← All guides

Smart Displays

Echo Show 10 vs Nest Hub Max: Ten Rounds, One Winner

2022 · From the Tech with Asher channel · Watch below or read on

Two flagship smart displays, one desk, ten rounds. I own both the Echo Show 10 and the Nest Hub Max and use them daily in different rooms, so this is not a spec-sheet comparison; it is a where-does-each-one-actually-belong comparison.

Round one: movement

The Echo Show 10 rotates 270 degrees, tilts up and down, and follows you around the room. Say the wake word and it turns to face you; walk to the stove and the recipe comes along. (It can also get to be much, and yes, you can disable the motion with a swipe, which I sometimes do when it will not stop looking at me.) The Nest Hub Max is stationary with a fixed tilt. If a moving screen sounds like a gimmick, spend one afternoon cooking with it; if it still sounds like a gimmick, the Hub Max is fine.

Round two: buttons and the camera question

The Show 10 has real controls: do-not-disturb on top, volume, and a physical shutter you slide across the camera. Look at it and you know the camera cannot see you. The Hub Max has one button on the back, and it is a software-controlled block, so you are trusting an indicator, not a cover. From a peace-of-mind standpoint, the Show 10 wins this round outright, and in a bedroom or living room that round counts double.

Round three: cameras and calls

Thirteen megapixels on the Show against six on the Hub Max. Both make video calls, but the Show tracks you as you move, and there is a trick worth knowing: from the Alexa app you can remotely view through the camera and actually rotate the screen 270 degrees to look around the room. The Hub Max shows you only its one fixed angle. (Neither cooperated with AirPlay for me; if yours did, tell me in the comments.)

Round four: connections

Neither supports Wi-Fi 6 yet, but the Show 10 also speaks Zigbee and Sidewalk, so it can directly connect more devices, bulbs, doorbells, sensors, without extra hubs. The Hub Max connects plenty too, but the Show is the better bridge.

Round five: where they ended up in my house

The Hub Max lives in the living room, where the big screen instantly shows whoever rings the Nest doorbell. The Echo Show 10 lives on my bedside table, where the tilt-by-hand screen is genuinely comfortable, and it would be equally at home on a kitchen counter. That split is the honest answer: they are both winners in the right room.

The sound, and the verdict

Both carry stereo speakers with a tweeter. The Hub Max is crisp and loud; to my ear the Show 10 is the richer listen, and the sound test in the video lets you judge. Overall winner: the Echo Show 10, on movement, the shutter, the camera, and the sound. But if your doorbell, thermostat, and cameras all say Nest, the Hub Max is the screen that ties your particular home together.