Amazon Echo Look – The Buying Guide and Review for 2020

Getting Set Up

No device is much use if it’s a grind to set up. Things couldn’t be much more straightforward with Echo Look.

Plug in your device, and fire up the Echo Look app. This is available for iOS (9 and above) and Android (Lollipop and above).

Select Add New Device and pair it then choose a WiFi network for Alexa to make use of.

It really is as simple as that so you’re up and running.

How does Echo Look look, though?

Design and Build

The immediate impression you’ll get is more security camera than selfie camera but we think the utilitarian look is more than fit for purpose.

What counts is how Echo Look looks at you and, as you’ll see below, it punches above its weight as a camera so you’ll have no complaints there.

Assuming you don’t mind the stark aesthetic, build quality is as you would expect from Amazon and you’ll be back by a 1-year warranty with servicing thrown in. You shouldn’t expect Echo Look to let you down, though.

It’s All About You… Voice Activated Photos

Let’s face it, if you’re going to invest in Echo Look, you won’t be taking more than a passing glance at its form.

Ask Alexa to take some snapshots and you’ll be up and running.

The camera fires off a number of pictures and you’ll be picked out with the image blurred. You can make editing tweaks in-app.

Photos are sent to your cellphone in seconds flat.

Video is standardized and you’ll get a straight 6-second loop so you can check yourself out from all angles.

As with any device like this, you need to keep your expectations realistic. You’re obviously not going to get the same image quality that a DSLR camera will return but photo and video more than passes muster.

Picture Quality In More Depth

Do the selfies you snap from your cellphone often disappoint?

Maybe you always hate the angle of the camera and the way it makes you look?

If so, you’ll love the way Echo Look captures clean and honest images so you really will look how you imagine you look rather than some warped fish-eye distortion.

At 5 megapixels, you’re not going to carry off any photography prizes but you’ll get a picture consistent with something you’d expect from an iPhone 5. Not great but not bad and what you see is what you get.

While the underlying image is accurate, technology kicks in with the integrated LED lighting and the way the background gets blurred out so you’ll stand out yourself. You can make changes to the settings in-app tweaking everything from saturation and depth through warmth and brightness.

Style Check: What’s It All About?

With the photo basics mastered in minutes, how can you make the most out of Echo Look when it comes to your wardrobe?

The answer comes in the form of Style Check.

Imagine that typical evening as you’re running late for dinner at your favorite restaurant…

Which outfit looks best? You’ve asked your husband but he was non-committal, and you’re torn between a pair of dresses.

Well, those days are over.

Submit a picture of you wearing both outfits to Echo Look and wait for the verdict from Style Check. Sure, this is in many ways just a fun method of getting a second opinion. Thing is, that’s often all you need when you’re torn between 2 outfits.

While it might be underpinned by an arbitrary algorithm, you can teach Echo Look what you like. That way, you’ll get advice based on shapes and colors you’re happy with. The last you want is being uncomfortable with your wardrobe.

If you fancy a little more human input and you don’t mind the implication of sharing photos, you can directly ask advice of Amazon’s team of specialists so you can really embrace that personal shopping experience without needing to leave home.

How About Your Security?

Maybe you vaguely remember reading about these kind of camera devices being hacked or in some way compromised.

Well, you’re in luck with Echo Look.

Any time you want, just hit the button on the right of the body and you can deactivate the camera for your own peace of mind. Remember if you do this, the device will also automatically mute so you won’t be able to engage Alexa until you re-enable it.

The Speaker: Is It Really That Bad?

Sadly, yes.

Sound quality is shocking if you want to do anything beyond listening to a quick traffic report.

In the interests of fairness, Echo Look is not marketed as a dedicated speaker so, while disappointing, the poor soundscape is not really such a deal-breaker.

As long as you know front and center you’ll be getting a tinny underperformer, you can embrace Style Check and the features where Amazon spent their R&D money well.

Verdict

As with many niche devices, Amazon Echo Look is not for everyone.

It’s a shame that so many online review sites try to steer toward a product that wouldn’t be suitable for you. That’s not why we’re here.

We’d strongly urge you to reconsider, in fact, if you’re planning to buy Echo Look primarily as a speaker or Alexa device. Not only is this is a pricey way to achieve that, you’ll also find the speaker woefully lacking and Alexa functionality restricted.

If, however, you find yourself wasting hours on end agonizing over what to wear and you’ve always fancied a personal shopper but you’re too busy to go out and see one or you think they’re too expensive, you could argue that buying Echo Look will actually save you money. After all, time is your most precious asset by far. Wasting hours torn between 2 tops will be a thing of the past with Echo Look.

So…

In terms of hitting its intended target, Echo Look is an unqualified success.

Check one out today if you’re always stuck between outfits and you could do with a helping digital hand.

Come back next week for our review of Echo Connect to round out the current stable of Echo devices that just keeps going from strength to strength.