Echo Show 15 Adds Sling TV Streaming Service
Amazon Echo Show 15 smart displays can now stream content from Sling TV. The Alexa-enabled additional streaming service offers both live and archived content, further blurring the line between television and smart display as evident when the Echo Show 15 debuted last year.
Echo Sling
Sling TV subscribers in the U.S. can operate the service with voice controls through Alexa, asking the voice assistant to open the app and change to different streaming and live stations once they’ve logged into their account. Users can also pick channels using the 15.6-inch touchscreen. The Echo Show 15 is Sling’s first Amazon smart display appearance, but the presentation last year promised that other Echo Shows will gain access later on. Sling is already Alexa-enabled on Amazon TVs and linked with Google Assistant on the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max smart displays back in late 2019.
“Echo Show offers Sling users valuable solutions like voice control through Alexa,” Sling senior vice president of product and operations Seth Van Sickel said. “With Sling, Echo Show can function more like a traditional television with linear channels. It bridges the gap for cord-cutters so they can go about their lives, whether that’s meal prepping in the kitchen or working out, without missing a second of their favorite live sports, news and entertainment.”
TV Display
Van Sickel’s description of the Echo Show becoming more like a regular TV is apt, judging from the way the two types of devices are edging into each other. The Echo Show 15 can serve as a smart home hub for controlling devices and otherwise perform like its smaller cousins. But it’s large enough to be wall-mounted the 1080p Full HD screen makes it suitable as a television too. Coming from the other direction, the recent line of Amazon-built smart TVs include far-field microphones and make Alexa responsive even when the TV is off. Aside from the touchscreen, it’s not as easy to delineate which device to use for a task they can both handle.
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