Echo Show 15 Family Command Center and Smart Calendar

When it comes to smart home devices it can be hard to choose what to use with so many options available these days.

I recently added the Amazon Echo Show 15 to my home primarily because I was looking for a smart calendar, so read on to learn more about it.

I am an Apple user, a Google user, and an Amazon user. All of their smart home devices have great quality and uses, and I cannot be loyal to only one because I have not found one company that can meet all of my needs.

I have a Nest doorbell, Google Wifi, Nest thermostat, and Nest cameras, and I use a Google Nest Hub to view my door and Nest intelligent devices.

I also own several Amazon Echos. But until recently, my Echos were used more as fun smart speakers since I had more Nest smart items in my home.

I love my Google Nest Hub, I really do, but as my kids get older and their activities get more complicated, I found I needed a family calendar in our kitchen that everyone in our family could see and access.

And, no, I would not write it on a whiteboard every day.

I tried to make this work with our Nest hub, but it would not display our combined calendars the way I was hoping.

Looking for a smart calendar

I wanted a smart calendar that could display our different calendars, including iCloud and Gmail, have a to do list, have a shopping list we could all add to verbally, have a checklist for school mornings to keep us organized, and an all around family command center.

Did such a thing exist?

So I took to my various mom groups and the internet to research where I could get the digital family organizer, communication hub, and smart wall calendar of my dreams.

I found some suggestions including the Dakboard. I had looked at the Dakboard before but wasn't too excited about adding another technology to my house.

And then I saw the suggestion to use the Amazon Echo Show 15 as a Dakboard alternative and smart calendar display (thanks, Peloton moms group!).

While I am familiar with the Amazon Echo and I have a few older ones, I have never owned an Echo Show, and I did not realize the latest one is 15" which is a large display for a smart device.

Once I checked it out and saw the features, and how it can work as a calendar I was pretty much sold. The final thing I needed to know was if it could display my Nest cams since I really love seeing who is at the door before I go to it.

I checked, and yep they can cross integrate now, and it does work with Nest cameras, and all of my other smart devices. So while I will still use my Google Nest Hub as a camera and to view my cameras, I am going to move it out of the kitchen and into another room.

I decided to wait till black Friday to buy it, but then Amazon had their early Prime day, and I jumped on the deal.

I also traded a few of my older Echos to get even more off on it.

If you are looking for one now and have echos sitting around be sure to try this! And with black Friday coming it will most likely be on sale.

I now have a Echo Show 15 and I love it! Here are some of the features I love:

The widgets. You can set the screen up however you like with the widgets available. There are widgets for many things but since my goal is family organization I went for the calendar, sticky notes, to do list, weather, smart home devices, shopping list, and family photos on top.

I am sure I will change this around from time to time.

It has many other fun, smart home features from Alexa, like recipes, shopping, tracking your orders from Amazon, streaming music, and TV with many services, including Fire TV coming to it later this year.

Personalization can be set up for each family member. All compatible smart home devices work on the screen, including picture-in-picture for camera feeds like the doorbell or a baby monitor camera.

The Echo Show 15 also has a camera that can be turned off with the shutter on the side.

Here is more information about the Echo Show 15 from Amazon:

• Alexa can show you even more – With a 15.6” Full HD (1080p) smart display and 5 MP camera, family organization and entertainment will look brilliant.
• At-a-glance organization – Use Alexa-powered widgets to keep the family on track with shared calendars, personal sticky notes, to-do lists, shopping lists, and assigned reminders.
• Alexa can help feed the fam – Get daily recipe ideas, cook along hands-free with step-by-step instructions, add ingredients to your shopping cart, or simply order meal kits or takeout.
• Your smart home at your fingertips – Add your most-used smart devices to the home screen for quick access, and see all compatible devices together on one dashboard.
• So much entertainment – Catch up on your favorites with Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, SLING TV, and more. Or stream music, podcasts, and audiobooks with Amazon Music, Spotify, and Audible. Pair your Echo Show 15 with other compatible Echo devices to enjoy a fuller sound.
• Your memories in full-screen - With the Photo Frame feature, you can use your Echo Show 15 to display your albums from Amazon Photos or Facebook.
• Your day, your way – Family members can create personal profiles and use visual ID and voice ID to see their specific appointments, reminders, recently played music, and more.
• Designed to protect your privacy – Amazon is not in the business of selling your personal information to others. Built with multiple layers of privacy controls including a mic/camera off button and a built-in camera shutter.

Mounting the Echo Show 15

Echo Show 15 can be mounted on a wall or displayed on a compatible stand (these are sold separately).

It can be mounted in landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) mode.

I have mine hanging vertically because I had no room in my kitchen for landscape. I would have probably preferred landscape for any TV watching I may want to do on it, but there was no room.

But the super cool thing about the mount included with the Echo is that you can easily slide the Echo Show out of it and back in using the other orientation. It works both ways! This is pretty clever.

So while I do not have the room for it to hang permanently, I can use it that way when I want to watch something. It won't usually be only because it extends beyond the wall.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a smart wall calendar or a family command center or organization system that is digital, the Amazon Echo Show 15 works great for this use and looks great.

Echo Show 15

Echo Show 15, Full HD 15.6" smart display for family organization with Alexa

Echo Show 15

Photo Credit: Amazon Associates

Echo Show 15 for use as a family command center and smart calendar

Buy on Amazon