Amazon Echo Show: Release date, specs and everything you need to know

Details about a new Amazon Echo device have leaked online in recent days. Called Echo Show, the new device will be the first Echo product to feature a screen and should usher in some new features previously unavailable on Echo devices. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

• Amazon’s touchscreen Echo with video calling could launch this week
• Amazon Echo tips and tricks: Getting to grips with Alexa

Amazon Echo Show: Design

• 7-inch touchscreen
• Built-in camera
• Black and white colour finishes 

Thanks to a couple of leaks, we already have a pretty good idea as to what the Amazon Echo Show will look like. It will be much larger than the Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Look, but that’s because it has to house what is likely a 7-inch touchscreen.

Rather than adopt a cylindrical form factor of current Echo devices, the Echo Show will be much squarer in shape, with the touchscreen at the top and a speaker underneath. There should also be a camera just above the screen which could be used for video calls (more on that later).

• This is what Amazon’s touchscreen Echo device probably looks like

Finally, we expect the Echo Show to be available in black and white finishes, since there have been image leaks showing it in both colours. The current Echo is also available in black and white, so this is entirely plausible.

Evleaks

Amazon Echo Show: Features

• Smart home control
• Voice and video calls
• Possible fashion advice, similar to Echo Look

The Echo Show will of course arrive with Alexa onboard. It will be able to carry out the same functions as the current Echo devices, such as controlling smart home products, creating shopping baskets and telling you the day’s news and weather.

It might also be capable of making and receiving phone calls and video calls, thanks to the camera in the top. It’s currently not clear if the video call feature will be available at launch, or will be added with a future software update.

Amazon is also rumoured to be testing intercom capabilities between Echo devices, so if you had the Echo Show in your kitchen and your children had Echos in their rooms, you could tell them dinner was ready without having to shout up the stairs.

• What is Amazon Echo Look and how does it work?

The camera may also let the Echo Show perform the same or similar functions as the recently announced Echo Look, that analyses your fashion choices and gives you advice. The big difference between the two is that the Echo Look is only available in the US on an invite-only basis, whereas the Echo Show should receive a wider launch.

Amazon Echo Show: Release Date and Price

The Amazon Echo Show is expected to go up for preorder on 9 May 2017, with a US launch set for 28 June. In the US it’s expected to cost $229.99, which isn’t too much more than the Echo’s original $179.99 launch price.

The Echo Look should make its way to the UK and Germany, but a specific launch date hasn’t been set. When it does arrive, it should cost £219.99 and €239.99 respectively.