It seems strange that Amazon hasn't rolled out its own smart hub until now, seeing as it's produced some of the best smart home devices in existence. But, late is better than never, and it looks like its new Amazon Echo Hub might actually give the other smart hubs on the market a good run for their money.
Announced at Amazon's big device event, which saw the release of a whole slew of new smart home devices like the new Echo Show 8 (3rd gen) and the exciting Amazon AI (see our Amazon September event live blog to find out more), the Amazon Echo Hub comes with a touch display, aiming to provide smart home device owners with the convenience of a touch and visual-forward experience when managing their smart home.
And, it might be well worth checking out, even if you already own one of the best smart displays or the best smart speakers, especially if you want a wall-mounted device that's solely focused on the management of your smart home devices.
Here's everything you need to know about the Amazon Echo Hub, including how much it will cost and when it will be available for purchase.
Amazon Echo Hub: cut to the chase
- What is it? The new Amazon Echo Hub
- When is it out? No specific date but later in 2023
- What will it cost? $179.99 (about £180 / AU$275)
Amazon Echo Hub: Price and release date
While there's no confirmed pricing yet for Australia, the Amazon Echo Hub will cost $179.99 / £169.99 (about AU$275) in the US and the UK respectively. That's quite a hefty sum for a display that's essentially a control center for your smart home.
If that's a little out of your budget, the Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd gen) will have a smart hub feature, and it's a little more affordable at $149.99 / £149.99 (about AU$230). Plus, it's out earlier as well, being slated for an October 2023 release. Whereas the Amazon Echo Hub has no confirmed release date yet, only that it will be available "later this year."
It's likely that Amazon will roll it out before the Black Friday deals get going, or at least before the Christmas holidays, as we're sure it'll want to take advantage of all that gift-buying madness.
Amazon Echo Hub: Design
Although Amazon announced and showcased the device at its September event, there's not much we know about its design.
What we do know, based on what Amazon has shared, is that it has a svelte form factor with an 8-inch touch display. It's also apparently easy to install and can be wall-mounted or placed on a counter, coming with its own stand accessory (and, we're assuming, the tools you need for mounting it on a wall).
We'll update this page as soon as we get more details about its design. We're hoping that it'll come in different colorways as well, like other Echo devices.
Amazon Echo Hub: Features
Amazon's goal here is to provide smart home users with a seamless and intuitive way of managing their smart home devices, which means it's fitted the Amazon Echo Hub with a bunch of features that make that possible.
At the center of it all is a user-friendly and customizable smart home dashboard that allows you to do things like group your devices, create routines, and organize widgets. It'll also let you arm your security system and allow you to view multiple live camera feeds simultaneously (however many camera feeds specifically, we can't confirm at this time).
The Echo Hub also supports several standards including Zigbee, Sidewalk, Thread, Bluetooth, and Matter, and is compatible with more than 140,000 smart home devices, from cameras, lights and locks to plugs, thermostats, and speakers. It can connect locally to those devices for faster execution of your smart home commands.
Additionally, it can connect to the internet wirelessly or via Ethernet with a compatible power-over-Ethernet (PoE) adapter. And next year, it will have Amazon's Map View, which is basically a simple visual way to map out your smart home groups, rooms, and devices for even easier management.
Saving the coolest feature for last, it will also boast Amazon's Adaptive Content. Using an infrared sensor to detect your presence and proximity to the Echo Hub, it will adjust the size of the content being displayed from far field to near field (or vice versa) so you can easily see what's on the screen wherever you are in the room.
We should have more information on the Amazon Echo Hub's features, as well as design, as we inch closer to its release date. We'll update this page with any details that land on our desks, so keep checking in if you want to know more about the new smart hub.
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