I got this for Christmas, and am looking for a non-sales-oriented description of what I might use it for, what its limitations are, etc. I do not currently have Alexa (or any other, similar) devices in my home.
Thanks.
We got an echo show for Christmas as well so I’m not an expert.
We primarily got it as a video chatting service for the kids with their grandparents. The video on it works great but we seem to have audio problems frequently. Where as facetime couldn’t do video but the audio was always good. We’ve discovered the audio is more important than the video so it doesn’t get used much.
The other thing we got it for was to display recipes in the kitchen rather than getting out a cook book and risk getting it dirty. So far we haven’t used it for that since its set at the kids height in another room for video chatting.
Overall I’d rate the show a Meh. We love the Echo studios we picked up at the same time they provide great sound for music and movies and we use them all of the time.
I’ve got four Echo devices. Two are 5" Show and the other two are just audio devices.
One of the show devices is used as a bedside clock/alarm. I can play music from Prime, or from my XM radio account on all devices.
Any of them can answer questions, “is Betty White still alive?”, what’s the weather in Miami. I can also change channels on my Dish network system.
One in the kitchen area is used for cooking timers and such.
The one in my workshop plays music and also acts as an intercom. "drop in on GreatRoom, Is dinner ready yet?
We have a Google Home, which is a similar device. We have it in our family room, and use it to control the thermostat, turn lights on and off (which is even more useful around Christmas time), ask it random questions that come up (“Hey Google, how old is so-and-so?” “Hey Google, when did ‘Die Hard’ come out?” “OK Google, when is the Chiefs game on Sunday?”), turn the TV off when the kids can’t focus on dinner, and most of all, display photos from my Google Photos as its default background. It’s also an excellent kitchen/playtime/screentime timer (“OK Google, set a 5 minute timer.”)
Google Home does not have video chat capabilities, so that’s something you could do if you had family members you’d want to call. Even if the GH did, I don’t think I would - it’s not mobile, doesn’t track my face, etc.
Sometimes we’ll cast YouTube videos to it for the 2.5 year old to watch, with the volume off so he’s temporarily distracted. It’s a pretty good speaker as well (“Hey Google, play a fun playlist from Spotify.”) We could also have the babycam display on it, when that was a concern (“Hey Google, show me the babycam”).
Thanks, all. I’m not yet detecting anything that would compel me to actually utilize this. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to re-gift it. 
I use Echo audio devices and Alexa quite a bit, but I had never tried their screens until recently. I got an Echo Show 5 at a huge discount in some Black Friday deal, I thought I would use it as a bedside clock and Alexa interaction point. I sent it back when I discovered that it’s impossible to stop it showing you “suggestions” on the screen, despite settings that purport to stop this happening. I found it distracting and annoying when the clock spontaneously vanishes every few minutes and “suggestions” pop up.
I’m just not going to use a paid product that insists on showing me what Amazon wants me to see, not what I tell it I want to see.