Amazon Fall 2023 Event: Every Smart Home Announcement Ranked
Amazon held its annual fall hardware event on September 20, 2023, and as usual, they announced a pile of new devices. Some are genuinely interesting, some are iterative updates, and at least one big promise should be taken with a massive grain of salt. Here's every smart home announcement, ranked by how much it actually matters.
1. Echo Hub — The Wall-Mounted Smart Home Panel ($179.99)
This is the most interesting announcement by far. The Echo Hub is an 8-inch touchscreen designed to be mounted on your wall as a dedicated smart home control panel. Think of it as an Echo Show that's purpose-built for controlling your home rather than watching videos or making calls.
It supports Zigbee, Thread, Matter, and Bluetooth, so it can act as a hub for a wide range of devices. The interface is redesigned for smart home control — you get a dashboard with quick controls for lights, cameras, locks, and routines, along with a customizable favorites panel.
Why this matters: dedicated wall panels have been a gap in the smart home market. Solutions like the Brilliant Smart Home Control ($300+) exist but are expensive and have limited ecosystems. The Echo Hub at $180 is a much more accessible option, and Amazon's device compatibility is unmatched.
The catch is that it requires hardwired power (no battery), so installation means either running a cable to an outlet or replacing an existing light switch junction box. Amazon sells a wall mount kit separately. It's not as clean as a flush-mounted panel, but it's practical.
Verdict: Genuinely exciting. If you want a central control panel without spending $300+ on a Brilliant or hacking together a tablet setup, this is the first real mainstream option.
2. Eero Max 7 — WiFi 7 Mesh Router ($599.99)
Amazon's Eero mesh system is getting a WiFi 7 upgrade with the Eero Max 7. It supports tri-band WiFi 7 with speeds up to 4.3 Gbps, has two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and includes a built-in Zigbee and Thread radio for smart home device connectivity.
WiFi 7 brings several meaningful improvements: Multi-Link Operation (MLO) lets devices use multiple frequency bands simultaneously for more stable connections, and 320 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band provide massive bandwidth. For smart homes with dozens of connected devices, the capacity improvements matter more than the raw speed numbers.
At $600 for a single unit (likely $1,000+ for a multi-pack), this is firmly in the premium tier. Most people don't need WiFi 7 yet — WiFi 6 or 6E is plenty for current smart home devices. But if you're building a new home or doing a major network overhaul, future-proofing with WiFi 7 isn't unreasonable.
Verdict: Great hardware, but overkill for most homes today. Wait for WiFi 7 to come to the mid-range Eero models in 2024.
3. Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) — Solid Iterative Update ($149.99)
The new Echo Show 8 gets a faster processor, improved spatial audio with a wider sound stage, and a centered camera for better video calls. The design is refined — slightly rounder edges and a new "glacier white" color option alongside charcoal.
Amazon also added an adaptive content feature that changes what's displayed based on your proximity. When you're across the room, it shows large widgets like weather and time. As you get closer, it shifts to more detailed information and controls. It's a nice touch that makes the Show 8 more useful as an ambient display.
The audio improvement is the real story here. The 2nd gen Echo Show 8 sounded decent but flat. The 3rd gen has noticeably wider stereo separation and better bass response. It's still not going to replace a dedicated speaker, but for a kitchen counter device that also plays music, it's a meaningful upgrade.
Verdict: If you're buying your first Echo Show, get this one. If you already have the 2nd gen, there's no compelling reason to upgrade.
4. Ring Stick Up Cam Pro — Indoor/Outdoor Versatility ($179.99)
Ring's new Stick Up Cam Pro adds 3D Motion Detection with radar-based sensing, Bird's Eye View (an overhead map showing motion paths), and HDR video. It's battery-powered with an optional solar panel or plug-in adapter, and works both indoors and outdoors.
The 3D Motion Detection is the standout feature — it uses radar to detect motion direction and distance, which dramatically reduces false alerts from things like passing cars, tree shadows, and animals. The Bird's Eye View shows you where exactly someone walked on an overhead map of your property, which is genuinely useful for security.
These features were previously only available on the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 and Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, so bringing them to a versatile indoor/outdoor camera is a nice move. You'll need a Ring Protect subscription ($3.99/month or $39.99/year per camera) to get the full benefits though.
Verdict: A solid camera if you're in the Ring ecosystem. The radar-based motion detection is a real improvement over PIR-only detection.
5. Blink Outdoor 4 — Person Detection Finally ($99.99)
Blink's budget cameras have always been appealing for their two-year battery life and low price, but they've lacked the intelligence of Ring cameras. The Blink Outdoor 4 finally adds on-device person detection, so you can filter alerts to only notify you when a person is detected rather than every time a car passes or a squirrel runs by.
Person detection works on-device without requiring a subscription, which is a notable advantage over Ring. You can still get cloud storage with a Blink subscription ($3/month per camera or $10/month for unlimited cameras), or save clips to a local USB drive via the Blink Sync Module 2.
Verdict: Person detection was the missing piece for Blink. At $100 with no required subscription, this is one of the best budget outdoor cameras you can buy.
6. Echo Frames (3rd Gen) — Smart Glasses, Take Three ($269.99)
Amazon's smart glasses get updated with better audio, a new design with more style options, and improved microphone performance. They're essentially open-ear speakers built into glasses frames with Alexa voice control.
I've tried previous generations, and the fundamental issue remains: the audio quality is mediocre (it has to be — these are tiny speakers in glasses arms), and talking to Alexa in public feels awkward. They're a niche product for people who want hands-free Alexa access and don't mind the audio tradeoffs.
Verdict: Cool concept, still niche. Most people are better served by earbuds.
7. Alexa LLM — The Big Promise (No Ship Date)
Amazon announced that Alexa is being rebuilt on a large language model, enabling more natural conversations, follow-up questions without repeating the wake word, and more complex multi-step requests. The demos looked impressive — asking Alexa to "make my living room feel like a movie theater" and having it dim lights, close blinds, and start the TV.
Here's why I'm skeptical: Amazon has a long history of announcing Alexa features at these events that ship months or years later, or never ship at all. Remember Alexa Guard Plus? Alexa Conversations? The "Alexa, take me home" driving feature? All announced with great fanfare, and either delayed significantly or quietly abandoned.
The LLM-powered Alexa was announced without a firm ship date, described as "coming soon" with an early access program. As of this writing, it still hasn't broadly rolled out. I'll be excited about it when I can actually use it, but I'm not holding my breath.
There's also the question of how it'll be monetized. Multiple reports suggest Amazon is considering a $5-10/month subscription for the advanced AI features. Free Alexa is already pretty capable — it's unclear how many people will pay monthly for a smarter version.
Verdict: Potentially transformative, but I'll believe it when it ships. Don't buy new hardware based on this promise.
Overall Event Takeaway
This was a solid but unspectacular event. The Echo Hub is the clear standout — it fills a real gap in the market and is priced aggressively. The Blink Outdoor 4 finally makes Blink cameras competitive with Ring for basic security. Everything else is iterative.
My advice: if you want an Echo Hub, go for it — it's a genuinely new product category for Amazon. For everything else, wait for Black Friday. Amazon discounts its own hardware aggressively during the holiday season, and everything announced here will almost certainly be on sale within two months.