• 

  This Echo Show 8 is handling a group video call. [credit: Amazon ]

Amazon launched hardware upgrades for its Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 8 product lineup today; the new versions have higher-resolution cameras, upgraded CPUs, and a new Echo Show 5 Kids . The Echo Show 10 did not get a hardware refresh.

If you aren't familiar with the product line, the Echo Show is essentially an Amazon Echo smart speaker with a screen on it. The devices can be used as digital clocks, videoconferencing solutions, screens for Amazon Ring doorbells, and more—each Show device is basically an Alexa-controlled Fire HD tablet, with all the capabilities that implies.

Amazon leans heavily on privacy concerns with these devices, taking what certainly looks like a swipe aimed directly at Google's competing Nest and Home devices: