Computer Shopper - UK (2019-10)

ISSUE 380ISSUE 380||COMPUTER SHOPPERCOMPUTERSHOPPER||OCTOBER 2019OCTOBER 2019 39

SPECIFICATIONS

DRIVERS (^1) • RMSPOWEROUTPUT4W•WIRELESS
802.11acWi-Fi,Bluetooth•DIMENSIONS73x148x86mm•
DISPLAY960x480•WEIGHT410g•WARRANTYOne
yearRTB•DETAILSwww.amazon.co.uk•PARTCODE
EchoShow5
IFALLBATTLESwerewon purely by force of
numbers, Amazon would have had the smart
speaker market sewn up long ago.With the
release of the Lcho Show 5, it now has afull
13 Alexa speakers in its ranks.
What, then, is special about this one͇
Forone thing, it’s cheap –the cheapest
display-equipped Lcho device ever,infact. It’s
also alot more compact than the Lcho Show
2nd Generation (Shopper378), without being
truly tiny like the Lcho Spot (Shopper363).
Instead, it has the same widescreen display
and sloping angles of the Lenovo Smart Clock.
The Smart Clock is even cheaper,but has
alarger 5.5in display, which runs at ahigher
960x480 resolution. Both speakers have
volume and mutebuttons (on the Lcho Show
5, the latter is more easily accessible on the
topedge), but Amazon’s speaker adds a
couple of extras. It has afront-facing webcam
forvideo calling, completewith aprivacy
shield, and there’s a3.5mm output so you can
connect the Show 5toamore powerful
existing hi-fi system or standalone speaker.
It’s worth noting that while sliding over
the camera shield will disable it both
physically and electronically,the two far-field
microphones on the topedge will still work.
LOSTTIME
As with previous Lcho Shows, the screen adds
new ways to receive information, control
connected devices or simply consume
entertainment, not to mention making the
speaker easier to set up,asactions that
would otherwise require apaired smartphone
can be performed on the built-in display.
That said, we wish Amazon had gone
further with taking advantage of what a

AMAZON

EchoShow5

★★★★★

£80•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

TheEchoShow5deliversAlexaonscreenata
ludicrouslylowprice,butithasitslimitations

SMARTDISPLAY

displaycan do.With radio via TuneIn or music

from Spotify,for instance,all you get is an

icon or cover art and some text describing the

station, album or track; there’s no clock, date

or weather icon leftonthe screen, to check at

aglance.Instead, you have to make vocal

requests forbasic information that could

easily be made visible at all times.

There is some good news, and it’s that,

while these particular issues have gone

unresolved, the Show 5benefits from a

light UI refresh. Swipe leftacross the

touchscreen and anew panel appears,

populated with shortcuts to core features –

Communicate, Smart Home,Music, Video,

Routines and Alarms –inaddition to a

selection of Discover Alexa cards that

provide help to new users.

WAKEYWAKEY

The Lcho Show 5also has adaptive

brightness, allowing it to adjust the screen

backlight automatically according to ambient

light. It’s put to great use in anew feature

called Sunrise Lffect, which uses the screen

to gently light up your bedroom 15 minutes

before your alarm goes off,ifonly between

4am and 9am.

Llsewhere,new integrations include a

selection of how-to videos from wikiHow,as

well as the ability to displayvideo streams

from Arlo security cameras and baby

monitors onscreen. These are nice

additional features, but you can now

get them on the Lcho Show 2aswell.

The Lcho Show 5isacompact

speaker,and that usually spells

bad news forsound quality.

Surprisingly,however,it’s quite

pleasant to listen to at medium to

low volume levels. There’s no

sub-bass to speak of,but the

Show 5makes areasonably good

job of representing mid-bass

frequencies and above.

Forregular music playback duties, you’re

better off with the Lcho Show 2. In the mid-

to upper registers, music often sounds muddy

and congested, especially when you turn up

the volume.Infact, the mid-bass can become

alittle overbearing at times. Fortunately,the

Lcho Show 5has asimple bass/mid/treble

equaliser setting you can use if the default

balance isn’t to your liking.

It’s also worth making sure that the

bottom edge of the speaker is free from

obstructions, because that’s where all the

sound comes from: it’s all emitted from one

narrow grille facing down towards the surface

on which it sits. Presumably,this is why the

speaker sounds so unusually bassy.

Microphone quality is similarly mixed.

òften our commands were picked up without

issue,but against afairly moderateamount of

background noise (around 53dB), we found

the twin microphones disappointingly

unresponsive.This is definitely better suited

to abedroom or home office than a

potentially noisy kitchen or living room.

LOWFIVE

In many ways, the Lcho Show 5isn’t anything

particularly special. It sounds decent, but its

microphone arrayisn’t great and it doesn’t

move the smart displayparadigm on

significantly over the Lcho Show 2. It’s

essentially the same device,just smaller.

What it does do,however,isbring the

price of smart displaytech down to afar

more reasonable level. At £80, even with

its limitations, the Lcho Show 5isavery

good-value smart displayindeed.

»onatʙan͠aѽ

Surprisingly,the Echo Show5isquitepleasanttolisten

to at medium to lowvolume levels