Credit: Reviewed / Nick Woodward

The Amazon Echo Show 8 is the best smart display you can buy.

Credit: Reviewed / Rachel Murphy

The Google Nest Hub Max is the best smart display for Google Assistant.

How We Tested Smart Displays

The Tester

Hi, I’m Rachel and I write about smart-home for Reviewed. I live in a home full of smart speakers, home security cameras, smart lights, appliances, and more connected gadgets that work with smart assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. I’ve been using smart displays for several years now and spent hours on end digging through every feature available to help you make the right choice.

The Tests

Because every smart display has its strengths and features, our testing could not be standardized across each device. Instead, we tested smart displays in an actual smart home for several weeks with popular smart home gadgets like smart plugs, smart locks, security cameras, and appliances. We also tested smart displays for privacy settings, streaming services, video calling experiences, and individual features.

What You Should Know About Buying Smart Displays

What Can Smart Displays Do?

Credit: Reviewed / Rachel Murphy

Smart displays can also stream the live view from your home security camera and video doorbells.

The features vary by hub and ecosystem, but smart displays are more than just a pretty video portal for your countertop. The devices can show you who is at the front door as soon as someone rings the bell. They can also listen for breaking glass and barking dogs (potentially alerting you to home security threats), as well as provide visual reminders (like that late afternoon Zoom meeting you keep forgetting about).

Smart displays work with a variety of video and music streaming platforms. While the streaming lineup varies by ecosystem, popular services like Spotify, Apple Music, Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube are available.

Smart displays can also serve as digital keypads to disarm your home security system and to manually adjust the brightness and color of your smart bulbs and light strips. Some smart displays can also track your sleep, giving you detailed statistics about your nightly slumber habits.

Credit: Reviewed / Rachel Murphy

It’s easy to follow recipes when using a large smart display like the Echo Show 10 (pictured).

Most smart displays come with adaptive audio controls, so your assistant can hear you from across the room or over loud noises.

Power and Connectivity

Most smart displays plug into any standard electrical socket using the power cord included with your purchase. Battery-operated or not, all smart displays require a Wi-Fi connection for use (most support dual-band Wi-Fi). Bluetooth is also available.

Which Smart Display Should I Buy?

Choosing the best smart display for you and your household often comes down to which smart assistant you rely on to control your smart home—Alexa or Google Assistant. If you already have an Amazon Echo or Google Nest smart speaker in your home, for instance, you’ll want to choose a device that best incorporates it (i.e. one from Amazon or Google) Alexa is the world’s most popular voice assistant and can control thousands of smart home devices similar to Google Assistant. At the time of publication, Apple does not have a Siri-enabled smart display …….

Source: https://www.reviewed.com/smarthome/best-right-now/best-smart-displays