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The 3 Best Smart Displays (2023): Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

Posted on July 4, 2023

The 3 Best Smart Displays (2023): Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa

  • Google Nest Hub
    Photograph: Google

    Do You Need a Smart Display?

    The Pros and Cons

    Smart displays are helpful, acting as hubs for your smart home devices, walking you through recipes while you chop away in the kitchen, and in some cases allowing you to video chat hands-free too. But we're not sure how long they'll be worth it, or even exist, in their current form. Meta's Portals that we liked are also no longer available. Google recently stopped issuing software updates for some third-party displays (more on that below), and it seems to have shifted focus to its new Pixel Tablet, which is a tablet that moonlights as a smart display (you can also read about it below).

    Amazon seems to be continuing with new smart displays, but a recent report claimed the company lost $10 billion last year thanks to failures around the Alexa voice assistant. The company also laid off 18,000 people in 2022 and another 9,000 this year, and the Alexa team was purportedly hit hard.

    The future of these smart home devices isn't clear right now, but if you're going to get one, we suggest sticking with devices directly from the brand whose voice assistant you prefer. Otherwise, consider one of our favorite tablets instead.

  • Photograph: Best Buy

    Best Overall

    Google Nest Hub Max

    The Google Nest Hub Max is a great all-around smart display. It has an unobtrusive design, a 10-inch touchscreen display, some pretty good speakers, and a camera for video calls over Google Duo or non-Google services like Zoom. The camera can also identify individual members of the house and shows personal information only pertaining to each person. Just know you'll need the right amount of space for it, and while you can turn the camera off, you may want to pick up a privacy cover to block it when it's not in use.

    Google now has a guest mode that allows you to enjoy all the voice assistant's features without saving anything to your account or showing personalized results—just say, “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode." If you use multiple Google speakers, be aware that you'll no longer be able to adjust the volume for all of them at once, at least for now, thanks to a lawsuit from Sonos.

    ★ A camera-free alternative: Google’s second-gen Nest Hub ($100) (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is a great option if you don't need a camera and don’t mind a smaller 7-inch screen. It has a wake-up alarm that emulates the rising sun for gentler mornings, and it has sleep-sensing tech to track your sleep quality, though that only works for the person sleeping closest to the Hub. It also supports gestures—like playing or pausing a video with a hand movement—by using the unique radar tech.

    $229 at Target
    $230 at Best Buy
    $229 at Walmart

  • Photograph: Amazon

    If You Prefer Alexa

    Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen)

    The second-generation Echo Show 8 is the middle child in the Show family, smaller than the 10 and bigger than the 5, but we think it's the best choice for most people. Generally, 8 inches is a great size for a smart display. It won't be hard to read recipes in the kitchen or watch movies on this screen, and it won't take up the entire counter in small kitchens. It has the same pixel density as the larger Echo Show 10, so it's a sharp screen.

    WIRED reviewer Parker Hall says it's a solid speaker and does all the expected smart display tasks like controlling smart home products and video chatting (yes, there's a camera). He particularly loves the timer setting, where you can see it count down. It doesn't swivel to follow you around the room like the Echo Show 10, but the camera does have auto-pan and zoom features to keep you centered in the frame during video calls (as long as you don't wander too far out of view). The camera has a shutter for when you aren't using it.

    $130 at Amazon
    $130 at Target
    $130 at Best Buy

  • Photograph: Google

    Best Upgrade

    Google Pixel Tablet

    You might be wondering—what's a tablet doing in a smart displays guide? Well, with the help of the included speaker hub, the Google Pixel Tablet (7/10, WIRED Recommends) can double as a smart display when it's docked. When placed on the hub, it activates Hub Mode, and you can display photos from your Google Photos library or choose a few different snazzy clocks designs. You can easily control smart home devices by tapping on the Google Home icon on the lock screen, which will pull up an overlay of your favorite smart home devices and controls—even check camera feeds on doorbells and Wi-Fi cameras without having to go to the home screen. (This feature is only available while docked so your camera feeds are safe from strangers if you take the tablet out and about with you.) The dock's built-in speakers have robust sound with surprisingly decent bass too.

    The Pixel Tablet obviously costs much more than our other picks in this guide. But you get both a handy smart display and a tablet to binge movies on when someone else in the household is hogging the TV. The multi-user support lets you add up to eight accounts, each of which can have custom apps, layouts, and wallpapers all protected by fingerprint. It's a tablet for the whole family.

    $499 at Amazon
    $499 at Target
    $499 at Best Buy

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