Google just announced its Answer to the Amazon Echo – the Google Home
Just like with Echo, you can tell Home with the voice function, to add a calendar event, set the temperature of your thermostat, or stream your favorite song. Google Home looks like it will be a useful, versatile product, but Amazon Echo has been around since 2014, and I can say from experience that it aces its roles as a personal assistant, music hub, and smart-home control point.
Now Google also wants to try.
Google has some obvious advantages, mostly because it’s Google: a company that has been indexing the web and everything you do on it for more than a decade.
GOOGLE HOME VS. AMAZON ECHO Parameter Comparison from CNET
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GOOGLE HOME VS. AMAZON ECHO |
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Google Home |
Amazon Echo |
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Price |
Unknown |
$180 |
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Responds to voice commands |
Yes |
Yes |
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Always listening |
Yes |
Yes |
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Wake word |
“Okay, Google,” maybe more later |
Alexa,” “Amazon,” or “Echo |
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Music streaming options |
Google Play Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, others |
Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, others |
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Smart home partnerships |
Nest, unknown third party products |
Nest, Ecobee, SmartThings, Wink, Insteon, Belkin WeMo, Philips Hue, Lifx, Big Ass Fans, IFTTT, other devices via “Skills” |
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Customizable appearance |
Yes |
No |
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Output to stereo system |
Yes, via Chromecast |
No (yes w/ Amazon Dot) |
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Synced audio playback to multiple devices |
Yes, to any Google Cast device |
No |
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Personal assistant highlights |
Add items to calendar, make a shopping list, make a to do list, check flight status, track a package |
Add items to calendar, make a shopping list, make a to do list, check flight status, track a package |
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Other features |
Unknown |
Order a pizza, play a game, arrange an Uber pickup. Echo has an ever-growing list of 900+ skills and counting |
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