Google Home vs Amazon Echo vs third party with Google/Echo assistant

I got my parents a Eufy Genie with Alexa on it back in September, they have it in the kitchen, ask it questions, traffic, weather, Rockets/Texans game start times, they are happy with it

Bought a Google Home Mini for my bedroom on Black Friday and love it. I prefer the Google Home one since I have a Google Play Music account so I can connect that with the Mini, along with automatically play Netflix with my voice/Chromecast. One thing I learned about it is that it plays the "soothing" sounds when you go to bed for a hour, I love having the ocean waves sound when i go to bed.

Can't go wrong with either, but prefer Google Home since I'm deep into Google's Ecosystem

 

Have a Google mini and an echo dot.

If you use Amazon a lot, get the Echo.

If you are deeply tied into the Google ecosystem, get Mini.

Full size Echo, Google Home, Google Max, etc. are the same thing with better speakers. Google handles search better, Amazon has third party skills market, pretty neat.

If you have an iOS device, wait for the homepod whenever that comes out.

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In my experience Google Mini gets triggered by random TV/Computer noise somewhat frequently. Alexa does not.

 

I was on the fence between echo dot and tougher home mini. Went with the dot. It ease $29 and cane with a $5 (normally almost 30) smart power outlet.

I've been happy with it so far. I have it blue toothed to a speaker for music.

I love Google... so I was really contemplating a mini.

My buddy has one and talks to it to play stuff on the Chromecast directly... like YouTubetv

 

I own an Echo Dot and it's not great. It isn't as knowledgeable as I'd like in that it can't answer questions that Google Assistant easily could. And no matter what I change the activation word to (Alexa, Echo, Amazon, or Computer), it often activates itself from hearing the television or mishearing something that someone says in another room. I've owned it for a year and I mostly just use it as an alarm clock at this point.

I've never used Google Home, but the Google Assistant on my Pixel is very good. It has access to Google's huge knowledge database and the voice recognition prevents accidental activation.

 

I liken it to android/iOS vs. Windows Phone. Alexa is android/iOS. Tons of apps, compatible with a ton of ****, maybe not as useful on her own. Google home, more powerful as an assistant, but the skill choices are a bit more limited and it's a little late to the game. I went echo, but not do I love my friends Google home when I'm at his place. Then again, she works with all my smart home features out of the box.

 

My place is all googled out.

Probably why all ads are rockets, crypto currency, San Diego, Las Vegas, and sex related.


I have pixel, home and have it linked to my nest cameras, thermostat, etc.

I'm pretty much a slave and sell out to Google. I feel like I should charge them cause really I'm advertisement criteria for them.


SIL

 

like google cause i ask the assistant to play youtube / netflix on the TV w chromecast and it just works. also it’s getting much better than alexa at understanding normal speech. otherwise the same... i don’t like to buy a lot of stuff, just play music, get alerts, learn spanish words.. also hooked up the house to smart lights, nest cam and thermostat so that’s convenient. hate the amzn UI..

 

I got an Amazon Echo for Christmas and I'm trying to work out what I want to do with it. Pretty sure I'm going to put in some smart lighting and get some Dots to put in the bedrooms. What are some other cool things people have done with the smart features?

 

Hooking it up with my Nest Thermostat was a game changer.

 

Definitely. Hooking it up to thermostats, light bulbs, and Christmas lights makes the Dot much more worth it.

 

Any suggestions on what appliances/electronics to make them "smarter" other than the usual kitchen appliances?

Also, whats a good price on WiFi plugs? I've seen them popping up on Slickdeals anywhere from 2 pack for $23, 4 pack for around $50, and even a Smart 4 port power strip with USB ports for $33.

 

https://gizmodo.com/dont-buy-anyone-an-echo-1820981732

 

We just recently got the Amazon echo. I keep it in the living room. We got an echo dot for the bedroom as well. We got several of the smart plugs, and a harmony hub. I love it. It's really cool. Is it perfect? No, but it is awesome.

I use it for weather, Rockets/Astros game times, traffic, etc. I will ask it what's on my calendar for the day each morning. I can set reminders, timers and all sorts of crap. I put some of the lights on schedules which will automatically change with daylight saving time. I have Amazon unlimited music so I can play almost any song or group I wish. If I saw play Shannon and the Clams she will start shuffling all of their songs. If there is something I haven't heard before, I can ask what song it is or what album it is on and she will tell me. I have the nest thermostat connected to it as well. She can raise or lower the thermostat, tell me the temperature inside the house, turning on heat or AC all by just using my voice. When we are cooking we can ask her how many teaspoons in a table spoon, or how many liters in a gallon, and Alexa tells us. She will set timers for the oven which is especially helpful when they are covered in grease, cookie dough, or whatever other food is covering the hands.

With the Harmony hub, I can have it control the television, Pioneer receiver, xbox one, cable dvr etc. All I have to do is say Alexa, turn on the television, and all of the components will power on and be ready to go. I tell it to lower or raise the volume, change channels, fast-forward, rewind, pause, etc. I can tell it to turn on the xbox and it will turn on the xbox, Pioneer receiver, television, and it will be ready to go.

The skills and third party skills are terrific. I love playing jeopardy. I can tell Alexa to order food using grubhub or seamless, and order an uber all just using my phone.

The cons: Sometimes when she turns on the xbox one, everything will turn on except the actual console. That happens about 1 out 15 times for me. There is a slight delay between telling Alexa to pause the television and when she actually pauses it. The same is true of playing something from the DVR after fast-fowarding or rewinding. Once during an Alexa commercial she thought someone was talking to her and tried to answer. Occasionally she doesn't hear what I said or thinks I said something different. I wanted to name something Steph's light. The 'p' and 'h' making the 'f' sound fooled her, and it would only work if we said turn on (step h's) light. So we changed the name of the light to avoid the problem. There was a song that a name with the word bow (pronounced like the kind you wrap on a present) and she wouldn't play it, unless we pronounced it like bow (like what males do instead of a curtsy).

To me those cons are all pretty net-picky and don't really detract from everything else that Alexa does well. I also have confidence that issues like this will improve.

I have not used google home, so I don't have any personal experience with it. I can give a big recommendation for the Alexa though.

 

By buying a smart speaker, you’re effectively paying money to let a huge tech company surveil you.


Isn't this basically what our cellphones already are, and have been for a decade now?

The points raised in that article only seem to be of concern if you 1) deal with incredibly sensitive information frequently and/or 2) you are surrounded by people whom wish to do you harm.

If you're a celebrity, elected official, or crime boss, then yeah, owning one of these is probably not a good idea.

If you're a soccer mom or average nerd who just wants a gadget to play music and answer dumb questions for you then go ahead.

 

Have a gen 2 echo, 2 dots, and 2 nests sitting on my shelves waiting for me to setup. Looking to add lighting control via dimmer switches, and door locks, door bell camera. Basically done zero research, so I hope it works out as well as I envision.

 

That sound like a setup that Alexa will be to use pretty easily. An added benefit will be that you can use the different Alexa devices in different rooms like an intercom. You just have to ask Alexa to drop in on the name of the Alexa device in the other room, then you and whoever is in the other room can carry on a conversation through Alexa.

 

Yeah, seemed like a lot of hullabaloo about nothing. If Amazon wants to spend money and bandwidth to listen to me and my wife be goofy and quote True Lies back and forth to each other, go for it. No sweat off my sack.

 

Since getting my first Amazon device... a gen 2 Echo), I have since added a Spot to replace my bedroom clock radio and a Dot to use in my office. Now that the Show has dropped to $129 I may even get one of them to use in the kitchen and/or garage (watching how-to videos). I live out in the sticks outside Montgomery and signal strength is pretty spotty, so streaming local radio (Tune-In for 610, I Heart Radio for 740 and KSBJ, SportsMap app) and getting Sirius XM (music, Stern, and Fantasy Sports) is a big plus. Run my Harmony Hub through the Echo and will get a Nest and Ring later this year. I am really impressed with the Spot (though think its the only overpriced device).

My father-in-law is all-in on Apple and natch has the Apple HomePod. It looks great, and sounds much better than the Echo but $350. He uses it only to listen to music, and I guess if you are getting instead of a low-end stereo or high-end table radio or boom box then I guess its a reasonable buy.

If anyone (government, pervs) wants to spy on me.. they are welcome to it. I lead a very boring life and at my age there isn't much to look at.

 

I have a specific question about these assistants: can they call 911 in an emergency? My mom lives alone and is currently in great health. But, I've wondered if something like this could be good to place in her house in case anything ever happened and she couldn't reach a phone.