My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Amazon Echo Hub
Smart home devices can make life easier, but things can quickly get confusing if there are too many of them and they all require separate apps. That’s when a smart home hub can come in handy. Amazon’s new Echo Hub came out in February of this year and is already on sale for $144.99 (originally $179.99), which is the lowest price since its release, according to price checker tools .
You can think of the Echo Hub as an Echo speaker with a touchscreen, although the speaker is much inferior. The goal is to consolidate your smart devices into one hub that you can control and see better than having to open multiple apps. It’s designed to be wall-mounted, although you can also buy a stand for it for $30.
On-screen content, such as widgets and your smart devices, is fully customizable. It has a “Responsive Content” feature that wakes up the screen as you walk past it. What makes it different from Echo Show devices is that instead of using it to watch videos or ask questions, you’ll be able to see and control all your smart devices more easily (though you can still play music and videos from YouTube, if you want).
The Echo Hub is great for owners of Ring or Amazon smart devices, although it is also compatible with locks, lights, thermostats, speakers, cameras, TVs and other smart devices that work with Zigbee, Matter, Sidewalk and Thread. You can connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It’s corded, so you’ll need to make sure there’s an outlet nearby wherever you decide to install it.
This device does not have a camera, so you will not be able to make video calls. The screen is eight-inch with a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. You can read more about this in PCMag’s review .
Compared to other smart home control panels, the Echo Hub is much cheaper and works well. At the current price, this is a great option for those who have a variety of smart home devices.