google is rolling out netflix and google photo integration rn, eg. "show me photos of cats from google photos"

xbmcnut:

 

lchiu7:

 

I saw somewhere they can talk to Hue bulbs. I currently have my Amazon Dot talking to devices emulating Hue bulbs via HABridge so I presume the Google Home can use the same emulation?  It's going to get confusing with both the Dot and Google Home both running but I guess the trigger words being different would minimise confusion.

 

 

You need to be running at least v3.2.0 of ha-bridge as that defaults the port to 80 which GH requires. The builds beyond v3.5.x though now support MQTT which is awesome and works great. Too easy now to get everything under voice control! I have both Echo and GH and the family has no trouble using both.

 

Got my Home today and could not get it find the bridge until I recalled that I needed to upgrade the habridge. DId that and now it found all my lights and switches. So I can control them either with the Home or Dot. I am liking the Google Home. It was a doddle to setup and no hacking to tell me my local weather or time.  Nice speaker too despite what others have said. And now I can play content from Google Play Music which is my only cloud music service.

lchiu7:

 

...Nice speaker too despite what others have said.

 

I find the Echo a much clearer speaker at low volumes, but at higher volumes the Google Home does improve. Not too big a deal as I usually just cast to proper speakers if I'm listening to music.

No highs on the home. Just has a single driver and 2 pasive radiators. Many moronic reviewers were saying 3 speakers. The echo dot is the best of these boxes IMO at the moment. Casting from the home is very unreliable and will not drop the volume when it hears its name so cant heat the rest of what you say. Dot will drop the volume as much as it needs, so at low volumes it barely changes, turn it up lots and it drops heaps.

Only issue with the dot is that the 3.5mm seems to be a switch, so it cannot revert to the internal speaker for alarms/talking back if the stereo system is quiet or off. When using bluetooth it will switch back when the BT speaker is disconnected and you can change between them by saying alexa connect bluetooth or alexa disconnect bluetooth. Wish they would add bluetooth that way to the bigger echo since I use that in the kitchen but could always do with being able to play it thru the stereo in there as well.

I have 2 Dots and now the GH. I never listened to music on the Dots because I don't have subs to any of the services they support.  So my primary use is in HA.

With GH I have been able to duplicate the automation and now I can listen to music on Google Play Music which is where most of my content is. The audio is fine (tbough as noted, the treble could be better) but I guess I can connect that to my Chromecast which I bought at the PBTech Boxing Day sales :-) Then connect that to my home audio system.

For those that have both, the Home and the Echo, which would would recommend?

I don't currently have any streaming services as we have a tonne of MP3's (converetd CD's) but that could change and im looking to go into home automation with most likely a Vera Edge (or plus if they ever get the AU/NZ frequencies). My wife and i also use Google now a bit on our phones, hence leaning towards the Home.

thoughts?

The location stuff on the home just works here, no timezone screwing around at all. Seems to have calandar issues tho which others have also reported so should be solved. Cant add to calandar on the home, echo added that after a while so hopefully the home will get that.

Automation on both work great to the smartthings hub I bought, but echo seems more relaxed about the names you call things vs the home, I have wemo lamps called "wemo lamp 20 - bedside left" and alexa is happy with alexa turn wemo lamp 20 off, or alexa turn bedside left off and its fine. Google I have to spell out the whole name of the device.

Neither support the idea of rooms yet, so I cant just call them lights and have it know by which one I am talking to which lights I want.

Not played with the ifttt integration on either of them much yet, just really use them to turn the light off once I am in bed without having to move at this stage.

richms:

 

 

 

.

 

.Neither support the idea of rooms yet, so I cant just call them lights and have it know by which one I am talking to which lights I want.

 

Not played with the ifttt integration on either of them much yet, just really use them to turn the light off once I am in bed without having to move at this stage.

 

That's interesting.  I am using HABridge to emulate the Hue bulbs which Google Home found okay. And it then prompted me to assign room names to my various lights.  See below

I have an Insteon microswitch which controls the lights in my foyer. I named that bank stairs in the Insteon app and in HABridge but Google let me rename them to Hallway. Similarly a floor lamp in my guest room I named lamp (this is a Dlink wall switch) which Google let me rename Guest Room.

Because possibly I have Dlink switches which are controlled by HABridge emulating Hue bulbs and then DLink released a skill for their switches Alexa got confused and thought I had duplicate light names. So it was suggested I create a group to control both of them whereas in fact only one is live. So you could create Groups with only one device to get the room names you want.

You can group them, but if I have 2 groups called lights with all the wemo lamps in the various rooms in them, I still cant just say alexa lights on and have it know which lot based on where it hears me.

Hi all.

I am just after some advice from those of you who have both Amazon's Echo (Echo/Dot) and Google Home.

I am very new to anything Home Automation...however enjoy my gadgets etc.  I have recently purchased a single LiFX bulb (and plan to get 6 more) and have a couple of Chromecasts and Chromecast audios. I have no Smart Hub device, or anyother smart devices as yet. However I do plan to get a couple of Smart Plugs (wemo etc). 

I am on somewhat of a budget (which may sway my final choice)...

I would love to get a Google Home, but the cost is a little high, so I have been leaning towards getting an Echo Dot - the price of which is very attractive.

I can get a Dot off Trademe for $135 - or from Amazon via Youshop for around $90. However Google Home via BHP (cheapest option i have found) is around $210.00 shipped. There is one currently on Trademe for $380.00!

At more than twice the price, am i better to get a Google Home (as i am more invested in Google - I use all Google Apps and have multiple chromecasts), or for my small needs, would an Echo Dot at under $100 be a good buy (I currently have no Amazon accounts or connection). I have a Bose Sound Dock that I would plan to hook the Dot up to for audio etc. I listen to music via Pandora mostly, although trialling Spotify now at present - Pandora is my preference - does it work on both?

Google Home seems better for NZ Time Zone and Weather, where Echo seems a bit of work (hopefully not outside of my capabilities).

Genuine advice please. Go for the Echo Dot for the price and my limited needs. Or save up a bit more and get the Google Home given my investment seems to be more in the Google-verse.

Sorry for the multiple questions...I have watched countless reviews on Youtube, but would prefer some local advice and knowledge. The info on both this thread and the Echo thread has been quite helpful...yet I am still so undecided.

TIA.

I've recently purchased the Google Home (from BHP), an Echo Dot (from Amazon UK whilst over there) and 2 Lifx Color 100 bulbs direct from Lifx. I also have a couple of Wemo switches and chromecast (normal and audio) - so pretty close to what you are thinking!

I use Pandora alot, can never get on with Spotify so don't use, I have a Amazon UK Prime account and have just started a 4 month free trial of Google Music/Youtube Red.

Google Home was a doddle to setup, although you currently need to have your phone set to language US English for playing around. No issues with location or timezone. Within minutes of setup I was asking about my commute, local weather etc.

Echo Dot, setup was a little more involved and you can only set an NZ time zone, you can't set an NZ address, so local searches don't work - for local weather you need to ask for weather in nearest city to you for example.

Wemo switches work well with both, although you need to use IFTTT with the Google Home - an easy setup though. It's due to be a direct partner "soon"

Lifx - hmm, took a bit of fiddling and found out to enable cloud sync I had to install app on ipad, the option to 'claim' the bulb wasn't on the Android app !!! Ive also seen a few network drop outs with the bulbs.... Control via Echo is good though.

The problem with owning both (only been playing with them a week) is remembering what to say to each !!, and my better half is already getting wound up :) I'll probably end up leaving Echo in lounge / Kitchen and putting the Home somewhere else.

The Home has a pretty decent speaker setup and would be more than acceptable in a normal/small room. The Dot isn't bad, would be better with the Bose (but then the Bose would need to be on all the time - the Dot doesn't switch back to internal speaker automatically if say the Bose had no power - unless you use bluetooth I think).

Which to recommend - hmmm, I'm leaning towards saying the Home for you (get from BHP - doesn't take long to arrive). Reservations - the Dot is a 2nd generation device, and I'm sure the mics are better at picking up commands/hearing me than the GH. It could also be 'early' enough to get the Dot first, try for a week or so and flog on TM if you don't like it then get a GH, hopefully you shouldn't loose too much money (man maths!!)

Hope that helps

I agree with most of that. I have two Dots (1st and 2nd gen) and a Google Home.  I wasn't able to get music to run on the Dot since I didn't subscribe to any of the supported music services. But with the GH I can access my Google Play Music library which is very handy. I also picked up another Chromecast Audio (NZ$39 at a PBTech sale!) and connected that optical to my HT system. Now I can say Hey Google, play <music> on dining room and it plays the music via the Chromecast to my 5.1 system. That is very cool.

Automation works the same for both units since all my switches etc. (a mixture of D-Link and Insteon) are being emulated via a Pi running HABridge as Hue bulbs. So there is mucking around with IFTTT and having to open up ports on the firewall etc.  As I add more smart devices (I have a Harmony Elite in a box waiting to be used) I will probably eschew the Skills the two devices offer and use the HABridge. It seems simpler.

alexingram:

 

I've recently purchased the Google Home (from BHP), an Echo Dot (from Amazon UK whilst over there) and 2 Lifx Color 100 bulbs direct from Lifx. I also have a couple of Wemo switches and chromecast (normal and audio) - so pretty close to what you are thinking!

 

I use Pandora alot, can never get on with Spotify so don't use, I have a Amazon UK Prime account and have just started a 4 month free trial of Google Music/Youtube Red.

 

Google Home was a doddle to setup, although you currently need to have your phone set to language US English for playing around. No issues with location or timezone. Within minutes of setup I was asking about my commute, local weather etc.

 

Echo Dot, setup was a little more involved and you can only set an NZ time zone, you can't set an NZ address, so local searches don't work - for local weather you need to ask for weather in nearest city to you for example.

 

Wemo switches work well with both, although you need to use IFTTT with the Google Home - an easy setup though. It's due to be a direct partner "soon"

 

Lifx - hmm, took a bit of fiddling and found out to enable cloud sync I had to install app on ipad, the option to 'claim' the bulb wasn't on the Android app !!! Ive also seen a few network drop outs with the bulbs.... Control via Echo is good though.

 

The problem with owning both (only been playing with them a week) is remembering what to say to each !!, and my better half is already getting wound up :) I'll probably end up leaving Echo in lounge / Kitchen and putting the Home somewhere else.

 

The Home has a pretty decent speaker setup and would be more than acceptable in a normal/small room. The Dot isn't bad, would be better with the Bose (but then the Bose would need to be on all the time - the Dot doesn't switch back to internal speaker automatically if say the Bose had no power - unless you use bluetooth I think).

 

Which to recommend - hmmm, I'm leaning towards saying the Home for you (get from BHP - doesn't take long to arrive). Reservations - the Dot is a 2nd generation device, and I'm sure the mics are better at picking up commands/hearing me than the GH. It could also be 'early' enough to get the Dot first, try for a week or so and flog on TM if you don't like it then get a GH, hopefully you shouldn't loose too much money (man maths!!)

 

Hope that helps

 

Thanks for your feedback, it is genuinely appreciated. I think that I am leaning towards the Google Home. 

I dont quite follow your comments in regards to the LiFX bulbs. I know from some recent reading on their FB page, most customers were complaining that Google Now/Home integration was not working and is under development with the LiFX team. Although it used to work. Can you elaborate further? They do work it was just a pain to set up etc...

My Bose is on permanently, so no issues there if I need better sound than the GH can deliver. I am also fairly familiar with IFTTT as i have a few recipes i run from my Android phone.

The main things that I want the GH for would be playing music via Pandora. Casting to my Chromecast Audio and Video. General Knowledge and answering questions etc. Google Calendar integration but to control my LiFX bulbs is essential, as I plan to get another 6 lights. Controlling them via voice would be great. 

Thanks heaps

salttlas:

 

 

 

Thanks for your feedback, it is genuinely appreciated. I think that I am leaning towards the Google Home. 

 

 

 

I dont quite follow your comments in regards to the LiFX bulbs. I know from some recent reading on their FB page, most customers were complaining that Google Now/Home integration was not working and is under development with the LiFX team. Although it used to work. Can you elaborate further? They do work it was just a pain to set up etc...

 

My Bose is on permanently, so no issues there if I need better sound than the GH can deliver. I am also fairly familiar with IFTTT as i have a few recipes i run from my Android phone.

 

 

 

The main things that I want the GH for would be playing music via Pandora. Casting to my Chromecast Audio and Video. General Knowledge and answering questions etc. Google Calendar integration but to control my LiFX bulbs is essential, as I plan to get another 6 lights. Controlling them via voice would be great. 

 

 

 

Thanks heaps 

 

I've been using Google Home for a month now with my 4 LIFX bulbs. I have had no problem at all controlling them over this time and it was very easy to set up in IFTTT.