Alexa or Echo Show for Grandparents

[Anonymous]

I had been asking my parents for Christmas ideas for them, and my mom suggested Alexa for my dad. Apparently he has mentioned wanting one a few times. I think it’s a great idea and I’m now trying to decide whether to get a traditional Alexa or an Echo Show. My parents are not particularly tech savvy but they do have an iPad that they use (including to FaceTime us.) I’m not sure they would use the echo show for video calls but maybe they would. But it looks like you can also look up recipes by video and other cool things like that. We have a regular Alexa so I’m just trying to get a sense of pros and cons. TIA for any thoughts!

[Anonymous]

I have both. I use the video features on the show to watch a recipe and to my kids use it to video call me on my phone (the Alexa app) and I can call them too. Otherwise they are pretty much the same. If I were to give one as a gift, I would do the show, it’s flashier.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! Sorry if I’m being dense but how would they call us from the show? Would it ring on my phone? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks! Sorry if I’m being dense but how would they call us from the show? Would it ring on my phone? Thanks!

Ask away and I will try to answer to the best of my abilities. Yes, The Alexa and the Echo Show are the same thing except the show has a screen and can stream videos. It is very nice because they can make calls from all of the devices and it will ring on your cell phone as a regular call. My husband set them up but they are tied to our cell phones so when my kids call me it’ll show that it’s coming from one of us. You can also have different profiles and the devices recognize the voice so it will play or make a call from who’s ever voice it recognizes.

[Anonymous]

Very helpful, thank you!