Amazon’s Echo Hub is Now Available at $179.99
- Laurent Giret
- Feb 22, 2024
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The Amazon Echo Hub, a new smart home control panel with Amazon’s Alexa assistant is now available for $179.99 in the US. With its 8-inch screen, the Echo Hub can be reminiscent of the Echo Show 8, but it’s a much slimmer device that can be mounted to a wall.
The Echo Hub was first announced during Amazon’s devices event back in September 2023 alongside the new Echo Show 8, refreshed Fire TV Stick 4K models, and the Fire TV soundbar. As smart home hub, the Echo Hub can manage devices connected via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Sidewalk, Thread, and Matter.
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The Echo Hub home screen is customizable with widgets showing all the smart home devices in your home, and it can also provide quick access to live camera feeds and snapshots from Ring cameras. The Routines available from the left-side panel also make it easy to launch unique Routines to lock or unlock doors, adjust smart lights, or your home temperature.
Just like other Echo devices, the Echo Hub can also be used to control music playback in your home, with the dashboard displaying volume controls for individual speakers in a multi-room environment. “In the future, you’ll also be able to see how many active media streams are playing throughout your home, right from the Home screen,” Amazon explained yesterday.
The Echo Hub can also be personalized with video backgrounds or personal photos that will be displayed when the device is not in use. The infrared sensors on the Echo Hub will automatically transition to the smart home dashboard when it detects that users are in close proximity.
Lastly, the Echo Hub comes with a button to turn the microphone off, and there’s no built-in camera. Amazon also offers granular privacy controls for all Alexa and Echo devices, and there are no ads across the Echo Hub’s interface. Overall, the Echo Hub seems to be an interesting addition to Amazon’s smart home lineup. However, the new Echo Show 8 is slightly more affordable at $149.99, and it also comes with decent built-in speakers and camera for video calls.