I picked up the Echo Show 5 – stay connected and in touch with Alexa – Charcoal smart display from Amazon recently and wanted to share my honest take on this device. As a Marine veteran turned entrepreneur in Houston, I don’t have patience for gadgets that don’t earn their place on my desk or nightstand. This compact smart display category item costs $71.99, and after weeks of daily use, I can tell you exactly what this thing does right and where it falls short.
Let me be direct: the Echo Show 5 – stay connected and in touch with Alexa – Charcoal is a solid piece of hardware that does what Amazon promises without pretension. The 5.5-inch display is genuinely useful for video calls with family, checking weather before my morning runs, and controlling smart home devices. The charcoal finish looks professional on my desk, not like some cheap plastic toy. Setup took maybe five minutes, and it connected to my home network without any drama. That’s how it should work.