Amazon's (AMZN) first-generation Echo Show was a solid product with a, well, unfortunate design aesthetic. Okay, I'll just come out and say it. The thing was ugly. Amazon turned things around with its 2nd-generation Echo Show, but with a 10-inch screen, the thing was huge.

That's where the company's new Echo Show 5 comes in. Packing a 5.5-inch screen, the Show 5 is a smart display designed to be unobtrusive enough to fit on your nightstand or the kitchen counter. It offers all of the functionality you'd expect from an Echo device, including voice controls and music streaming, as well as the ability to watch video content.

And at $89, it's a relatively inexpensive entry into the smart display market that's certainly worth checking out.

A better alarm clock

The Echo Show 5 is ideal for your nightstand. Its compact design puts more emphasis on the display and features a rounded rear with a cloth exterior. It's not going to blow away guests with its looks, but that's almost preferable, as the little device easily blends in with your existing decor.

The rear of the Show 5 houses its power port, a 3.5mm port to connect the smart display to beefier speakers if you want a more robust audio experience, and a micro USB port. Up top are the volume buttons, a mute button, and a slider that physically covers the Show 5's onboard camera with a shutter.

The addition of the physical shutter should help ease the anxiety of users who fear that internet-connected cameras can spy on them at will. Lenovo and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) simply eliminated the camera on their own Smart Clock, which is an even better option for the more camera-phobic out there. But if you still want to video chat with family members and friends, the shutter provides a kind of security blanket against potentially malicious exploits.

A new look on the inside

As with previous Echo Shows, the 5 allows you to customize its home screen to provide you with a rotating carousel of items including the weather, headlines, sports scores, personalized reminders, stock prices, and more. If seeing the score of another night's disastrous Mets game scrolling by doesn't exactly get you in the mood to take on the world each morning, you can personalize your home screen via the Show 5's onboard settings menu.

The Show 5's display is as crisp and colorful as its stablemates' and looks far cleaner than the screen found on Lenovo's Google Smart Clock, which has a similar physical footprint.

Swiping down from the top of the screen pulls up the display brightness slider, as well as the Home button, Do Not Disturb option, and Settings button. Swipe in from the left side of the screen, and you'll find a new shortcuts menu.