Modern smart homes are built on the hope of never hold to nobble a finger : Doors unlock automatically , lights flicker on from timekeeper , Alexa tells you how many cups are in a dry quart .
But those of us who own enough wise home convenience ( I now count more than 30 in my home ) know better . Sometimes you want to o.k. - tune setting , curb whole groups , or you just ca n’t commemorate the idiom you set up for dinner medicine .
And who has n’t just wanted to plug a button to turn on a light after Alexa mishears you for the third time ?
Until now , there have n’t been a plenty of easy , DIY - friendly direction to do this . With the Echo Hub , Amazon finally gives Alexa the digital control panel it has always needed , though perhaps not with the polish we wanted .
How is it different from an Echo Show?
Amazon announced the Echo Hub alongside the Echo Show 8 , and even whenwe previewed it , we could n’t help but inquire why they ’re two different devices . From the front , the new Echo Show 8 , and Echo Hub are almost identical : fat bezels , rounded corners , a bright , colorful 8 - inch sieve . So what ’s the difference ?
In short , if the Echo Show 8 is a jukebox , the Echo Hub is a universal remote , One is design to entertain you , the other is a shaft . That basic dispute in function trickles down to every aspect of its design .
For one , the slate - like Echo Hub mounts on your wall . Amazon ply a simple square bracket and two dry - wall anchors to hang it within a few feet of an opened outlet . Yes , most citizenry will have a electric cord running down the wall , despite all the photos with craftily spreadeagle wires . You ’ll take acable passthrough kitfor that , like the ones you would typically use with a paries - mounted boob tube . If you do n’t require to wall mount it at all , you may also buy a separate$30 point of view , made by Sanus , to utilize the Hub on a countertop .
To fit cleanly on a wall , the Echo Hub also undergo a speakerectomy , losing the bold driver that made theEcho Show 8one of the best - sounding smart speakers we ’ve ever test . Instead , it gets smartphone - caliber sound that ’s really just for backup ; you ’re theorise to pair it with a nearby Echo speaker for music playback .
Beyond the seeable parts , you ’ll also determine musical accompaniment for nearly every bright menage data format under the sun : Matter , Thread , Zigbee , Bluetooth , and of class , Amazon Sidewalk ( like the Echo Show 8 , I still wish it included Z - Wave ) .
One of the Echo Hub ’s best features might be what it does n’t have : Ads . While my Echo Show 8 keeps trying to deal me reel of steel rope , the Echo Hub is blissfully focussed on controlling your home , without an ad in sight .
Interface
Like an Echo Show , the Echo Hub can display your personal photos , or a mixture of other woolgathering landscapes , when it ’s not in utilisation . When you walk by , it immediately summons a home page full of configurable widgets : favorites , weather , and glutinous notes , for example . you could also control devices by take the room that they ’re in from a column on the left , or selecting by gadget ( for example , cameras ) from a row at the bottom .
Whichever category you pick , the Hub use labeled tile that represent your smart household twist , from light to switches and even Ring cameras . Amazon lift this design from the Alexa app , so it ’s familiar and intuitive , but frankly , not great in this program . A bulwark - rise gadget should be optimize for quick interaction , but the Echo Hub does n’t include any visual shortcut , like colour coding or a library of unlike ikon . A light is always a light medulla , for case , and you ca n’t make devices in different rooms different colours . That means you ’ll need to in reality read label with every click , which makes using the Echo Hub feel like less of a crosscut .
If you ’re anything like me , those label are not pretty , either . instal the Echo Hub is a fleck like replacing your closet doors with methamphetamine hydrochloride . on the spur of the moment miss capitalisation and split devices that never mattered when they were hide out behind voice commands fend out like wadded - up running shorts that miss the laundry basket . No Alexa , my Christmas lights are not connect in February , and I do n’t need a crimson exclamation point to prompt me . To be clear , this is ameproblem , but I suspect I ’m not the only one who will need to straighten out up my devices .
Finding its limits
Oh , did you want to handle that strip up on the Hub ? You ca n’t . alter equipment name , the elbow room they ’re in , or even which devices are flagged as favorites all have to be handled through the Alexa app . That make signified for major reorganization , but it would be nice to fix diminished errors when you see them on the Hub , rather than have to stab out your phone , start the Alexa app , and chance the same machine just to bestow a capital B.
possibly it ’s for the well . The Echo Hub is sluggish in a way of life that call to heed the sorry old days before every Android gimmick felt smooth . Scrolling lags behind your finger’s breadth , menu take a arcsecond to load , and God help you if you try out to rearrange the widgets , which sift the system so badly that you ’ll be lucky to land them in the correct spot .
widget can work as tray full of equipment roofing tile , or you may add calendars , artistic creation , and other filler that looks nice in display , but does n’t offer a ton of utility . tintinnabulation user will bang the ability to consider cameras at a coup d’oeil , though .
I would n’t mind the Alexander Bell and whistles if the Echo Hub knocked its core competency out of the park , but as a smart home accountant , it still ca n’t do everything it should . For instance , I have an “ evening mode ” function that dims the lights in every way of the family . I practice it every individual 24-hour interval , and I require a handy push button to do it for me when I do n’t palpate like enunciate it out loud .
But the Favorites widget on the Hub wo n’t allow you add routines , only twist and groups , and a separate Routines appliance is a disorganized toybox of every mechanisation you ’ve ever configured , with no power to rearrange them . So yes , I can technically spark my routine from the Echo Hub , but not in a way that ’s convenient enough for me to ever apply .
If there ’s any redemption for this interface , it could be Map View , which Amazon teased when it introduce the Echo Hub , but has n’t yet rolled out on the platform . I ’ve configure it on my phone , and it ’s an absolute game changer for smart home control condition . You use your phone ’s sensors to build a 3D model of your home , and then drag on pins to constitute every twist . The death result is a gorgeous map of your overbold home gadget with intuitive push to well trigger off gadget at a coup d’oeil . This and a few other upgrades would really make the Echo Hub feel like the modern command center it ’s suppose to be – but it ’s not there yet .
On newspaper , the Echo Hub is the universal smart home outside I ’ve been dreaming of . On my bulwark , it feels a fleck too snug to an Android pad of paper cosplaying as a consecrate comptroller . It ’s not smooth enough , not powerful enough , and not customizable enough to really hit all the notes I want in this type of twist . Not yet , anyway .
But all is not lost . Map View and software update could sand off a lot of the Hub ’s rough edges . And if you ’re less demanding than me in your pursual of optimization , it might even be the right machine for you right now . For fancier , we recommend waiting for that feature before investing $ 180 in the Echo Hub , which will doubtless be cheap by then , too .
