New Echo Show 5 rests on the first edition's laurels

[MUSIC] Amazon just launched a second generation of the echo show five right before Prime Day. Let's talk about why I like it, even though it's kind of a bad smart display. [MUSIC] Now, Amazon's always had this kind of shotgun blast approach to smart speakers and display is where they fire off a bunch of them all at once and they see which ones hit and which ones miss. Now, the echo show five was definitely a hit. And that's part of why we're seeing this update two years after that initial launch. First off, let's see what's actually better about these new show fives Second, I want to talk about how comparing the new show five to other smart displays may not be the most helpful way to think about it. And finally, I want to try out the show Five kids with my three year old and five year old and see how Amazon does with its first kid friendly smart display. [MUSIC] The new echo show five has three basic upgrades. The one megapixel camera is now a two megapixel camera. Camera. It comes in blue, and there's no auxiliary port on the back anymore. That can't be it right. The new echo show eight had a new processor and its camera followed you around the room. I mean not particularly well but that was something right. Nope. That is it. And if you're buying it for a full price, which, Should you shouldn't do because these things sell for crazy discounts all the time. But if you are buying at a full price, that's $5 cheaper than the show five originally was at $85 rather than 90. So let's talk about these upgrades. First, the two megapixel camera is all it's not great. My phone's camera is 12 megapixels and most of these smart displays have much better care Camera's too, basically, this thing is made to be purely functional. If you want to video chat, it'll do fine. And honestly, the pixelation will probably depend more on your wifi connection than your camera quality. Anyway, the fact that the show five is blue itself. Cool. I guess it'll be nice for anyone who's already going to buy it. And wants another color option but nobody's buying it for the color. Finally the auxilary output getting mixed honestly kind of pisses me off. Smart speakers and displays like the dot and show five are fine desktop devices But they've been really nice to hook into larger stereo systems. Sure this probably doesn't affect most show five users but it's still frustrating to see any kind of downgrade on a second gen device like this. [MUSIC] Okay, so if you compare the show five to the show eight, it's a worst smart display on almost every level. On a small screen garbage camera where sound quality and so on and you can find the show eight for sale under 100 bucks all the time. So in the past I've firmly been in the get a show eight instead camp, but my mind's been changed on the Unless slightly if you want a smart display I still think that the Echo Show Eight is one of the best values around a bigger eight inch screen is really necessary if you're following recipes in the kitchen or if you're video chatting often or if you're streaming Netflix or whatever. And those are all things that I use my Show Eight for at home all the time. The Show Five just isn't big enough to do that stuff. Well But if you're thinking about getting a budget speaker like the echo.or dot with clock, that's where I think it might be worth picking up a show five on sale instead. And we've seen them as cheap as 45 bucks in the past. The show five actually adds a lot to the traditional budget speaker. You can display photos you get a clock, you even get slightly better sound quality. What's more, if you want to occasionally video chat or watch a video on YouTube, you can do that and the show five will do a serviceable job. From this perspective, the show five really remains a solid deal and I think that's part of why it's been such a popular option in the past. In some ways, though, this makes the omission of the auxiliary port on the new show five all the more frustrating because it's less flexible than the last edition was. Where the regular second gen show 5 is kind of disappointing though. The show 5 kids really shines. Here's what you get with a chameleon color skin, custom clock faces and one year of Amazon kids plus for free. That's usually three bucks a month. Plus the show five kids comes with a two year warranty because you know, kids break stuff I banged to my angle. [LAUGH] You also get parental controls that are mostly the same as usual, except that you can't allow drop-in for any devices outside the household. Which I think is actually a really nice privacy. Patrick, My kids love our echo shows. They play a Lion King songs on repeat ask about the weather pull up videos about bugs on YouTube pick out recipes to make and video chat with their grandma Jill. I'm a big fan of the show 5 as a kids device. With kids plus they can have the voice assistant, read them stories and do other fun stuff. I've actually seen it help one of my boys improve his articulation because there's echo just won't understand certain questions otherwise, and I can use the camera to check in on them when they think they're getting away with playing after lights out and taking turns jumping off the top [MUSIC] I don't love the upgrade to the Echo Show 5. In fact, if the two editions cost the same, I would maybe get the first edition just for that auxiliary port because that matters more to me than the two megapixel camera. Add in that the original Show 5 will probably see steeper discounts and that kind of makes my decision Right there. But that's not to say the Show 5 isn't a great device. It is especially in comparison with budget smart speakers like the Dot and the Dot with Clock. And the second edition is particularly great in one of its forms, the kids version. If you're thinking about getting a device for your kids to try out, give it a shot. The Show 5 kids is easily the best kid facing smart display on the market Thanks for watching. If you liked the video, make sure to give it a thumbs up, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more like it. And let me know in the comments which of my kids you liked the best, we're trying to decide which one to keep. Sorry, which echo show five, you'd like the best. [BLANK_AUDIO]