Battling butlers

Google Home Amazon Echo

What’s the story?

The Google Home looks a lot like one of those automated air fresheners that puff out a whiff of lavender whenever you walk by. That’s no bad thing, mind. Its angled top and rounded base (available in a range of colours) give it a modern and unobtrusive look. AI butlers should be heard and not seen, after all.

The controls are touch-sensitive – a quick circular swipe around the top panel raises or lowers the volume, and you can long-press it to wake up Google Assistant – but where’s the fun in that when you can summon her from across the room?

Is it any good?

The Home is a much smarter searcher than the Echo. Ask Google Assistant if snakes can climb up walls, for example, and you’ll get a full and satisfactory answer (yes, some can, if there’s enough grip). It’s clear that Google’s background gives it the edge as a hands-free search engine.

But smart home functionality is limited, for the moment, to Nest, Smartthings and Philips Hue. And what the Home sorely lacks at time of writing is a good selection of apps and services. You can’t even use it to create appointments or send messages using Google’s own services. We’re hoping for big improvements here in the wake of the any-minute-now UK launch.

As a music device it works well enough, especially if your chosen streaming service is Spotify, but the killer feature here is the Home’s ability to send media to your TV via a Google Chromecast. And it’s usually clever enough to understand what you want to watch even if you don’t know the full name.

What’s the story?

Back in the December issue, we were dazzled by the Amazon Echo’s ability to do everything from playing music and setting timers to searching Wikipedia and telling jokes – all by listening to your voice. Now that Alexa isn’t the only virtual butler in town, we’re keen to see how this futuristic black tube matches up to Google’s shorter, more homely-looking rival.

Alexa’s English accent is certainly more comforting and less jarring than Google Assistant’s slightly robotic American voice – but we’re looking for cleverness, not just reassurance.

Is it any good?

Alexa is totally stumped by questions that you might expect her to handle with ease, and fails miserably compared to Google Assistant in almost every round of our trivia test – including the vital query “Do insects have brains?” (They do, by the way.)

The two are more evenly matched when it comes to home automation, but the Echo wins because it’s compatible with so many more devices and services – including Hive, LIFX lights and Belkin Wemo switches. The Echo is also easier to use as a music player, allowing you to verbally save songs to your Spotify library or specific playlists, although it isn’t as good as the Home at helping you out with vague requests – you’ll need the full title of that Cliff Richard B-side.

Most importantly, at the time of writing the Echo has way more connected apps than the Home. Alexa lets you browse, search and enable a plethora of Uk-specific services, from National Rail train times to The Guardian.