Like most Amazon devices, the Echo Show 8 Gen 3 will be on sale several times a year — and you can probably get one at cost, or even make Amazon take a slight loss on the product. To make up for this, Amazon makes full use of the display and will use it to sell you things at any opportunity.
How this happens is pretty crafty. In between displaying photos, and jokes, and showcasing Alexa’s features, an idling Show 8 will wave suggested Amazon products at you. Amongst the ones we noticed was a plug for spray bottles and shampoo. Apps and Amazon-made TV shows are also pushed, though these exist in more of a gray area. You can ignore these ads, and they do blend well with the useful information that regularly crops up on screen. However, it’s also possible to be irked when witnessing a device you paid $150 for trying to hock some cheap plastic nonsense to you. With the Kindle, you can spend an extra few bucks and make the (admittedly more intrusive) ads go away forever. This should also be an option on the Echo Show, but it isn’t.
On balance, photographs being interspersed with calendar reminders and notices regarding upcoming sporting events is pretty handy. So the good does outweigh the bad. It’s just another case of a minor problem, with a simple solution that could be used to make the device a touch better.
