The Echo Show 5 delivers Alexa on screen at a ludicrously low price but it has its limitations

Great price; Privacy shield on camera; All the features of the Show 2 in a smaller package;

So-so audio quality; Disappointing microphone sensitivity;

The Echo Show 5 delivers Alexa on screen at a ludicrously low price but it has its limitations

Great price; Privacy shield on camera; All the features of the Show 2 in a smaller package;

So-so audio quality; Disappointing microphone sensitivity;

The Echo Show 5 delivers Alexa on screen at a ludicrously low price but it has its limitations

Great price; Privacy shield on camera; All the features of the Show 2 in a smaller package;

So-so audio quality; Disappointing microphone sensitivity;

The Amazon Echo Show 5 is smart, compact and easy to set up – it's going to be the best Echo for a lot of people.

Alexa keeps getting better; Easy smart home controls; Decent audio performance

Screen isn't very big; Limited video app support; Thick display bezels

The Echo Show 5 is the Echo Dot of smart displays. It’s smaller, cheaper and does most of the things you want from a smart display. But like the Echo Dot, when you try to use it more for entertainment it begins to fall down.

relatively compact; sounds good; Alexa; good smart home control; 3.5mm output; extra clock and alarm features; relatively low cost

too small to watch long videos; fairly big on your bedside table; large bezels around screen; screen isn’t HD; can’t stand vertically

Aa great alarm clock and a feature-packed smart display that’s already a bargain

Sub-£100 price tag; Plays video; Surprisingly loud; Works brilliantly as an alarm clock; Visual element improves many Alexa skills

Resolution isn’t great; Won’t do your music library justice; Alexa can be temperamental

Less is more with this discreet device

Small and discreet; On screen controls; Better sound than Echo Spot

No Zigbee; Too small for entertainment; Visual skills still sparse

After using the Echo Show 5, shrinking the screen was a no-brainer for Amazon. It means it fits into your life more easily but still allows you to fall back on a visual interface when words just aren’t enough. It’s low price and larger display makes it a smarter buy than the Echo Spot, and it’s hard to recommend the less capable Lenovo Smart clock at the same cost, especially when the Show 5 is an equally good clock. Paying a considerable chunk more for a full-size Echo Show gets you a device better suited for watching video, as well as dedicated web browsers and a more media-rich screen. But to most people, none of these things are essential anyway. Improvements could be made, but the Echo Show is the best value-for-money smart display you can buy right now.

Sub-£100 price tag; Plays video; Surprisingly loud; Works brilliantly as an alarm clock ; Visual element improves many Alexa skills;

Resolution isn’t great ; Won’t do your music library justice; Alexa can be temperamental ;

Smart displays are getting smaller, more affordable, and more functional. The Amazon Echo Spot has stood as our favorite bedside companion for over a year thanks to its petite size and price tag compared with the full-size Echo Show. And now Amazon offers another small-screen alternative in the form of the $89.99 Echo Show 5, a 5.5-inch model that lacks the booming stereo speakers of the 10-inch, $229.99 original, but offers a terrific selection of Alexa voice assistant and touch-screen features for $40 less than the Echo Spot. Its versatility and value easily earn it our Editors' Choice for small-screen smart displays.Design The Echo Show 5 looks like a tinier version of the original model. It's dominated by a touch screen, with angled fabric sides that tilt the screen slightly upward. You can get it with a black frame and dark gray fabric sides, or with a white frame and light gray fabric sides. No matter the color, it measures 3.3 by 5.8 by 3.2 inches (HWD), with a 5.5-inch, 96...

The Amazon Echo Show 5 is an affordable little smart display that brings Alexa voice commands to your desk, shelf, or nightstand.

Affordable; Powerful voice assistant features; Useful touch-screen controls with web browser

Mediocre sound quality; Music streamed over Bluetooth is filled with artifacts

The Echo Show experience is getting better all the time and this is a great entry point. Sure, there are some compromises, but it's value for money and great competition against Google's equivalent Nest product.

Enough size/volume for most rooms; Screen features are continuously improving; Ring doorbell integration; Great value;

No YouTube; Many Alexa Skills need further optimisation; Echo Show 8 better option for music;