Google has launched a nest hub in India a few months after Amazon introduced echo show 5. Both are smart displays that cost in less than 10,000 rupees.
One response to Alexa while the other responds to ok Google. One has a 7 inch touchscreen display, and the other has a 5 inch touchscreen display. But the question is which one should you get.
Let’s examine the evidence.
The Google nest hub has a 7 inch LCD screen and the Amazon echo show 5 has, well you guessed it a 5 inch LCD screen. But the difference in quality is easy to tell. Colors on the nest hub look more lifelike, while colors on the echo show file are somewhat washed out. If you’re trying to watch a lot of online video clips on this device or use it primarily as a digital photo frame, you should consider the nest hub seriously.
What’s more?
The nest hub can dim its display to a near zero whereas the echo show files bright display could bother you at night. The quality of sound is more or less the same on both smart displays. There’s a single speaker driver inside on both devices, which is best used for casual music playback. That said the nest of manages to offer more volume while the echo show 5 hands low frequencies slightly better but the echo show 5 has the upper hand in the audio department because it features a 3.5 mm audio jack for audio line out. With that the echo show 5 can be hooked up easily to a pair of external speakers. What about set up both smart displays have a smartphone app on Android and iOS to help the setting up and adding features. The Google Nest hub will ask you to download and open the Google home app to get started with the initial setup. Without it you just can’t set up the nest hub. At the time of setup your smartphone and the nest hub need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. The Amazon echo show 5 on the other hand, does not need the Amazon Alexa app for initial setup but needs it for adding new skills.
In other words it’s easier for newbies to set up the echo show 5 compared to the nest hub. Sadly in the name of privacy and all that the Google Nest hub doesn’t come with any cameras on it so you can’t video call anybody with it however you can set up google duo on it with the Google home app and make voice calls the Amazon echo on the other hand has a 1 megapixel front camera with a physical shutter for privacy.
So after a few minutes of setup on the Amazon Alexa app you can use the echo to drop in on your contacts. The Google Nest hub is powered by Google assistant while the Amazon echo show 5 is powered by Amazon Alexa.
In our experience Google assistant is good for weather info, musics, jokes and reminders. But Amazon Alexa can do more like book a taxi and order food. The only problem is that you’d have to use the painful Amazon Alexa app to claim the assistant first with those skills. It’s hard to call Amazon Alexa a more powerful assistant than Google uses too but we feel you will find Alexa a friendlier voice to talk to.
So which one should you get then?
The nest hub is an extremely well engineered product in that it has a better display quality materials all around and an easy to use on-screen interface but the Amazon echo show 5 scores more points in our box for practicality. It has a front-facing video calling camera with the option of going private and a 3.5 mm audio jack for line out, giving you the option to upgrade the audio setup while retaining the power of Alexa. Also the echo show 5 is easier to set up so if you’re new to the world of smart displays we think the Amazon echo show 5 is the one you should pick.
What’s more?
You’ll save yourself a full thousand rupees.
