Take charge of your smart home with your voice
Ama zon Echo and Google Home are at the fore front of the smart home re volution. Here 's what they are , what they do and how to use them to contr ol your connecte d pad
We can’t wait to have robot butlers. Sure, this might lead to a very small chance of a robot revolution and the destruction of humanity as we know it, but it’s a small price to pay for the possibility of one day having a lovely cup of coffee brought to you while you lay in bed on a Sunday morning. We might not quite be at the point where robots hand-deliver food items, but thanks to Amazon and Google’s work on artificial intelligence we’re moving ever closer to that delightfully lazy future.
First up there’s Amazon Echo (£150), a small, cylindrical speaker with a built-in microphone and an artificial intelligence named Alexa, who responds to your voice commands, giving you the music you love, news bulletins, access to your calendar, and who’ll even order you a takeaway. Just say ‘Alexa…’ followed by your command. The Echo, whilst available in the US for over a year now, has only just made it onto UK shores.
Then there’s the $129 Google Home (triggered by ‘OK Google’), being a small speaker that enables you to control a number of integrated apps and services, as well as accessing Google’s own search results and formidable suite of services. It’s not available in the UK yet, but we imported one, and for the most part it works fine in the UK. So let’s look at both of them – what they do and, ultimately, which is right for you.
Amazon chose to go with a very practical design for its line of Echo speakers, opting for a simple black or white cylinder over anything more outlandish. Its shiny black (or white) shell with blue LEDs might be basic, but it’s unlikely to offend anyone either. The Echo also has a remote you can buy separately, which is interesting when you consider that all of that basic functionality can be accessed by uttering a few words. Still, should you find yourself out of Alexa’s earshot, having a remote with a built-in microphone will prove handy.
And don’t forget the Echo Dot. This is a smaller version of the Echo without its large speaker (it still has a speaker, but the sound it produces is more like a smartphone). The idea is that you either pair the Dot with your Bluetooth speaker or plug it in using the Aux port. It means, for £50, you can have Alexa in more than one room should you wish.
In contrast to the functional simplicity of the Amazon Echo, Google’s Home looks much more elegant. It has a rounded base that makes it look more like a vase than a speaker, and you can customise the base (it comes in seven colours) to match the decor of your home. The Echo almost wants to look more at home next to your home theatre (although the white model looks particularly great in the kitchen) while the Home wants to fit in with the rest of your shelf.
There’s an app for that
When it comes to features, Google has the potential to blow Amazon out of the water thanks to the massive library of existing services it has at its disposal. Amazon might have Prime Music, Tunein and Spotify, but Google not only has its own rival service, Google Play Music, but also offers integration with the Google Cast ecosystem,
In contrast to the functional simplicity of the Amazon Echo, Google’s Home looks more elegant
which already includes Spotify, Pandora, iHeart Radio and thousands of other apps. Sure, some aren’t available when using Home in the UK right now, but Spotify sure is (see boxout p62). But, and it’s a pretty big but, the speaker on Home isn’t that great at all. Whilst it has some bass and mids it’s not going to replace your Bluetooth speaker. The Echo is much more impressive – seriously impressive, in fact, for a £150 speaker.
Google Home does have a pretty cool trick up its sleeve. Using it you can pull up movies and TV shows from YouTube and Netflix on your main screen using the power of your voice. You can even use the speaker to play and pause your content without having to go hunting for your smartphone. Want to watch that episode of Westworld or the latest trending YouTube video on your TV? Just tell Google Home and you’ll get it on your telly (as long as you have a Chromecast, that is). Google Home also integrates with a number of Google’s other services, from planning routes using Google Maps to translating using Google Translate.
Of course, both Home and Echo enable you to ask basic questions such as what the weather’s like or how many ounces there are in a certain number of grams. Or even ask them for a joke. The results are hilarious, trust us (is that sarcasm? – Ed). Meanwhile, Amazon has an ever-growing list of compatible apps, including Just Eat and Uber.
Smart home supp ort
Where the Echo gets interesting though is in its comprehensive smart home support. You can pretty much control every smart home ecosystem with Alexa. Nest, Hive, WeMo, Tado, Hue, SmartThings – you name it. Well, in fact, just install the skill (see boxout, right) and you can be turning