What voice assistant you should use for your smart home
Voice assistants are one of the most important devices in your smart home. They help you schedule home actions, automate them, optimize your lifestyle and even run errands. They are featured on our 5 must-have appliances for your smart home, and we totally recommend that if you must get them, you should be getting the best of them.
Over the years, both Google and Amazon have evolved in their voice assistant software and hardware products. Starting from mobile voice assistants applications, they were subsequently modelled to serve home apartments with their integration with smart home hardware.
With regular updates, these two have modified their products, bending more towards users’ needs and ensuring that users can get an optimal home living experience. This is why the choicest products on the voice assistant market today are both Google Nest and Amazon Echo Show.
If you are considering getting any of them, you should have some knowledge of their features and capabilities. And by comparing the two products and their features, you can be able to decide on which of them to purchase depending on your current needs and basic preferences.
Choosing the right Speaker Pods
Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa
Although there is other hardware included in a voice assistant platform, the speakers are the most vital, as they are the primary communication channel between the voice assistant software and you, the user.
The speaker pods are the receptors of your commands, and also your gateway for feedback, so if you were to choose between Google Nest and Amazon Echo for a voice assistant, you would have to assess which speaker is better between Google Assitant and Amazon Alexa.
Accessibility
Amazon Alexa has proved to be the most accessible of the two. It can be activated with multiple wake words, unlike Google which has just one “OK Google.”
While it loses on the accessibility front, Google Assistant is able to pick on word fragments to understand your commands and complete them. However, Alexa still has problems recognizing natural language, and might not understand your commands if they are not put in the format that it is used to.
We think that Amazon is built and wired to specific syntax because it has several-third party functionalities that can only be accessed using a specific language. Some of these functions include ordering some food, reading a book, or shopping among others. So if you would like access to these functionalities and would like to opt for the Amazon Echo, you should be ready to remember all the needed sequences.
Meanwhile, Google Assistant isn’t really big on third-party functions, but it has some other friendlier features. It uses Google Search for its search queries and is able to hold a more engaging conversation than its Amazon counterpart. For example, if you asked Google “Who is the American president?” your next question can be “When was he born?”
That question would have been misunderstood by Alexa and you would have to rephrase your query to: “When was the American president born?” to get a correct reply. This is because Amazon Alexa uses Wikipedia for its search queries, and would require you to be as specific as you can get in order to find answers.
Google Assitant can also be modified to have different voices – based on your preference, but Alexa has just one particular female voice.
Well between the wake-words, the speaker voices, third party integrations, and command syntax, both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa are capable of turning on other smart devices in your home, controlling your lights, setting your alarms, and telling the time.
Pod look
You may prefer a particular type of speaker in your home, depending on how they look. You might want one to blend into your home aesthetics or one that would fit your nightstand. Well for smart assistant speakers, you have quite a variety to choose from in terms of shapes, color, and sizes.
The Amazon Echo used to be cylindrically shaped, until its most recent orb designs for both the Echo and the smaller one, Echo Dot. The Echo Dot has a version with a time display, that could be very resourceful.
There is also the larger Echo Studio which is shaped like a keg, and this large speaker pod is a limited version that only comes in grey-black colors. While the Echo and Echo Dot are either black, white, or blue pods.
As for Google, the Nest Audio pods are shaped like rectangular pillows and they come in either black, blue, salmon, green, or white colors. And you might prefer the Nest Mini pod, shaped like a short cylinder or an ice hockey puck. Nest Minis have the same color varieties as their larger Nest Versions, except that there are no green minis.
Speaker Sound
If you are buying a speaker for sound, you should consider its usage first.
The smaller speakers are more suitable for reading desks or nightstands, while the Echo and Nest Audios could be perfect for room ranges. The larger Echo Studio speakers and the discontinued Google Home Max are the best party speakers.
That being said, Nest Audios and Echo offer similar sound qualities. And while the Nest Audio doesn’t produce the best bass, the Echo similarly lacks some treble quality.
As for the smaller versions, the Dots have more sound quality compared to the Minis, but they are both suitable for small-range usage as mentioned above.
With all these considered, you must be getting a clearer picture of the voice assistant you would prefer. Your voice assistants can connect to their respective music streaming services like Amazon Music or Youtube Music, and you can connect your phone via Bluetooth to play songs from your phone libraries and playlists.
Your voice assistants can also be connected to smart displays and other smart devices in your home including TVs and thermostats. To set all of these up, you might require some competent IT assistance. Well, if you live in or around the Greater Pittsburgh area, Jelnic consulting is an IT company that can help you set up your voice assistant and other smart devices that you want in your home. If you still have some questions about getting a voice assistant, you can contact us by visiting our website where you can see our services and channels that we can be reached.