What is Google Home?

Although Amazon has gone through a lot of devices of  Since its launch, Google has been much more relaxed about its own product range. Launching in 2017 in the UK, the Google Home hasn't seen an update yet; Don't let that put you off, as it's still a current product and, more importantly, it's the cloud software it runs: Google Assistant.

Getting a ton of improvements every day, Google Assistant is improving dramatically, so is the speaker. Since launch, we've seen better support for smart home devices and more add-on devices, such as Google Home Mini , Google HomeMax and Google Home Hub , which make Google Home part of a larger ecosystem that now competes with Amazon.

Google Home - Design

Google Home still looks fantastic. It's been designed as something you'll want to show off, looking less like a speaker and more like a fancy lamp or diffuser.

To keep the speaker's layout as uncluttered as possible, there's only one physical button on the Google home page. Turn off the microphone if you don't want the speaker to hear you.

The entire top surface of the Google home page is touch-sensitive. It can be tapped to pause and restart music playback, or held to activate the microphone. You can alter the volume by swiping right or left in a circular motion. This feels a little slow at times; It is often easier to adjust the volume with your voice.

One of the key things about the design is the customizable base, which can be twisted and replaced with a unit of a different color. It allows you to match the Google home page with your decor and update its look in the future. He Amazon Echo It doesn't have those customization options although it comes in a go-to array of different colors and finishes.

Google Home - Features

Connecting to your Wi-Fi is trivial with the Google Home app, which is available for iOS and Android. Once your speaker has been discovered, you can choose the Wi-Fi network to join, connect your Google account, and give it a name. Then you are ready to go. Out of the box, it's fair to say that Google Assistant is smarter than Alexa. Using Google's range of services in the background, Assistant can tell you the address of a local business, for example, and then follow directions to get there. Amazon's Alexa AI still offers driving directions between two points you've set up in the app and often can't find directions when asked.

Google is more conversation-aware and more accessible to talk to. While Alexa often requires you to use very specific language to accomplish something, Google's approach to language is more natural. It is also context-aware. For example, ask "How is the weather today?" And you'll get an updated forecast. Follow up with “What about tomorrow?” And Google understands that you want weather information for tomorrow. Alexa simply can't do that, and you have to say the full command for everything.

I prefer Google's use of a two-word startup phrase ("OK Google" or "Hey Google"), as it means the voice assistant rarely activates at random. Alexa is constantly improving because she thinks she heard her name.

Google Assistant uses Google Search, rather than Bing, making it much more adept at finding information. For many questions, where Alexa simply says it can't help, Google Home can return information from a website through search.

Alexa's real advantage is with her expandable skills. They allow the voice assistant to do what you want effectively as long as a third-party manufacturer or service has signed up. Google Assistant has third-party abilities, but there's no option to install them or see what's available. Instead, Google automatically searches to find a compatible skill. For example, ask about tube status and Google tells you that you need to talk to tube status to get the information.

There are also some oddities in the way the Assistant works. For example, if you have a normal Gmail address, you can read your calendar and email; If you pay for the G Suite address, Assistant can't help you. This is strange, since Alexa can work with all types of Google addresses.

Google recently added a messaging system to Home, allowing you to broadcast a message to all the speakers in your home. It works well and can be useful for getting kids' attention, but it's not as good as Alexa voice and video calling.

Google has now launched voice calling in the UK (it was already available in the US), giving you free calls from your smart speaker to UK landlines and mobile numbers. Google Assistant can dial with your mobile phone number as caller ID, as long as you set it up manually within the Home app on your phone. Cleverly, Google Assistant can pull your contacts from your Google account, allowing you to dial anyone as if they were using your phone. And, if you search for local businesses, you can easily call these numbers as well.

Google Home - Smart Home

One of the main reasons to buy a smart assistant is so you can voice control your smart devices. Google Home supports products from all major manufacturers, including Nest thermostats , Samsung SmartThings and lights Philips Hue . Support is now very similar to Amazon's, although there are notable exceptions, such as Dyson not supporting the Vacuum cleaner robot Dyson 360 Eye.

Compatible devices are, for the most part, easy enough to control. Changing Tone lights, both brightness and color, is as easy with the Home as it is with the Eco.

There are some strange things about the way Google Home matches your requests. I had two rooms, one called Office and one called Mad Office for my wife. Saying, 'OK Google, turn off the office' would turn off both rooms. I had to change the name of Office to Dave Office to fix this issue.

However, when adding a Home Hub display to Dave Office, it is called the Dave Office Display Smart Display. Now, when you say 'OK Google, turn off Dave Office', Google will automatically add 'Show' to that command, attempting to turn off the Home Hub instead of the room. In short, make sure your room names and devices have very different names to avoid any problems.

Google has recently added ads to the Google Home page, allowing the speaker to notify you of certain events in real time. The first device I have seen this used is the Nest Hello . With alerts on, a press on the doorbell will let you know through your smart speakers that someone is at the door. Individual speakers may be excluded from announcements.

More recently, Google now allows you to answer your doorbell directly from your Google Home Hub but not from the Google home page (for now).

Google Startup Routines They allow you to control multiple devices at once with a single wake word, for example turning off lights and warming up movie mode. And, a recent update to the app now gives you direct control over many smart devices without having to use your voice.

Google Home - Sound quality

When comparing audio playback on Home and Echo, both have their pros and cons. Google Home offers meatier bass and a more rounded sound, but the new Echo is much louder. The Google Home's 100% volume wasn't as loud as I expected, and once you hit 70%, it starts to feel a little distorted.

It doesn't come close to the sound quality of a dedicated Bluetooth speaker, like the EU Boom 2 , but then I wouldn't expect it to be at a much lower price. Google Home isn't a gadget you'd want as a keynote speaker at a house party, but overall, everyday use is fine. Most importantly, the audio is detailed enough to hear voice responses clearly and is perfect for radio or audio books.

Pairing with services such as Spotify, Google Play Music, YouTube and TuneIn was easily achieved within the Home app, which also allows you to choose a preferred provider. There are also a variety of voice commands to access news, playlists, and podcasts from all of those services.

At launch, Google Home did not support Bluetooth, but this has since been added. Using it couldn't be easier: just ask Google to turn on Bluetooth and you can pair it with your phone. That makes the Google Home a useful Bluetooth speaker and means you can play from music sources that aren't directly supported, like Apple Music.

The audio quality doesn't improve with the use of Bluetooth, but at least there is now the flexibility to use different music sources. For the best audio quality, it would make sense to purchase one of our best Bluetooth speakers .

Cast support means you can send audio directly to a compatible speaker or ChromecastAudio . Plus, you can control playback directly using your voice. Smartly, when Google Home takes a voice request, it lowers the volume of the devices it addresses so you don't have to shout.

You can create groups of devices, sending multiple speakers at once, which is a nice trick for house parties. However, the conversion is not as flexible as using a Sonos system, especially if you are using Spotify. With Spotify and Cast, you can only play one track; With Sonos, you can play different tracks on different speakers using a single account.

Google Home can also voice control video and image casting to a Chromecast, letting you cast Netflix shows or your photos to a compatible TV. It is a very useful trick, and many times more convenient. When the doorbell rings, asking Google Home to stop the action is often much faster than searching for a phone and then finding the playback controls.

Why buy a Google home?

Google Home is still a great product and in many ways the Google Assistant is easier to talk to and delivers better results than Amazon Alexa. Whether it's the right product for you comes down to what you want to achieve.

If you want a powerful voice assistant with control for Chromecast and some smart home products, Google Home certainly gets the job done. Google's improved range of devices now

That said, the Echo range is broader and includes devices with screens too; It is also compatible with the smarter home kit. Furthermore, the new Echo 2nd Generation Now it is cheaper than the Home. In my opinion, that makes Amazon's smart assistant a better investment today, with a wider range of products to choose from if you want devices in every room of your home.

Verdict

Amazon Echo and Alexa hold their crown for now, but Google Home and Assistant are still a powerful combination.