This is the BEST* Amazon Smart Home Dashboard! Echo Hub Review

I tested the new Echo Hub in my smart home! Here's the good, bad, and who it's designed for.

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FOLLOW ME

0:00 Intro
0:30 Design
1:47 Smart Home Controls
4:34 UI Design
6:14 What’s missing
8:04 Who is this for?
9:06 Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Start Select

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MUSIC
Doctor Momentum by Slynk
All of the music throughout is by Nihilore.

Ending song is The End by EVA.

alias: Dashboard cheat code
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
condition: []
action:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
target:
data: {}
enabled: true
- delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 10
milliseconds: 0
enabled: true
target:
data: {}
enabled: true
mode: single

[SmartHomeSolver]

By the way the cheat code at the end is a real automation. The YAML code in the description.

[Waterbottle]

The end actually made me lol. Great job!

[marcberm]

This is kind of what I've been waiting for, but not sure how compelled I feel to switch from what I'm currently using: A cheap Fire tablet with charging cradle, configured to keep the screen on and never sleep (developer settings). It's generally displaying the smart home favorites/dashboard most of the time. As a bonus it also serves as an extra/guest tablet for various uses, recipe lookups, etc.

[lmorgan]

I done made 3 cheat codes already. This is super fun to play around with and show my friends and family the fun parts of home automation using home assistant.

[joetutie]

Glad you addressed Amazon adding stuff to the home content on the echo shows. Also, no one seems to ever address the SPONSORED ADS added to the echo shows as well which is the real enemy bc you CANNOT REMOVE THEM! Still no option to buy the ads away either on those.

[jayg]

Amazon echo is not what it used to. They’re crap now. I have them all over the house. I hate using them.

[jiggaboohatenman]

I’m thinking about switch brands. Amazon is just constant ads now. That thing probably gives you them constantly

[SoCalVipers]

It wouldn't take much effort to make this great. But as it is, it's just ok. I just got mine last night so I have not had much time to play with it. I have 50 Insteon switches in the house. Trying to scroll through all 50 switches to get to what I want makes it a bit useless. I'll try to create groups like you demonstrated. I'm in the process of building a new house, so I need to decide now if this is worth the wall space.
My goal is a simple interface to quickly do a few things:
-buttons for a few common lighting scenes
-buttons to play my top three XM stations on the Sonos in the room
-quick access to the thermostats - that already seems to work :)

For now, this seems like the best solution for a person like me who doesn't have the time or patience to set up home assistant on a nice, reliable, wall mounted touch screen.

[BrettJ_Online]

I know it's their business, but I get so frustrated with my Echo Show and all the advertisement and suggestions they show on the screen. I just want the items I choose (weather, calendar, pictures, etc.). I dislkie Amazon putting game suggestions and other recommendations they feel I need to know about. Just let me set my preferences and let it be. I'm not big into home automation yet, but for what I do have, I'm migrtating away from Amazon and Google and migrating to Apple Home. I just bought my first HomePod Mini and my Phillips Hue bulbs work with it. And I've bought some Kasa smart plugs that I can assign as additional 'lights' to work with HomeKit. I just wish Apple had an 'Away' mode like Amazon does to turn on and off my lights randomly while away.

[jamesmonahan]

Thank you for a great review. Although I have many amazon devices i use i do not see this beneficial for me at this time. The time I spent setting up HA to get where I want could be a good reason for someone who wants an easier path to controlling their smart home. The other reason I would avoid is that I am not happy how Amazon is inserting more and more ads in the devices. And although the Hub may not have it now, the way Amazon is going it will be added eventually.

[MaliceVanRow]

While a decent concept for a dashboard, this thing still suffers with horrible lag and choppy UI.

[lasongablackwell]

I just ordered mines It's coming Friday excited It will be nice to have everything in one spot

[simonsayshomeassistant]

Great video! Interesting to see how Amazon is improving their smart home offering!

[jaystarr]

I need a black bezel, battery, and a proper dark mode.

[Luciano-idfm]

What is your opinion on the GoveeLife Human Presence Sensor?

[MrGrizfromDidsbury]

Thanks for the review. Just ordered mine here in the UK got the Email saying it is now available today! Plan to have a couple of these around the house one upstairs and one downstairs wall mounted. Looking to use the PoE functionality. I already have a Ring alarm system with about 25 sensors and 12 cameras (all PoE). My heating system also fully ties in with Alexa. Just hope they improve the UI over time.

[JamesMcCarty]

This is cool but I'm not sure I would have a use for it personally. I just find it quicker to tell Mrs. A what to do. Alexa, open the shades.

[TechWithBrett]

Congrats on 600k! Did you happen to test your HA dashboard in the Silk browser? I'm curious how that performs.

[gamergirl]

Will this go black when not in use? I want to put one in the bedroom but can’t stand light in the room at night

[johnszatkowski]

Where I disagree is if you use the Ring Alarm. Once you setup the proper GROUPS in the Alexa app this works really great! I use SmartThings, Wyze, Switchbot and many others that once GROUPS are set up you can access things WAY faster then the Alexa app or Echo show devices. With Ring alarm with a subscription and a group setup you can access ALL of your sensors on ONE page and see their status open/closed and now with the latest updates can set/disarm the system using the onscreen keypad on the hub which is WAY cool or use the standard voice commands as before. I was looking for a keypad replacement and the Echo Hub does that for me.

Even with the latest updates I do NOT think the Echo Hub is for everyone but with the right equipment (Ring Alarm) and others this is the cats MEOW for home control at a glance for the average user without coding or using Home Assistant which requires more knowledge and time and can do most of what needs to be done for a "Smart Home"

Hopefully Amazon continues to build on this platform and has ALOT of potential IMO!