Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen)
A compact 5.5-inch smart display that doubles as a desk clock, calendar, timer, and Alexa-powered command center for your home office.
Price may vary. As an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
What we like
- Perfect footprint for a corner of the desk — doesn't crowd your workspace
- Hands-free Alexa for timers, reminders, music, and smart home control
- Improved speaker over the 2nd gen — actually listenable for background music
- Customizable clock faces turn it into a beautiful desk clock when idle
- Cheap entry point into a connected office (lights, plugs, thermostat)
Could be better
- 5.5-inch screen is too small for serious video calls
- Built-in camera is only 2MP — fine for quick drop-ins, not meetings
- Requires an Amazon account and constant cloud connection
- Ads and product recommendations show up on the home screen by default
Full Review
The Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) is the smart display I keep recommending to people who want Alexa on their desk without committing $230 to an Echo Show 10. At fifty bucks, it’s a no-brainer addition to a home office — a clock, a timer, a calendar, a music player, and a smart home controller in one wedge-shaped puck.
Build and Footprint
The Show 5 is genuinely compact. The 5.5-inch screen sits at a fixed upward angle on a small wedge base, so it tucks into the back corner of a desk and doesn’t fight your monitor for attention. The fabric-covered back is more refined than the plastic 2nd gen, and at 14.6 oz it stays put without a non-slip pad. Power is a barrel connector (not USB-C, unfortunately) on a 5-foot cable.
As a Desk Assistant
This is where it earns its keep. “Alexa, set a 25-minute timer” for Pomodoros, “Alexa, what’s on my calendar?” before standups, “Alexa, remind me to send the invoice at 4 PM” — all faster than tapping a phone or opening a tab. The screen shows the timer counting down, which is genuinely useful versus a voice-only Echo. You can also pin a clock face as the default home screen and turn it into a glanceable desk clock instead of a billboard for Amazon Music.
Smart Home and Lighting
The Show 5 is a solid hub for a connected office. It pairs with Philips Hue, smart plugs, and Matter devices out of the box, and the touchscreen gives you quick toggles without digging through an app. If you’ve already got smart bulbs on your desk lamp or LED light bars behind the monitor, voice control through this thing makes the whole setup feel intentional instead of gimmicky.
Where It Falls Short
Don’t buy this for video calls. The 2MP camera and small screen are fine for a quick “drop in” with family, but it’s not a Zoom replacement. The default home screen also pushes Amazon content hard — you’ll want to dive into settings and disable rotating recommendations, news, and tips to make it feel like yours.
Who Should Buy This
Get the Echo Show 5 if you want hands-free timers, reminders, and smart home control on your desk for under $50, and you’re already in the Alexa ecosystem. If you want a serious video calling device, look at the Show 8 or a dedicated webcam-and-monitor setup instead. And if you’re privacy-conscious about always-listening cloud microphones, skip it entirely — a good analog desk clock and a physical timer will do the same job without the trade-off.
