Awesome Tips The Echo Hub is the BEST* Amazon Smart Home Dashboard!
I tested the new Echo Hub in my smart home! Here’s the good, bad, and who it’s designed for.
I tested the new Echo Hub in my smart home! Here’s the good, bad, and who it’s designed for.
Echo Hub:
(affiliate links)
My smart home favorites:
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0:00 Intro
0:30 Design
1:47 Smart Home Controls
4:34 UI Design
6:14 What’s missing
8:04 Who is this for?
9:06 Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Start Select
———
MUSIC
Doctor Momentum by Slynk
All of the music throughout is by Nihilore.
Spotify playlist:
Ending song is The End by EVA.
alias: Dashboard cheat code
description: “”
trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.up_button
condition: []
action:
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.up_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.down_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.down_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.left_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.right_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.left_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.right_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.start_button
– wait_for_trigger:
– platform: state
entity_id:
– input_button.select_button
– service: input_boolean.turn_on
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.secret_unlocked
data: {}
enabled: true
– delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 10
milliseconds: 0
enabled: true
– service: input_boolean.turn_off
target:
entity_id: input_boolean.secret_unlocked
data: {}
enabled: true
mode: single
Deals for Days. Big home savings are happening now.
The Echo Hub is available to buy starting today: https://amzn.to/3IcIkfX (affiliate link)
By the way the cheat code at the end is a real automation. The YAML code in the description.
I use my Nest Hub Max to keep watch on my aged mother. She can speak to me anytime and I can respond. I can control everything too. I think Google is as good or better.
Can please somebody root it and put plain android on it? I want to use it with HA
No thanks, don't care to give even more of my privacy to Amazon to sell and abuse..wait for the open source variant..😊
Not today, Amazon.
I’ve been burned by every single Echo device with a screen from TVs to the Shows.
Slow performance, invasive ads even after disabling them, removing functionality or charging extra for previously available features.
If the audio Echos betray my trust, they will be gone too.
Reed are those Yamaha powered studio monitors?
This is cool but I'm not sure I would have a use for it personally. I just find it quicker to tell Mrs. A what to do. Alexa, open the shades.
I'm kind of confused, what are the different use cases than an echo show?
Yeah i don't need this
Seems like there are a lot more shortfalls then benefits. Amazon has great hardware, great networking, a generally fast cloud response, but a horrible user interface. Can't they get you and some of the other home automation experts to help them design a decent UI?
How do you program it
Thank you.
I might get behind it if there was an option for battery power. In lieu of this hub I am considering one of those Brilliant in-wall hubs, the kind you can get in 1,2,3, and 4-gang styles. Very pricey but they have a lot of neat features beyond the Amazon stuff such as controlling Sonos, Yale locks, Liftmaster, etc.
I wish this existed as just a generic tablet or screen that you can install Linux on, and then Home Assistant.
I just ordered mines It's coming Friday excited It will be nice to have everything in one spot
4:04 I was grandfathered in ONE WEEK before the deadline!!!
Great video, could home kits stuffs also connect simutaneously? Thx !!
Can you add a photo of the light to the screen? Would be quicker than reading each label before turning it on or off
I’m thinking about switch brands. Amazon is just constant ads now. That thing probably gives you them constantly
I'd say it sounds about on par with the Amazon echo pop or dot third generation, both the fourth and fifth generation sound a bit better. It certainly sounds better than the echo show 15.
Reed, is kind of the smaller version of the Echo show 15 with different UI and design, so i would keep my Echo show 15
I am pretty heavy in the Amazon ecosystem for my smarthome and I have no desire to buy this. I appreciate the thorough review!!
Oh Amazon. They make a bespoke device for everything (echo pop, anyone?). I'd prefer they just made this screen an option on the echo shows.
Hey thanks for your video. Could you cover hubitat? I use it and i wonder what tablet we could use for that. Thsnks
I don't trust Amazon to not ruin it with forced updates
The best-if you are willing to trade privacy for a shinier, subsidized product that is designed with your data collection in mind.
What’s the best device to control the home which doesn’t require a subscription or even a connection to a commercial or external server? Ty
Hey Reed, can you do a short with how the hub works with eufy doorbell/cameras. No subscription there! Intrigued if you can get the hub to show the live feed when motion is detected. Thanks
Contra!
Does it run on battery power or only electricity from an outlet?
Would be nice if they just put this on their tablets.
Nice video . Can we used widgets or automations IFTTT or Flic button ? Thanks
Great video please share the cheatcode automation 🙂
Do zigbee devices work locally?
For $179 I think I'll just keep using the app on my phone
it looks WAY too close to the Google Hub
Thank you for the video. Was on the fence about getting one since I'm mostly using Amazon Echo products.
Like the ending. Lol.
Very nice BUT ONCE AGAIN companies Waste screen space, just look at the routines page so much wasted space top & bottom there should be 3 rows of routines not 2, so you now end up scrolling more than you need to.
Thank you for the review. I’m waiting for an update or two to make this completely clunky, slow and unusable like the show
Congrats on 600k! Did you happen to test your HA dashboard in the Silk browser? I'm curious how that performs.
This hub is way to slow, even when its new..
Maybe at $100. No more than that.
FYI, Ring Disarming – I saw on Tech with Brett that you need to go into the ring settings in your Alexa app and enable the ability to remotely disarm it; then the keypad should show up on the Echo Hub. (Or it may have been updated after you filmed your review)
No Z-wave….deal breaker. I will stick with Hubitat and a tablet.
Ok, I hope you don't mind, but I've added the yaml at the end to my github repo. I'm putting stuff like this together in a single place for people to be able to use it – instead of everyone asking "can you show us the code?" – it's there for everyone to find.
It seems like the concept is sound, but the responsiveness is what kills this for me. They use the cheapest, slowest graphics accelerators that make these feel like the cheap android phones of yesteryear. Without a responsive UI, this is DOA for me.