Alexa (echo) vs Google Home

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Alexa (echo) vs Google Home

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evilengineer

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#1760563 11-Apr-2017 08:46

mattwnz:

Although I haven't compared the two, Alexa is pretty good, considering it isn't tuned for the NZ accent.

They're selling these things in the UK!

If it can cope with the Glaswegian, Geordie, Welsh or Brummie (etc, etc.....) dialects then it really shouldn't have problems with anything Kiwi. :)

gnfb

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#1760642 11-Apr-2017 10:48

Jase2985:

gnfb:

I quickly became familiar with the "skills" of Alexa havnt looked into what or how Goggle handles this.

so your testing them in a bias manner? doesnt make for much of a comparison

? don't follow bias manner?

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

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gnfb

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#1760643 11-Apr-2017 10:51

richms:

I find the home is much more useful.

What year did .... come out. What does a .... weigh, things like that which google search is excelent at can be answered, alexa is all sorry I didnt understand the question.

I agree after my original sweeping statement thinking the Alexa was better, I may have to re evaluate. I have found a few questions get the 'I haven't learnt or don't understand.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

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gnfb

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#1760646 11-Apr-2017 11:07

I just thought to be fair and unbiased in comparison I should include cortana and the old girl Siri!

I not sure you can view or if it even keeps the question/interaction data?

I might look into that later in the week

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

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tieke

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#1760658 11-Apr-2017 11:36

I have both, and there's not much between them, although as far as sound goes the Echo definitely sounds better at lower volume levels. Both of them work with my home automation setup (I use home assistant, and can tell either the Home or Echo to turn on and off lights, heatpump, switches etc).

The Home hasn't added new features as quickly as I thought (still can't add reminders etc, although hopefully this should be sorted by the multi-user setup), and I'm still annoyed by their decision to make the Google home hotword be the same as they use on their phone. (Quite annoying when you're trying to vocally add an appointment on your phone, only to have Google home answer instead and say that that is not yet supported, and I ended up disabling the always-on OK Google option on my phone.)

I have found that Google is often better at voice recognition, but the main reasons why I have three Homes and only one Echo is basically the chromecast and google app integration.

I have audio chromecasts plugged into several stereo setups, and multiroom audio works very well - I can ask Google to play a song on all speakers, or just the lounge etc, then can skip or request tracks from any of the Homes. (I already have a Google Play subscription with all my obscure music uploaded, so it was cheaper for me to use this for audio rather than paying for Spotify or Prime music).

And it's a small thing, but what I found annoying with Alexa was how slowly the app opened - being able to add items to our shopping list while you're cooking in the kitchen has been really handy, but once I got to the supermarket I was always annoyed with the long wait to start the Alexa app just to see the list. Google's shopping list appears in Keep which I have as a full-screen widget on my phone, so is pretty much instantly viewable.

Jase2985

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#1761756 11-Apr-2017 16:16

gnfb:

Jase2985:

gnfb:

I quickly became familiar with the "skills" of Alexa havnt looked into what or how Goggle handles this.

so your testing them in a bias manner? doesnt make for much of a comparison

? don't follow bias manner?

because you said this " I quickly became familiar with the "skills" of Alexa havnt looked into what or how Goggle handles this."

you are familiar with what alexa can do but you havent looked into google. thats a bias towards one.

pedrogarcia

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#1761909 11-Apr-2017 22:17

I run both side by side and compare how they handle my lights and AV set up. Alexa is much softer turning lights up and down - Google is much faster but I find it jarring. Also Alexa is much better with Harmony Hub controlling my AV naturally.

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sonyxperiageek

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#1761931 11-Apr-2017 23:41

Can Google Home control Hue lights and Spotify?

Sony

Jase2985

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#1761944 12-Apr-2017 06:53

sonyxperiageek: Can Google Home control Hue lights and Spotify?

what does the google website say?

https://madeby.google.com/home/services/

stocksp

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#1761947 12-Apr-2017 07:07

sonyxperiageek: Can Google Home control Hue lights and Spotify?

Yes

gnfb

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#1762002 12-Apr-2017 09:28

Jase2985:

gnfb:

Jase2985:

gnfb:

I quickly became familiar with the "skills" of Alexa havnt looked into what or how Goggle handles this.

so your testing them in a bias manner? doesnt make for much of a comparison

? don't follow bias manner?

because you said this " I quickly became familiar with the "skills" of Alexa havnt looked into what or how Goggle handles this."

you are familiar with what alexa can do but you havent looked into google. thats a bias towards one.

Oh right fair enough

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

sonyxperiageek

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#1762091 12-Apr-2017 11:55

Jase2985:

sonyxperiageek: Can Google Home control Hue lights and Spotify?

what does the google website say?

https://madeby.google.com/home/services/

Sorry I was lazy...

Sony

SepticSceptic

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#1796405 8-Jun-2017 09:12

Any updates - been more than a month ?

Jase2985

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#1796810 8-Jun-2017 16:55

i believe he sold the google after a few days

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