The Echo Show now has a decent slideshow capability thanks to Amazon
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| The Echo Show now has a decent slideshow capability thanks to Amazon |
When it comes to exhibiting your photos, Google's Nest Hub or a dedicated digital photo frame have always outperformed Amazon Echo Show smart displays. This is due to the fact that Amazon clutters the screen with dubious beneficial information and alternates your gorgeous photographs with recommendations for the newest Alexa skills you might like to try, an egg salad recipe, or tidbits of news about tomatoes with duck-shaped seeds.
However, starting on August 5th, you can now ask your Echo Show to display only your images for a full three hours.
Previously exclusive to the Echo Show 15, Amazon's digital photo frame function is now accessible on all Echo smart displays in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia.
Simply say "Alexa, start Photo Frame" to launch a three-hour slideshow of your Facebook photos, Amazon Photos, or a selection of stock photos. (Read my post on how to utilise your Echo Show as a digital photo frame if you're interested in learning how to get your photos to appear in these albums.)
Importantly, this new Photo Frame option transforms into a slideshow of only photos by hiding all advertisements, calendars, and weather notifications. The only information that can be seen is a tiny dateline in the bottom right corner that indicates the album and the date the photo was taken.
The Echo Show's device settings in the Alexa app let you specify which albums the Photo Frame mode will use. Daily Memories, This Day, Favorites, Recents, and more selections that draw from your Amazon Photos account are available when you scroll down to Photo Display. You can also connect your Facebook account here and upload photos taken with your iPad or smartphone.
Without having to recall a specific album name or seeing the same pictures repeatedly, Photo Frame makes it simple to begin a slideshow. No matter how many of the over 30 homescreen content options you turn off in the device's settings, it's still nicer to see your photos displayed on an Echo Show than on the standard homescreen, where a large clock takes up a quarter of the image and occasionally interrupts the flow with an ad for an Alexa service. The one thing that really irritates me right now is why it will only do this for three hours before switching back to the usual homescreen's information overload. Just give us the choice to leave it on continuously.
Update, August 11, at 7:52 PM Eastern Time: The earlier version of this article indicated the Photo Frame function would now be available on Fire TVs, but it was false information supplied by Amazon. Only Echo Show devices have it. In addition, Germany rather than Denmark offers the feature.
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