ZDNET’s comprehensive insights reveal that the Amazon Echo Hub, currently available for $180 through Amazon, represents a pivotal step forward in the evolution of smart home technology. Serving as an elegantly designed central command panel, the Echo Hub finally gives Alexa a defined, purposeful position within the broader smart home ecosystem. Unlike competing devices that often attempt to serve multiple roles simultaneously—blending entertainment with productivity or ads with essential control functions—the Echo Hub exists solely to streamline the process of managing connected home devices. It provides a clean, distraction-free interface devoid of intrusive advertisements or unnecessary features, allowing users to focus entirely on the convenience and functionality of automating their living spaces.
For many smart home enthusiasts—myself among them—the constant balancing act of navigating through numerous mobile applications to control lights, cameras, thermostats, and other connected devices has grown wearisome. While the introduction of smart home standards like Matter has alleviated some of these integration challenges, its adoption is not yet universal, leaving users still dependent on fragmented solutions. As a result, many households find immense value in dedicated control screens that simplify the management of diverse smart ecosystems. Some users have even resorted to transforming retired tablets into makeshift control panels mounted on walls, while others lean toward turnkey devices such as Amazon’s Echo Show or Google’s Nest Hub, both of which can perform as central controllers straight out of the box. Yet these multi-use smart displays often come with compromises—lag, cluttered interfaces, and features unrelated to home control.
This is precisely where Amazon’s Echo Hub distinguishes itself. It intentionally avoids the typical pitfalls of its peers, positioning itself as a purpose-built smart home controller—nothing more, nothing less. For instance, the device forgoes unnecessary additions like premium audio components or 4K streaming capabilities, and its screen remains free of ads even in idle mode. Its sole reason for existence is to serve as the nerve center of a smart home—organized, efficient, and accessible.
Having tested the Echo Hub over several months, I found the experience refreshingly straightforward yet remarkably effective. Its interface is efficiently partitioned by categories and widgets, enhancing navigation and minimizing friction. Roughly two-thirds of the screen real estate is dedicated to widgets, which present key information at a glance—from lighting scenes to security statuses—while the left-hand area organizes routines and standardized room groupings. Users can further personalize their dashboards by adjusting, adding, or removing widgets and supplementing their setup by downloading additional ones from Amazon’s widget store. Although responsive in most interactions, the Echo Hub occasionally exhibits sluggish performance when displaying multiple live camera feeds simultaneously—an expected but noteworthy limitation.
Physically, the device features an eight-inch touchscreen that supports both wall mounting and tabletop placement, though the former offers a more integrated aesthetic, especially for homeowners who aspire to emulate a built-in control center aesthetic. For those who, like me, have often considered converting a tablet into such a system, the Echo Hub serves as a far more polished and reliable alternative.
As its name implies, the Echo Hub operates as a command gateway for your smart home, integrating tightly with Alexa while maintaining compatibility with a wide range of networking standards—including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Matter, Thread, and Amazon’s proprietary Sidewalk protocol. This ensures that users can connect, interact with, and control an impressive variety of smart devices from various manufacturers without needing to juggle proprietary apps or service limitations.
Some may reasonably question why Amazon developed the Echo Hub despite already offering the Echo Show line. The answer lies in Amazon’s ambitions to refine and expand the Alexa ecosystem, which now stands as one of the largest and most intuitive smart home automation frameworks available. Supporting over 100 million devices, the Alexa platform continues to dominate the interoperability landscape. Through the Alexa app, integrating new smart home devices is nearly effortless—each new addition automatically becomes part of a unified control environment. Any product labeled as “Works with Alexa” typically guarantees straightforward setup, reliable voice integration, and now, seamless control through the Echo Hub’s tactile interface.
In my own home—already well-equipped with a mixture of four Echo Shows and several Echo speakers—the introduction of the Echo Hub feels like a natural extension. Initially, I had invested in Amazon’s ecosystem primarily to test Alexa’s capabilities alongside Apple’s HomeKit via Siri, evaluating their respective efficiencies. Over time, I came to appreciate Alexa’s flexibility and automation potential, particularly as I expanded my network of connected devices. While I originally acquired the Echo Show mainly for ambient music and quick video access while cooking, I soon discovered that its interface was too cluttered for efficient smart home management. The Echo Hub, by contrast, succeeds precisely because it focuses singularly on visibility, organization, and user empowerment.
Nevertheless, the Echo Hub retains certain limitations. It is not designed as a speaker, meaning users must designate another Echo device within their network to handle audio playback when issuing voice commands such as asking Alexa to play music. This distinction emphasizes Amazon’s intent: the Echo Hub complements—not replaces—its multifunctional Echo Show models. Alexa still responds to queries and commands issued through the Hub, and users can easily mute the microphone or adjust volume settings to suit their privacy preferences.
Despite my appreciation for Alexa’s capabilities, I remain cautious about long-term privacy implications—a concern shared by many smart home users. Amazon asserts a commitment to user security, yet the Echo Hub, like other Alexa-enabled devices, operates using cloud-based processing rather than purely local data handling. While this design contributes to the system’s responsiveness and intelligence, it also raises valid questions about how personal information is stored and managed.
Ultimately, based on ZDNET’s evaluation and personal testing experience, the Echo Hub represents a mature and thoughtfully executed evolution of smart home control. It successfully consolidates the convenience of Alexa-enabled automation into a sleek, wall-mounted command interface. Its minimalist design, widget-based organization, and extensive connectivity options make it an ideal investment for homeowners determined to streamline their digital environments. Although it may not replace entertainment-focused smart displays, it fulfills its core purpose with precision—offering intuitive, centralized access to all Alexa-compatible devices and creating a calm, ad-free experience in an increasingly connected world.
Sourse: https://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-echo-hub-review/
