Amazon Echo Show 21 review: combining a smart display, Alexa speaker and Fire TV

The Amazon Echo Show 21 is the biggest Alexa-powered smart display yet. Designed to sit in the centre of your home, it's a smart hub that can be used for video calls, to organise your family’s schedules, as a digital photo frame, to browse the web, read the news, control your smart home tech and more. It even works as a Fire TV complete with the Alexa voice remote in the box, so it's not just a smart display but a small television set too.

If you want one of the best smart speakers with a screen that is also packed with features, this device can do it all.

I’ve been using the 2021 Echo Show 15 in my home for a few years now. While I am a fan, I have had a few issues with it, including its weak speaker system, underwhelming camera, and lack of Zigbee smart home control. So has Amazon resolved those problems in this latest 2024 device? You’re in the right place to find out.

Amazon Echo Show 21 review: price and what’s new

You can buy the Amazon Echo Show 21 now from Amazon. In the UK, it’ll set you back £399.99, and in the US you’ll need to spend $399.99.

The Amazon Echo Show 21 was launched in November 2024 alongside a smaller 15-inch model. Before that, the Echo Show 15 (2021) was the biggest smart display in Amazon’s lineup.

The new gadgets have been updated in several ways to enhance the experience. Firstly, the speaker system has been upgraded from simple 1.6-inch tweeters to dual 2-inch woofers with two 0.6-inch tweeters. And video calling has been improved with double the field of view, 65% more zoom, better auto-framing and new noise reduction.

Plus you’ll get better connectivity with the latest WiFi 6E and the devices now incorporate Zigbee so they can act as a smart home hub, directly controlling your other smart tech like your lights, doorbell or coffee machine.

Amazon Echo Show 21 review: design and features

Straight out of the box, the first thing I noticed was that the Amazon Echo Show 21 isn’t a small device. At 3.8cm deep, it’s pretty thick, and at 4.9kg, it’s heavy, too. The huge 21-inch screen has a thick white border and a black bezel surrounding it. It'll certainly be noticed wherever you intend to place it.

You can mount the Amazon Echo Show 21 on a wall using the kit provided in the box, or you can buy a stand for it (£99.99/$99.99 at Amazon). If you're upgrading from the 2021 Echo Show 15, you'll be pleased to know that it uses the same mount. Up on a wall, it won't seem so bulky but if you plan to use a stand the size could be a little off-putting.

Also included in the box are the Alexa Voice Remote with batteries, the power adaptor and a 1.5m cable.

A speaker is built-in to the back of the display, a camera is placed in the centre of the top bezel with a manual privacy shutter to hide the lens, and there’s a microphone mute button and two direction controls along the top edge.

The Alexa voice remote is simple to use, with buttons to pause and skip through content, adjust the volume and take you directly to popular streaming apps like Netflix and Prime Music.

Setting up the display is simple, it’s just a case of turning it on, adding it to your account through the Alexa smartphone app and following the on-screen instructions. It took me about five minutes all in all. After that, you can control it using the wake word Alexa, the remote or by touch.

The home screen is made up of several widgets which you can choose yourself in the device settings. As it happens I liked the default layout which included my calendar, the weather forecast, my recent Spotify listens, my notes and reminders. There are lots more widgets to choose from as well including panels to control your other smart devices, recipe suggestions, daily affirmations and shopping lists, to name a few. You can tailor the Echo Show 21 to your family’s specific needs.

I’ve previously tested the Echo Show 15, and it felt a lot more cramped than this. The smaller screen leaves less space for widgets and it’s harder to read from a distance, so I enjoyed the extra inches on the Echo Show 21 in that sense.

The huge display also doubles up as a digital photo frame. All you need to do is say “Alexa, show me photos” and it’ll run through a slideshow of your best shots. You can add a selection of images from your phone in the Amazon Photos app, or if you don’t want to use your own snaps, there are plenty of albums available from Amazon, I added the Nature series to my device.

Some smarts included here are universal to Echo devices like the ability to make announcements around the house or to have conversations between rooms. Plus you can get answers to your random questions, and just like with Amazon’s other smart displays, you’ll get visual responses on the screen.

But to add to all of that, this display has Fire TV built-in. That means you can use it just like a smart television set with access to loads of the best streaming services, including Prime Video, Netflix and Apple TV+ (BBC iPlayer isn’t available as an app, but you can stream it through the Amazon Silk internet browser). Watch TV while you cook or catch up on the latest shows while you work, this feature adds a whole new dimension to the device.

On top of all that, the Echo Show 21 can also be used as a Zigbee hub with support for Matter and Thread, which means you can use it to set up and control your entire smart home network like your smart lights, security cameras and much more.

Amazon Echo Show 21 review: performance

The quality of the Amazon Echo Show 21’s display is great. It has a 1920 x 1080p resolution that drivers crisp details, bright colours and a decent level of contrast even when you’re watching darker video content. It’s a little glossy so it’s quite reflective under bright lights, but I didn’t find that too much of a problem.

The new and improved speakers make such a big difference to the audio, it’s a lot fuller than on the previous model so I was more inclined to use it to listen to music as well as TV shows and movies. Admittedly, I still have my reservations about it because the new speaker setup suffers from a small amount of distortion when you crank the volume up. It won’t provide the room-filling sound of a bigger speaker system, like the Echo Studio, but for solo listening, it does a solid job.

Thanks to the built-in 13MP camera, you can use the display to make video calls with your friends and family either through other Alexa devices or using their Alexa smartphone app. The wider field of view and better zoom have definitely improved the experience, however, I’d love to see enhanced resolution next time around.

Amazon Echo Show 21 review: verdict

The Amazon Echo Show 21 is a supersized smart display that can also be used as a kitchen TV. It works equally well in both ways. Fire TV is integrated into the software, and switching between the smart display features and streaming apps is a breeze, whether you choose to do so by voice or using the included remote.

Amazon has cleared up a lot of the issues with the 1st generation of the Echo Show 15 by including Zigbee, improving the speaker system and adding extra features to the camera to improve the quality of video calls. But it’d be great to see further improvements to the speaker and resolution on the camera next time.

In saying that, the only major change I would like to see is a slimmer design, the bulky build is likely to put some people off, especially if you don’t intend to mount it on a wall.

Amazon Echo Show 21 review: alternatives to consider

Having a 21-inch smart display may seem like overkill, in which case Amazon has plenty of other options available.

If you want a central hub that doubles up as a home speaker as well, why not go for the Amazon Echo Show 10? It’s much better for listening to music and has a smaller 10-inch screen so you can place it on a kitchen counter or side table.

Another option is to buy a tablet that can be used as a smart display, that way you can take it on your commute for reading or working on the go. Then when you get home, you can put it on charge and transform it into a smart home hub for the whole family.

For Alexa users, any Amazon Fire tablet can transform into a smart display. The Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) is a good choice, it has a 10-inch screen and will be able to cope with most simple tasks like streaming, typing and web browsing.

If you’re a Google Assistant owner, the Pixel Tablet will be the best option for you. You can buy it with or without the charging dock.