In my experience, Google Home is way better than Alexa. The voice recognition ability on Google Home (like my Android phone) is top notch and its integration with YouTube Music is awesome. I can ask it to play regional language songs and because it knows my YouTube History, it simply works. Also, I use Android Auto and am able to take Google Assistant seamlessly there too including the ability to play any music on demand by just instructing Google Assistant. It really is magical. I don't know how Amazon can even compete in this.
It doesn't hurt that Google is practically giving them away.
The Home Mini has been $20 several times (inc. black Friday), $80 for three at Costco, or nearly free (e.g. spend $125 on Google Express right now and get one included). I paid only $64 for my Google Home for example (new from eBay).
My point is, if you follow deal sites Google has had back to back sales almost since they launched. The $50/$130 prices for the Mini/Home respectively are largely fiction.
This is just personal experience. I have both google home and alexa (plus a dot). My observation for my use:
1. Google responds more to my command with slightly (not much) more natural tones;
2. Google recipe for cooking (I tried only once) is tremendously more helpful with waits and timers automatically added on;
3. Alexa has better sound for music although I only listen for working background not for serious music listening;
4. If you ask Google to say hi to Alexa it does whilst Alexa would say a long blurb about your contact skill is not available blah blah. But she responds to Google's greetings;
5. Calling "Alexa" is just easier than calling two words "hey google";
6. When Alexa skills work, they are awesome but it really is annoying to remember all the cues for skill names which i don't.
Overall, they are both very limited still. Right now I use Google a little bit more. It probably also helps that Google knows everything about me given I work in front computers all day but not so much with Amazon.
Google seems to be very aggressively pushing Google Home Mini devices lately. eBay just ran a promo where you get one for free with $150 purchase site-wide, and Google Shopping Express is running something similar with a lower $125 purchase requirement.
Does Google have too many inventories on hand, or do they really, really want people to put one in their homes no matter what the cost?
I have both, and I've found that the GH is better at figuring out what I'm trying to ask. It's a lot more flexible with freeform speech.
On the other hand, the Alexa devices have a lot more apps, and I think that's in part because it's so much easier to build apps for it, mainly because they have a lot of scaffolding in AWS for it. I've even built a few of my own.
Google's search expertise was meant to succeed in voice. That is just their forte, like Facebook's is social and Amazon's is commerce. I don't see how Google doesn't win voice in the long haul.
I've never really understood the US-centricity of most tech companies. Sure the US will always be the single biggest market but times are changing. With the rise of the middle class in the emerging economies and the global redistribution of wealth from the West to the rest, there are huge opportunities to leapfrog US-centric companies.
Apple is probably the best example of a company that realises the opportunity of building a supply chain that can satisfy the demand of their goods on a global level.
Honestly, I own a Google Home and I love it. I've tried Amazon Echo so many times and the entire experience is terrible in comparison.
I also wish Google Home wasn't made by Google -- because well I'm anti-Google owning everything.
It just occurred to me that no product in the history of humanity has ever been harder to localize than Smart Speakers.
I don't own one, but I wish these speakers were smart enough to recognize their owner's voice. The number of podcasts I listen to where the hosts have banned saying "Alexa" and "Hey Google" is silly. They say it then apologize, or use Echo or say Hey G instead. It seems like something of a security flaw to me, as if websites had to avoid having "rm" on them in case it triggered file removal.
The integration of the always on Assistant on the phone and on the speakers is a powerful combination. Sort of weird it is not integrated into Chome on desktop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC9m45AIsGY
"Why would people voluntarily bug their own house??"
In my expierence if you care at all about smart-home controls, or if you’re a frequent user of Amazon Prime, Amazon’s Alexa platform is the best option for your home.
I prefer the Echo, over the Google Home for its depth of capabilities, wide smart-home device support, ability to play the most popular music streaming services, and slightly superior sound quality.
In addition to its built-in features, the Alexa platform includes a growing list (more than 15,000 at last count) of “Skills,” akin to apps on a smartphone, that unlock capabilities such as reading recipes, ordering pizza, or calling an Uber. Not all of its Skills are useful, but the Echo still does far more than the Google Home does.
The Echo is not the all-capable computer from Star Trek, but it is a smart digital assistant that’s constantly improving as Amazon adds more abilities to it.
I wonder if there are any google/amazon marketing people on this thread.
Anyway, you do think it's fine to put a device that -on a bit-flip- is able to record and analyze anything you say and inject ads to your daily routine anywhere and this bit-flip can be done anytime because it is connected and updated through the internet without any interaction. We should trust the makers because reasons. What can go wrong, right?
And all this privacy breach is justified for the convinience of not getting up from the sofa to order a pizza.
I don't even.
Did anyone try Snips (https://snips.ai/), the open source version of Google Home/Amazon Echo ?
I am in India (very limited service e.g. we don't have Spotify or Youtube music.) and own both, however, I (and all my family members) find Home Mini not able to wake with even loudest "Ok, Google", "Hey, Google" from a distance when it is already playing something which Echo Dot flawlessly does. Also I am not able to play any station from TuneIn in Google Home Mini (Support has no clue)
Why does it matter which surveillance capitalist "wins"? It's us who will lose in the end.
Amazon is now selling that data and surveillance technology to law enforcement, and Google to the military. I don't feel good about any of them "winning" in this market.
What is the closest "Black Mirror" episode to Google Home?
White Christmas with Cookie?
I wont ever consider getting a smart speaker unless, at a minimum, it did all of its voice processing locally and emitted an audit-able series of search queries.
At least half the use-cases for these things don't even need an internet connection, IMHO. Another significant chunk could be serviced by push-only data feeds and device-local search.
My father 88 years old is very conservative and anti-technical, he even doesn't use mobile phone, never got on the internet or e-mail (unlike my Mom). After seeing my Google Home Mini demonstration his reaction was - Can I also get one?
Canalys are a well known google Shill. When the apple hit record revenues in China Canalys pretty much ignored them in their market report. A quick google shows that they are hardly unbiased or particularly accurate in their reporting
It always befuddles me that people willingly put these in their homes
They are giving it away.Dduring new years eve you can get 2 brand new google home for 50 dollar in japan.
Google needs to build their training set...
Exactly.. If you're so concerned with privacy then don't put a microphone in your home when both of these companies have strong ties to the government. You are being profiled or worse.
Not at all suprising. We started with an Echo but then purchased a Google home and wow! The GH is much easier to interact with as much more flexible in how you can say things. Then also a lot smarter.
Think the gap will grow a lot after Google releases Duplex.
Where is all facebook news ? Why google have to pay millions in uk ?
Why "dont be evil" has been removed from googles conditions and terms ?
All this google news.. lies and lies !!
Are there any raw numbers? Maybe I live in a bubble but I don't know a single person that has one of these in their home.
Let's wait next quarters.
Everyone that bought a Pixel2 received a "free"//coupled Google Home, I'm wondering how did it impact those numbers?
I would never trust Google with that type of device in my home. Amazon I already feel better about it.
I'm firmly in the "hell nah" camp:
1. Google and Amazon are pushing these with stupendous discounts, certainly below cost. That tells me that the revenue model is not the hardware. They hope to make money by manipulating me after I buy it. Nope.
2. Google injecting ads into the "My Day" information. Nope.
3. Google Home was found to be listening all the time due to a "hardware flaw." Nope.
4. Amazon devices doing the creepy laugh for no reason? Nope. I mean, come ON.
They couldn't pay me to incorporate one of these things into my living space. It's below-cost hardware running bigcorp-controlled, remotely updatable software intended to extract my info and dollars. Get lost!