Amazon has stopped selling the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition smart display that launched last September. The tech giant will kill the PhotosPlus subscription service that powers the feature on September 12.
PhotosPlus has removed the distracting user interface elements to display only your photos onscreen for hours, which gives the best digital photo frames a run for their money. That feature was the reason Amazon charged a $10 premium for this special edition Alexa device, on top of the $149.99 for the standard Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen).
In an email to its users, Amazon said it would automatically cancel all PhotosPlus subscriptions on September 12, and that “you can continue to enjoy the benefits of PhotosPlus” in the coming weeks until that date. The PhotosPlus service cost users $1.99 per month after a six-month free trial and included 25 gigabytes of Amazon Photos storage. Once PhotoPlus is canceled, the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition will function like any other Echo Show 8, which is to say it will only be able to display photos in three-hour increments.
Many people have complained about the ads and content that plague Amazon's Echo Show and Fire TV display lines. That's why the sleek Echo Hub and Echo Spot displays have been such a hit lately. Now that the picture frame feature that buyers were paying extra for is gone, it's questionable whether or not Amazon will credit buyers for the difference.
This news comes just weeks after Amazon discontinued the popular Echo Dot with Clock. This version of the excellent Echo Dot added bright LEDs to the front of the speaker that could display the time, text, and icons for an even more useful smart speaker experience. The Echo Dot with Clock came highly recommended by our staff and was our top pick for the best smart home devices we tested for all of its useful features at an affordable price.