribe button and that notification bell if you want to see more from me, and
07:16I'll catch you next time right here on the Tech Chap.