When you place a smart display in a clear line of sight, you can use it to help you out with recipes in the kitchen, drop in on your security cameras, control the best smart home devices, host video chats, watch videos, and more. Meta (formerly Facebook) also has a line of Portal smart displays. In other words, there are plenty of options on the market to choose from. See all the best smart displays we’ve tested below.
The best smart displays you can buy today
The $99 Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen) is a speaker for music, screen for the best Google Assistant commands and a communication center. And it’s the only smart display that tracks your sleep, too. When positioned on your nightstand, the upgraded Google Nest Hub uses the Soli radar sensing chip to see how you’re sleeping at night. It’s a little creepy, but the contactless tracking abilities will let you forget it’s there. Soli’s superpowers also enable air gestures, letting you pause and play YouTube videos or snooze an alarm. These gestures don’t work all the time, but are useful when they do. As for sound, we’d consider it one of the best Google Home speakers in terms of audio quality, delivering a significant improvement over the first-generation Google Nest Hub. However, it lacks a camera, so it’s not the best smart speaker if you want to make video calls. Read our full Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen) review. The Echo Show’s 10-inch display is the best smart speaker for taking advantage of the best Alexa skills. This display is the same size and resolution (1280 x 800) as previous models, but the Echo Show 10 has a special trait: the screen rotates so that you’re always the center of its attention. It also has a digital pan-and zoom; this way when you know how to make a video call using the Echo Show, the 13MP camera will keep you in frame as you’re bouncing around the kitchen or managing multiple people in a single household. This might sound a little creepy, but our experience felt more intuitive than we expected. It’s not following you all the time — just when you use your assistant’s wake word. The large display also acts like a hub for your collection of smart home devices, so you can control them easily on a single interface. The Echo Show 8 delivers visuals and audio far better than its price would suggest. And, for the same price as the first version, the new Echo Show 8 has an upgraded 13-megapixel camera for higher-quality video chats. It also adopted the digital pan-and-zoom abilities of the Show 10. While the display can’t physically rotate to keep you in frame, the new wide-angle lens can center you like the Google Nest Hub Max and the Facebook Portal can. The Google Nest Hub Max is not just one of the best smart displays but it’s also a great-sounding smart speaker — it has two 18-millimeter, 10-Watt tweeters and one 75-millimeter, 30-Watt woofer. When it comes to the display, touch controls or hands-free with voice commands will let you follow step-by-step recipes, control your smart home devices, and get a glimpse at how long your commute will be each morning. You can watch Netflix on the Google Nest Hub Max and actually see what’s happening, too. You can use the Nest Hub Max’s camera to make video calls, with a clever motion-tracking feature that will keep you in the center of the frame as you move about a room. It’s a game-changer when you’re in the kitchen prepping food, and can’t stay still in front of the display. We wish the camera had a physical privacy switch like the mechanism on the Echo Show displays, though. Read our full Google Nest Hub Max review. It also lacks the more advanced camera tracking found in the Echo Show 10, and its speakers are on the weak side. However, the Echo Show 15 got a big upgrade, and is now a full-fledged Fire TV device, which works great. The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 isn’t Lenovo’s first Google Assistant smart display, but it’s the company’s best smart display for nightstands with a highly compact design and an appealing base accessory. The clock doubles as a nightlight and wireless phone charger, and it has a USB-A port, making it the only piece of tech you need by your bedside. It’s not as sophisticated as some of the other smart displays on this list, with no cameras for video calls and a small interface dedicated mostly to showing photos or the time. But in the case of the Lenovo Smart Clock 2, less is more. Thanks to a simple-yet-modern design, this smart display can even pass for decor. The alarm clock needn’t be sophisticated — what more does someone need than to see the time and be alerted when to wake? Despite the company facing numerous privacy scandals in recent years, Facebook (now called Meta) sells a compelling smart display. The $179 Facebook Portal looks more like one of the best digital picture frames than the Echo Show or Nest Hub displays, complete with a matte border and option to rotate the orientation. Read our full Facebook Portal (2nd Gen) review.
How to choose the best smart display for you
The best smart display for you depends on your needs. Do you want a kitchen assistant that can walk you step-by-step through recipes, or something that replaces your alarm clock? Are you searching for a display to keep your family organized, or do you just want a way to start video calls using your voice? If you want a “starter” smart display, one of the more affordable options like the Google Nest Hub or Echo Show 8 are best. They’re usually easy to set up, and come with all the skills you need to stay entertained and connected. Mountable smart displays are more permanent, while the Echo Show 10 and Nest Hub Max options are pricey, so you’ll want to know you have a use for smart displays before making a large investment or putting nails in your wall.
How we test the best smart displays
We rate the best smart displays based on ease of setup, performance, voice assistant features, speaker quality and value. When the smart displays have a camera for video calls, we review the camera quality. We see how well each display’s auto-framing abilities work as well.
title: “The Best Smart Displays In 2023” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-21” author: “Janell Ortega”
When you place a smart display in a clear line of sight, you can use it to help you out with recipes in the kitchen, drop in on your security cameras, control the best smart home devices, host video chats, watch videos, and more. Meta (formerly Facebook) also has a line of Portal smart displays. In other words, there are plenty of options on the market to choose from. See all the best smart displays we’ve tested below.
The best smart displays you can buy today
The $99 Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen) is a speaker for music, screen for the best Google Assistant commands and a communication center. And it’s the only smart display that tracks your sleep, too. When positioned on your nightstand, the upgraded Google Nest Hub uses the Soli radar sensing chip to see how you’re sleeping at night. It’s a little creepy, but the contactless tracking abilities will let you forget it’s there. Soli’s superpowers also enable air gestures, letting you pause and play YouTube videos or snooze an alarm. These gestures don’t work all the time, but are useful when they do. As for sound, we’d consider it one of the best Google Home speakers in terms of audio quality, delivering a significant improvement over the first-generation Google Nest Hub. However, it lacks a camera, so it’s not the best smart speaker if you want to make video calls. Read our full Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen) review. The Echo Show’s 10-inch display is the best smart speaker for taking advantage of the best Alexa skills. This display is the same size and resolution (1280 x 800) as previous models, but the Echo Show 10 has a special trait: the screen rotates so that you’re always the center of its attention. It also has a digital pan-and zoom; this way when you know how to make a video call using the Echo Show, the 13MP camera will keep you in frame as you’re bouncing around the kitchen or managing multiple people in a single household. This might sound a little creepy, but our experience felt more intuitive than we expected. It’s not following you all the time — just when you use your assistant’s wake word. The large display also acts like a hub for your collection of smart home devices, so you can control them easily on a single interface. The Echo Show 8 delivers visuals and audio far better than its price would suggest. And, for the same price as the first version, the new Echo Show 8 has an upgraded 13-megapixel camera for higher-quality video chats. It also adopted the digital pan-and-zoom abilities of the Show 10. While the display can’t physically rotate to keep you in frame, the new wide-angle lens can center you like the Google Nest Hub Max and the Facebook Portal can. The Google Nest Hub Max is not just one of the best smart displays but it’s also a great-sounding smart speaker — it has two 18-millimeter, 10-Watt tweeters and one 75-millimeter, 30-Watt woofer. When it comes to the display, touch controls or hands-free with voice commands will let you follow step-by-step recipes, control your smart home devices, and get a glimpse at how long your commute will be each morning. You can watch Netflix on the Google Nest Hub Max and actually see what’s happening, too. You can use the Nest Hub Max’s camera to make video calls, with a clever motion-tracking feature that will keep you in the center of the frame as you move about a room. It’s a game-changer when you’re in the kitchen prepping food, and can’t stay still in front of the display. We wish the camera had a physical privacy switch like the mechanism on the Echo Show displays, though. Read our full Google Nest Hub Max review. It also lacks the more advanced camera tracking found in the Echo Show 10, and its speakers are on the weak side. However, the Echo Show 15 got a big upgrade, and is now a full-fledged Fire TV device, which works great. The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 isn’t Lenovo’s first Google Assistant smart display, but it’s the company’s best smart display for nightstands with a highly compact design and an appealing base accessory. The clock doubles as a nightlight and wireless phone charger, and it has a USB-A port, making it the only piece of tech you need by your bedside. It’s not as sophisticated as some of the other smart displays on this list, with no cameras for video calls and a small interface dedicated mostly to showing photos or the time. But in the case of the Lenovo Smart Clock 2, less is more. Thanks to a simple-yet-modern design, this smart display can even pass for decor. The alarm clock needn’t be sophisticated — what more does someone need than to see the time and be alerted when to wake? Despite the company facing numerous privacy scandals in recent years, Facebook (now called Meta) sells a compelling smart display. The $179 Facebook Portal looks more like one of the best digital picture frames than the Echo Show or Nest Hub displays, complete with a matte border and option to rotate the orientation. Read our full Facebook Portal (2nd Gen) review.
How to choose the best smart display for you
The best smart display for you depends on your needs. Do you want a kitchen assistant that can walk you step-by-step through recipes, or something that replaces your alarm clock? Are you searching for a display to keep your family organized, or do you just want a way to start video calls using your voice? If you want a “starter” smart display, one of the more affordable options like the Google Nest Hub or Echo Show 8 are best. They’re usually easy to set up, and come with all the skills you need to stay entertained and connected. Mountable smart displays are more permanent, while the Echo Show 10 and Nest Hub Max options are pricey, so you’ll want to know you have a use for smart displays before making a large investment or putting nails in your wall.
How we test the best smart displays
We rate the best smart displays based on ease of setup, performance, voice assistant features, speaker quality and value. When the smart displays have a camera for video calls, we review the camera quality. We see how well each display’s auto-framing abilities work as well.
