Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Per the Recommendation of Reader Thane Eichenauer ...

... I just ordered an Echo Show 5 (on sale at Amazon for $39.99, but with a $10 off coupon code, at least for me -- not an affiliate link).

Impulse purchase? Not exactly. I had some Amazon credit sitting there from a recent refund, and happened to notice the sale. Probably no dice, except that I remembered a Twitter conversation (which I now can't find) with Thane Eichenauer, who was enthusing about getting his Echo show back after a repair or replacement.

According to the reviews I consulted, the audio quality is pretty good, although probably no better than that of the 4th Generation Echo Dot I'm currently using as my bedroom music player / book reader / alarm clock, etc.

The main selling point for me, once the price became attractive, was that now I'll have an alarm clock I can just glance at instead of having to ask Alexa what time it is (one version of the Echo Dot does have a visible clock, but I didn't get that version).

BUT! There are other interesting features. I can have it display lyrics to sing along with when listening to music. If I really, really, really want to watch a movie or TV show in bed, I can. It has a camera (with a physical cover) for video calling, or I could point it out a window and use it as a security camera that I can view from my phone.

And of course I can upgrade my wife or daughter's 3rd Generation Dot to the 4th Generation one I'm using now. They both like music, and Gen 4 has a better speaker.

So, thanks to Thane for planting the idea in my brain.

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