Smart Displays / Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen, 2025)
The one to buy — if you can live without the camera shutter Amazon just deleted.
Overall score 6.4/10
Pros
- + Best sound-per-dollar in the category — a real woofer, not a single full-range cone
- + Zigbee, Thread and Matter in a $179.99 tabletop display
- + 13 MP auto-framing camera is a serious upgrade over the 2 MP Show 5
- + AZ3 Pro makes it the most responsive Echo Show yet, by a wide margin
Cons
- − Amazon deleted the physical camera shutter in this generation — a software toggle is all you get now
- − Sponsored home-screen content cannot be turned off, per Amazon's own help pages
- − Alexa+, the entire pitch of the device, is gated behind Prime or $19.99/mo
- − Amazon publishes no resolution figure; the only numbers available come from third parties
- − Omnisense presence sensing means the device is always modelling who is in the room
Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen, 2025) review: what the specs say
The one to buy — if you can live without the camera shutter Amazon just deleted. At $179.99, Amazon's 2025 model sits in the middle of the range — the smart Displays we compare run from $79.99 to $399.99. It scores 6.4/10 overall, calculated from published specifications across 8 categories rather than from a subjective impression.
Its strongest showing is Smart Home Hub at 8.5/10 — zigbee, Matter and Thread border-router support — often the real reason to buy the bigger model. The weakest is Ad Freedom at 3.5/10, which is the trade-off to weigh before buying: if that is the specification you care about most, one of the alternatives below will serve you better.
Worth knowing before you buy: amazon deleted the physical camera shutter in this generation — a software toggle is all you get now; and sponsored home-screen content cannot be turned off, per Amazon's own help pages. Every specification on this page comes from Amazon's own documentation or a verified retail listing — where a figure is not published, the table says so rather than estimating it.
Specifications and price last verified . Report an error
Full Specifications
| Voice Assistant | Alexa+ — Amazon's own FAQ states there is no free Alexa+ tier on Echo hardware: it needs Prime or a $19.99/mo Standard plan |
| Screen Size | 8.7 in |
| Resolution | Sources conflict: PCMag's spec sheet lists 1,340 x 800, while Amazon publishes only 'over a million pixels' |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Camera | 13 MP with auto-framing, 3.3x zoom and ambient noise reduction |
| Physical Camera Shutter | NO physical shutter — the 2025 redesign removed it; only an on-device button that electronically disables camera and mics |
| Speakers | Two front-firing full-range drivers plus one custom woofer, tuned for spatial audio |
| Smart Home Hub Radios | Zigbee hub + Matter controller + Thread — Amazon's press material confirms all three radios on this generation |
| Subscriptions Required | Alexa+ requires Prime or $19.99/mo; Ring event summaries shown in Amazon's marketing require a Ring subscription; Oura integration requires an Oura account and its subscription |
| Home-Screen Ads | Sponsored cards appear on the home screen; Amazon's own help page says these ads cannot be turned off, only swiped away |
| Video Calling | Alexa calling and Drop In within the Alexa ecosystem; no Meet, no FaceTime, and Skype ended in May 2025 |
| Wall Mountable | No |
| Connectivity | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Amazon Sidewalk |
| Material | Fabric-wrapped spherical speaker base with floating glass display |
| Warranty | 12 months |
Compare Amazon Echo Show 8 (4th Gen, 2025) With
Cheaper Alternative
Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) — $99.99
Premium Alternative
Amazon Echo Show 11 (2025) — $219.99