Amazon Echo Show 21 (newest gen), A stunning 21" smart display with built-in Fire TV, powerful vibrant sound, immersive HD streaming, with Alexa+ Early Access

I’ve used various smart displays over the years, but the Echo Show 15 is on a completely different level. The first thing that stands out is the size of the screen – it’s large enough to be genuinely useful rather than just a glorified clock. I’ve mounted mine under a kitchen cabinet and it fits perfectly, making excellent use of what would otherwise be wasted space. The range of widgets available is impressive and allows you to customise the display exactly how you want it. Whether it’s calendars, reminders, weather, shopping lists or smart home controls, everything is easy to see at a glance. Entertainment options are excellent too. All the major apps you’d expect are available, including Netflix and Apple TV, and having access to live TV is a real bonus when cooking or spending time in the kitchen. Sound quality is surprisingly good for a device of this type, with clear vocals and enough volume to comfortably fill the room. It also links seamlessly to your preferred music streaming service, making it ideal for listening to playlists, podcasts or radio stations throughout the day. Where the Echo Show 15 really shines is as a smart home control centre. I’ve connected it to my Ring devices and several other cameras around the house, and being able to view all of them from one screen is incredibly convenient. Checking who’s at the door or keeping an eye on different areas of the property takes just a glance. A nice touch is the included frame, which helps the device blend into the room rather than looking like a piece of technology stuck on the wall. It gives it a much more subtle, picture-frame appearance and makes it feel far less intrusive in a family living space. Installation was also refreshingly straightforward. The wall bracket is well designed, the mounting process is simple, and the supplied stencil makes positioning and drilling the fixing holes quick and accurate. Overall, this is far more than just a smart display. It’s an entertainment centre, family organiser, smart home dashboard and security monitor all rolled into one. If you’re already invested in the Alexa systems, the Echo Show 15 is an easy recommendation and one of the most useful smart home devices I’ve owned.

Great product, very easy to setup and use. Good value for money, upgrade from my echo show 5. Pros Great screen size with touch screen and wall mount included, very responsive to voice and touch. Great upgrade from previous versions. Cons Does not come with stand (purchased separately) Does not support native fire tv apps ( although this may come with a software update in the future) Fire remote is not yet fully supported outside of fire tv ( but it can be used as a spare for any other fire tv devices) All in all a good device with fire tv inbuilt, all the usual features you can expect from a Amazon fire tv device, great clear display with support for smart bulbs etc through the Alexa app You can stream music from your phone from Amazon music, Apple Music and Spotify without any problems, although you can’t install apps for Apple and Spotify as yet. Video can only be displayed from native apps on fire tv, but it does not support airplay or other OTA Streaming apps.

I can honestly say this is the best Echo device I’ve ever owned — and I already have several Echos at home. The Echo Show 21 is absolutely impressive. The sound quality is excellent, loud and clear, and the image is sharp and vibrant. It genuinely feels premium. I was originally thinking of getting a smart TV for my kitchen, but I decided to go for the Echo Show 21 instead, and I don’t regret that decision at all. It does everything I wanted and more, while also being a fantastic smart hub for the home. The installation was very easy and straightforward. I read a lot of reviews before buying it, and I’m really glad I trusted them — they were spot on. I love how well everything syncs. I can connect my Apple Calendar without any issues, access my shopping lists and to-do lists instantly, and listen to Spotify effortlessly. The number of widgets available is great, and they make everyday tasks so much more convenient. It’s become a central part of my daily routine. Overall, this device has exceeded my expectations. It’s powerful, practical, and beautifully designed. If you’re considering an Echo Show or even debating between this and a smart TV, I highly recommend the Echo Show 21 — it’s worth every penny.

A Stunning Smart Hub – Functional, Beautiful, and Surprisingly Versatile The Echo Show 15 is hands-down one of the most impressive smart displays I’ve used. With its large 15.6" Full HD screen, it instantly becomes the centrepiece of any room—whether mounted on the wall or placed on a stand. The display is crisp, vibrant, and perfect for everything from streaming content to managing your day. Setup and Interface: Setup was quick and intuitive. The interface is clean and customizable, with widgets that let you tailor the home screen to your needs—calendar, weather, to-do lists, smart home controls, and more. It’s like having a digital command centre that’s always accessible. Alexa Integration: Alexa works flawlessly, responding quickly to voice commands even from across the room. Whether I’m checking the news, controlling lights, setting timers, or asking for recipes, it’s responsive and accurate. The visual feedback adds a whole new layer of usefulness compared to audio-only devices. Entertainment and Streaming: Streaming on the Echo Show 15 is a joy. You can watch Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, and more directly on the device. The screen size makes it feel more like a mini TV than a smart speaker, and the sound quality is surprisingly rich and clear for its slim profile. Smart Home Control: It’s a fantastic hub for smart home management. With the dashboard view, I can control lights, thermostats, cameras, and routines with just a tap or voice command. It’s especially useful in shared spaces like the kitchen or hallway where everyone can interact with it. Family-Friendly Features: The shared calendar, sticky notes, and photo frame mode make it ideal for busy households. It’s great for leaving reminders, displaying family photos, or coordinating schedules. The visual ID feature is a clever touch—it personalizes the experience based on who’s using it. Final Verdict: The Echo Show 15 isn’t just a smart display—it’s a lifestyle upgrade. It blends functionality with aesthetics, making it perfect for modern homes. Whether you're tech-savvy or just want a more organized, connected space, this device delivers in every way. Highly recommended for families, smart home enthusiasts, or anyone who wants a beautiful, capable assistant that does more than just talk.

This is a great product. You can watch Netflix, Prime etc. as if it’s a mini TV; sound and picture are great. The brightness is perfect and it works seemlessly as part of my kitchen setup. I use it to play music while cooking or washing up. The only downside is that for the price, I’d expect a greater range of apps and customisation available. It does what it does well but it has limited widgets…

I’ve had many different Alexa devices and this has really shown how far they have come and improved. The home screen is great, it shows all the vitals and the display is really clear and touchscreen. The Alexa technology itself has been really good so far, no dips in connection or anything and the Alexa+ seems a lot less rigid than previous Alexa. It’s not on the level of AI such as chat gpt, however it’s remembering things I have said previously and using them to give helpful advice. The music and sound quality is great, no complaints at all. And when you’re not using Alexa, you can use the remote to switch to TV or my personal favourite, display your photos on a slideshow. Not disappointed with this at all, a great addition to our busy household and would recommend to anyone looking for a similar device or upgrade.

The Echo Show 21 has some genuinely impressive hardware. The large display is excellent, the device is remarkably slim, and mounted on the wall it can genuinely look more like a piece of framed art than a conventional smart display. Sound quality is also very good. Unfortunately, after living with it, I have found the software experience so frustrating and unreliable that, knowing what I know now, I would not buy it again. The biggest problem is that the Echo Show 21 simply does not feel like a polished premium device. For something this expensive, there are far too many bugs, unexplained failures and basic functions that either work inconsistently or have stopped working altogether. 1. "Sorry, something went wrong" — over and over again For the last several weeks, the single most irritating problem has been Alexa randomly responding: "Sorry, something went wrong." This happens when I give ordinary commands, such as turning smart-home devices on or off, or asking Alexa to perform other routine tasks. What makes it even more frustrating is that Alexa suddenly switches to her default voice — the same behaviour you get when it appears that the device has lost contact with Amazon's servers. My Wi-Fi is not the problem. The router is approximately two metres away from the Echo Show 21, and every other device connected to my network works perfectly without any connectivity issues. Often, I have to repeat the same command several times before Alexa finally responds in the voice I have selected and actually performs the requested action. It is extremely frustrating. And the most ridiculous part is that Alexa tells me something went wrong but gives absolutely no indication of what went wrong. At other times, it is even stranger: Alexa clearly hears me — you can see that the device has detected my voice — but then she simply does nothing. No response, no explanation, no action. Just silence. Alexa+ was supposed to make Alexa smarter. At the moment, however, the experience often feels anything but intelligent. 2. YouTube control has become worse, not better One of the things that previously worked surprisingly well was voice control of YouTube. I used to be able to ask Alexa to search for a video, choose which result I wanted to watch, pause it and then resume playback later. Those controls no longer work properly. I reported the problem to Amazon Customer Service, but nothing they did resolved it. Amazon even replaced my Echo Show 21 with another unit, yet the replacement behaves exactly the same way. There is also an incredibly annoying playback bug. If I manually pause a YouTube video using the remote control — for example, because I am going to the kitchen or answering something on my phone — the video may simply start playing again by itself for no apparent reason. I can come back after quite some time only to discover that the video I was watching has already finished and YouTube has moved on to something else. I then have no idea where I originally stopped watching. That is absurd for a device designed to be used as a media display. 3. All my apps disappeared — twice Twice, every installed app disappeared from the home screen. The empty spaces where the apps had previously been were still there, but the applications themselves had vanished. The only way I found to fix the problem was to perform a factory reset — twice. Having to reset an expensive smart display to factory settings because all of its apps disappear from the home screen is not something that should happen in a polished consumer product. 4. Alexa ignores my preferred music service I have an Apple Music subscription and Apple Music is configured as my default music service. Yet when I ask Alexa to play a particular song or artist, she sometimes starts playing something through Amazon Music instead. I do not have an Amazon Music subscription, so I then get adverts. Why should Alexa ignore the music service I have explicitly selected as my default and send me to a service I do not subscribe to? It is another example of the device behaving in a way that makes the experience unnecessarily irritating. 5. No proper way to keep the screen off at night This is another feature that makes absolutely no sense to me. There is no proper option to keep the screen completely off while still being able to use Alexa normally. If you have an Echo Show 21 in the bedroom and say something to Alexa during the night, the enormous display suddenly lights up and illuminates the entire room. And it does not immediately go dark again. The screen can remain illuminated for quite a while, even though you have already finished speaking to the device. This happens despite having the display configured to dim or turn off automatically when the room is dark. So why can't I simply set an alarm, ask about tomorrow's weather, or turn a light or another smart-home device on or off without the entire 21-inch screen lighting up in the middle of the night? It makes no sense. 6. Talking to Alexa unnecessarily interrupts YouTube Another extremely annoying behaviour is that if I am watching something on YouTube and speak to Alexa, the device interrupts my video. Worse still, playback can remain interrupted long after I have finished speaking. Why can't Alexa simply answer my question or perform a command without unnecessarily stopping the video? And the situation becomes even more ridiculous when I ask Alexa to resume the video. Instead of understanding that she has just interrupted YouTube, she may ask: "What would you like to play?" In other words, she apparently has no awareness that she was the reason the video stopped and now tries to search for something completely new. This is supposed to be Alexa+, an allegedly more intelligent Alexa experience. Yet sometimes the behaviour feels remarkably unintelligent. 7. The lack of Polish language support is genuinely baffling Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Alexa is that Polish is still not supported as an Alexa language. And this is particularly difficult to understand given Alexa's history. Amazon acquired IVONA Software, a Polish text-to-speech company based in Gdańsk, whose technology became an important part of the development of Alexa's voice technology. Yet Alexa still does not offer Polish as a supported voice-assistant language. This is especially strange because Amazon already has Polish text-to-speech technology within its own ecosystem. Polish is spoken by more than 45 million people worldwide. Around 38 million people live in Poland, with millions more living abroad, including substantial Polish-speaking communities in the UK, Germany, the United States, Canada, Ireland and elsewhere. So this is not some obscure language spoken by a tiny number of people. Given that Amazon acquired a Polish speech-technology company and already has the technology required to synthesise Polish speech, the continued absence of Polish support for Alexa is, in my view, astonishing. Polish-speaking customers deserve to be able to use Alexa in their own language. What I actually like To be fair, the Echo Show 21 has some excellent qualities. The large screen is genuinely impressive. The device is very slim and, when mounted on a wall, can look almost like a framed picture rather than a piece of consumer electronics. The sound quality is also very good. It is a beautiful piece of hardware. That is precisely why the software problems are so disappointing. The hardware has the potential to be something genuinely special, but the experience is constantly undermined by bugs, inconsistent behaviour and features that feel unfinished. It is also a shame that there is no straightforward way to install a genuinely capable AI assistant such as ChatGPT. That could potentially transform the Echo Show 21 into something far more useful. It would also immediately make a much wider range of languages available, including Polish. At the moment, Alexa+ does not come close to ChatGPT in terms of the overall conversational experience, language flexibility or general intelligence. Alexa remains useful for simple smart-home commands and basic tasks — when those commands actually work — but Alexa+ still does not feel like the revolutionary AI experience Amazon's marketing led me to expect. Final verdict The Echo Show 21 is a beautiful and expensive piece of hardware with a large, excellent display and very good sound. But the software experience is far too unreliable. Repeated "Sorry, something went wrong" errors. Commands that have to be repeated several times. Alexa hearing you and then doing absolutely nothing. Broken or degraded YouTube voice controls. Videos randomly resuming by themselves. Apps disappearing from the home screen. Preferred music services apparently being ignored. No sensible way to keep the screen off at night. Alexa unnecessarily interrupting videos and then failing to understand what it has interrupted. For a premium device at this price, there are simply too many bugs and too many things that feel unfinished or poorly designed. If all you want is an expensive digital photo frame that occasionally shows the weather and plays music — after sometimes having to repeat your command several times and hoping you do not hear "Sorry, something went wrong" — then perhaps it is fine. But as a supposedly intelligent smart display powered by Alexa+, the experience is currently deeply disappointing. Knowing what I know now, I would not buy the Echo Show 21 again. The hardware deserves much better software than this.

I have been reading all the reviews for ages regarding Echo 15 & 21 and during prime I took the plunge on the 15 (still expensive) but I am extremely pleased with it, this is the best Echo I have purchased. I already have a Bluetooth speaker I use with other echo’s and thought I would need it with the 15 but found the speakers to be ok and the volume is amazing. Don’t get me wrong I will still use my Bluetooth speakers with it but I’m also happy cleaning and singing along without them. I have quick access to all my Ring Cameras through the touchscreen or can use voice commands, great that there’s now options. Alexa talks differently now, getting smarter and finally has a sense of humour (well in my house she does) Absolutely amazing & my new favourite expensive toy.