Amazon Echo Show 5 Review

08/06/19 • 16 min

In this episode, Teri will share his impressions of using the new Echo Show 5 that Amazon recently sold tons of during Prime Day (s).

Let’s Begin!

There are a number of Echo devices available in Canada including the Dot, Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Spot, Echo Show, and the new Echo Show 5. The Echo Show 5 is very well priced at $99.99 which offers great value.

What is the Echo Show 5?

It’s the second Echo device with a rectangular screen. Its name refers to the size of its five and a half inches screen.
It has two microphones which helps in using the far field recognition.
It has a volume up and down button on top of it, a micro-USB port, and a 3.5mm audio output which can used to plug into a higher quality stereo system or speaker.
It has the power port at the back which plugs into the wall.
It’s about 5.8 inches wide, 3.4 inches in height, and 2.9 inches in depth, and comes in either sandstone or charcoal color.

Echo Show 5 Versus Echo Show

Compared to the Echo Show, the Show has double the screen size with a higher resolution, but the price difference is huge with the Show going for $300. The Show has better two 10-Watt speakers while the Echo Show 5 has a 1.65 inch 4-Watt speaker.
The camera on the Echo Show 5, which enables the user to do video calling, is a one megapixel camera while the one on the Echo Show is a five megapixel camera.
The Echo Show 5 lacks a built-in zigbee smart home hub which means if a user has some zigbee compatible smart home devices, and they want a hub to control them, they will need some additional hardware to control them, that is if they only have the Echo Show 5.
The sound on the Echo Show 5 is better than the Echo Dot and Echo Spot.
The one feature that it has which is not in other Echo devices, is the built-in camera shutter. This is good for people with privacy issues. The physical camera shutter that covers the camera ensures that nobody can hack the camera for whatever reason.
There is however a software method of shutting off the camera and the microphone on both the Echo Show and Echo Show 5.

Teri’s First Impressions

When he first plugged it in, there was very little setup to do because the Echo devices that are already set up with his home network including the passwords, are already stored with Amazon.
He went into the settings to see what he could set up and found several options for how to customize the screen background. It can even be used as a photo frame.
It’s a voice-first device but it can also be used as a touch screen.
It has the sunrise alarms feature which simulates a sunrise in the morning between 4 am and 9 am.
Teri prefers the Echo Show 5 as the best buy compared to other Echo devices, especially the ones with a screen.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

Other useful resources:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Teri will share his impressions of using the new Echo Show 5 that Amazon recently sold tons of during Prime Day (s).

Let’s Begin!

What is the Echo Show 5?

It’s the second Echo device with a rectangular screen. Its name refers to the size of its five and a half inches screen.
It has two microphones which helps in using the far field recognition.
It has a volume up and down button on top of it, a micro-USB port, and a 3.5mm audio output which can used to plug into a higher quality stereo system or speaker.
It has the power port at the back which plugs into the wall.
It’s about 5.8 inches wide, 3.4 inches in height, and 2.9 inches in depth, and comes in either sandstone or charcoal color.

Echo Show 5 Versus Echo Show

Compared to the Echo Show, the Show has double the screen size with a higher resolution, but the price difference is huge with the Show going for $300. The Show has better two 10-Watt speakers while the Echo Show 5 has a 1.65 inch 4-Watt speaker.
The camera on the Echo Show 5, which enables the user to do video calling, is a one megapixel camera while the one on the Echo Show is a five megapixel camera.
The Echo Show 5 lacks a built-in zigbee smart home hub which means if a user has some zigbee compatible smart home devices, and they want a hub to control them, they will need some additional hardware to control them, that is if they only have the Echo Show 5.
The sound on the Echo Show 5 is better than the Echo Dot and Echo Spot.
The one feature that it has which is not in other Echo devices, is the built-in camera shutter. This is good for people with privacy issues. The physical camera shutter that covers the camera ensures that nobody can hack the camera for whatever reason.
There is however a software method of shutting off the camera and the microphone on both the Echo Show and Echo Show 5.

Teri’s First Impressions

When he first plugged it in, there was very little setup to do because the Echo devices that are already set up with his home network including the passwords, are already stored with Amazon.
He went into the settings to see what he could set up and found several options for how to customize the screen background. It can even be used as a photo frame.
It’s a voice-first device but it can also be used as a touch screen.
It has the sunrise alarms feature which simulates a sunrise in the morning between 4 am and 9 am.
Teri prefers the Echo Show 5 as the best buy compared to other Echo devices, especially the ones with a screen.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

Other useful resources:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Flash Briefing Formula Live from VOICE 2019

In this episode, Teri shares the awesome talk he did at Voice Summit 2019 titled “Flash Briefings, The Prime Real Estate of Voice.”

Enjoy!

Teri was very privileged to be asked to give a talk on flash briefings at Voice Summit 2019, where he talked about why it’s so important to consider creating a flash briefing, went through the steps to create a flash briefing, and went over some of the results from his Crack the Code gamified flash briefing. He received some very great feedback from the talk.

What a Flash Briefing?

It’s like a short podcast.
Podcasts can vary in length from an hour to multiple hours. Flash briefings are typically one to two minutes long.
It is short audio content and a subscription on Alexa. People subscribe by saying, “Enable [The Flash Briefing Name]”
Once a person enables a flash briefing, they never have to worry about the invocation name again, because they simply say, “What’s my news?”
It’s an intimate way for someone to reach their audience.

Having a Voice Presence

This is a huge opportunity right now.
Flash briefings are a great intro into voice technology and they are extremely simple to develop.
When someone has a flash briefing, they are searchable on Amazon in their niche.
Statistics show that for every 65 podcasts that are out there, there’s one flash briefing. This is a huge opportunity.

Building a Flash Briefing

Start by figuring out what it will be about.
Figure out who your flash briefing is for, who you will be addressing, what their problem is, and how you can offer a solution to their problem through your flash briefing.
Think about how you can build your own personal brand around it.
Amazon will require that you provide a title, a short description, a long description, and keywords.
Choose the frequency in which to do your flash briefings. The best practice right now is to do it daily, but one can do it weekly, etc.
The hardest part of creating a flash briefing is being consistent.
You have to create a flash briefing icon that will grab people’s attention. You also need to have an audio logo (sonic branding)
One doesn’t need to spend a fortune on equipment and software.
Try recording a test episode, export it and submit the flash briefing to Amazon for certification. Amazon must see at least one audio in the flash briefing for them to certify it.
Some recording tips: stand up when you’re recording, smile when you talk, and most importantly, have fun with it.
Register as an Amazon Developer account. It’s a free account and it allows people to publish skills.
When you submit the flash briefing for certification, you have to choose the primary country.
You have to market your flash briefing to get listeners.

Creating a Gamified Flash Briefing

Teri created a gamified version of his flash briefing to thank his listeners, supporters, and also do something great with it.
He created a contest where every day on his flash briefing he gave a clue for people to solve based on stuff on his website or previous podcast episodes. Those who figured out the clue would go to a custom skill he developed called, “Crack the Code”, enter the code, and if they could get all the codes for the two weeks, then the skill would ask them for the final code, and if they got it correct, they would be in the running for some prizes.
There are incredible ways for people to use this for marketing.

List of resources mentioned in this episode

Other useful resources:

Next Episode

VOICE Summit 2019 Award Winners

In this episode, Teri talks about the award winners at the recent VOICE Summit 2019.

The VOICE Summit Awards were created to raise the bar for the voice first community and drive the industry forward by showcasing the next generation of voice tech pioneers. The inaugural VOICE Summit Awards went to individuals and organizations whose contributions to the emerging voice-tech community advances adoption and creates new, innovative experiences.

The finalists selected for best voice-tech innovations in twelve categories included conversational design, brand interaction, banking experience, e-Commerce, educational experience, game, healthcare experience, in-car experience, IoT voice device, media experience, multi-modal experience, shopping/e-Commerce experience, and travel, leisure or hospitality experience.

Ready? Here We Go! And the Award Winners were!

#1 Best Banking/Financial Experience

The winner was Bond.ai Empathy Engine by Bond.ai
Bond.ai is powering the world’s first empathy engine, which relates to how they are transforming banking experiences by understanding users and their scenarios, and then personalizing the banking experience.
Companies that want to use the technology can bring it on to Alexa, but the empathy engine is not specifically an Alexa app.
An example of how to use the Bond.ai bot is like telling it, “Bond, I want to grow my money by $50,000.” It might reply back something like, “Well, certainly. Do you have a short term or long term goal?” And you can say, “Short term.” And then it will say, “Excellent. I have analyzed your account and I can help you do this in 440 days. If I know a bit more about you, I can do it even faster. Let’s dive into action.” That demonstrates how it personalizes an interaction.

#2 Best Brand Interaction

This was won by the Alexa "Choose Your Own Adventure" Skill by Audible.
The skill is not available in Canada.

#3 Best Conversational Design

The winner was Houndify by SoundHound Inc.
Houndify is another voice platform similar to Alexa, Google Assistant, and the others. They are doing some very cool things. They have multiple questions that you can ask at the same time and they’re contextual.
SoundHound is the company behind the app that can identify a song that a user is listening to.

#4 Best Educational Experience

This award was won by BBC Kids by BBC Voice + AI.
It’s not available in Canada.

#5 Best Game

The winner was Mr. Robot: Daily Five/Nine by USA Network and Earplay, and it’s not available in Canada.

#6 Best Healthcare Experience

This award went to Suki by Suki.
Suki is using an AI-Powered voice enabled digital assistant for physicians to help make them be more productive in their clinics. It helps physicians create an exam note when they see a patient.

#7 Best In-Car Experience

The winner was Song Quiz by Volley.
Song Quiz is a great name-your-tune type quiz game. One can choose the decade of songs that they want to listen to, identify them, and play against other people.
It’s a very well done skill and it’s available in Canada.

#8 Best IoT Voice Device

The winner was Kanega LTE watch by UnaliWear. This is a device that is designed for the elderly population. It has a personal emergency response system built in and the user doesn’t need to have their mobile phone, because it has a connection to data.
Unaliwear had a very successful kickstarter campaign.

#9 Best Media Experience

The winners were Resemble.ai by Resemble AI and Radio Lab by AlphaVoice.
Resemble.ai allows users to create a digitized AI voice from their own voice recordings.
Radio Lab is a skill that helps users to identify podcasts and find content based on things they want to search for.

#10 Best Multi-Modal Experience

This award went to Bamboo Math by Bamboo Learning.
This Alexa skill helps users practice math questions through a wide range of skill levels.
It also had word problems and is fun for kids.

#11 Best Shopping/eCommerce Experience

This was won by Snips by Snips.ai, a platform for people to create their own voice assistants.
It provides private, by design, decentralized voice assistants technology and solutions.
It enables users to maintain privacy because everything is local on the...