Looking for a smart speaker with a screen that can browse and search Spotify like a tablet or phone app?

Our family loves music, and my kids, who are 8, love to browse Spotify on our phones to pick their favorite songs. We banned the Vengaboys, though. I was thinking of getting them an Echo Show 5 for their bedroom as a birthday gift, but I noticed it seems limited in searching for specific artists or songs. They can only pick from playlists or what’s recently played. We want to wait until they turn 11 to give them phones, so I’m wondering if there’s a smart speaker with a screen that could do what we need. Can anyone explain in detail what an Echo Show 5 can do? Thanks in advance!

I found the Amazon devices really annoying with all the ads and constant “suggestions.” My kids use the 7-inch Google Nest Hub regularly, often with Spotify. I don’t think it has a great browsing interface, but they can definitely call up specific artists, albums, and songs.

@Rudy
Can you pay Amazon £10 to make the device ad-free like you can with the Kindle?

@Rudy
Awesome, that’s good to know! Thanks!

Have you considered the Pixel Tablet with the dock? It might be a good option.

I use the Lenovo Smart Display. I can search for Spotify, YouTube, and various streaming apps, plus its built-in speaker is pretty good. It works well with the Google Home ecosystem.

@Matias
It still works just fine for me.

Ivan said:
@Matias
It still works just fine for me.

Me too, but since it’s not getting any security updates anymore, I removed it from my network.

Herman said:

Ivan said:
@Matias
It still works just fine for me.

Me too, but since it’s not getting any security updates anymore, I removed it from my network.

I had a similar experience with a device I bought.

@Henry
That’s interesting! I also have an IoT network. I prefer not to have devices that aren’t getting updates connected to it.

Herman said:
@Henry
That’s interesting! I also have an IoT network. I prefer not to have devices that aren’t getting updates connected to it.

Can we just drop this whole debate? It’s not necessary.

@Henry
Why are you getting worked up about this? Just sharing my experience like you did.

Herman said:
@Henry
Why are you getting worked up about this? Just sharing my experience like you did.

This comment is empty, admin should fix.

Ivan said:
I use the Lenovo Smart Display. I can search for Spotify, YouTube, and various streaming apps, plus its built-in speaker is pretty good. It works well with the Google Home ecosystem.

Good to know! I’ll look into that, thanks!

What about attaching an old phone to the top of a smart speaker? It could work!

I have the Echo Show 5, and I think you can ask it to play anything with voice commands. If you have a premium Spotify subscription, you can just ask it to play your music. Honestly, the Echo Show 5 is pretty slow and lags a bit. It works fine for voice commands, but the display isn’t great. If it lets you type to search, I probably wouldn’t use it.